Toronto opens new 24-hour respite centre but admits challenges remain when it comes to unhoused people

City of Toronto officials are providing more indoor space for people experiencing homelessness this winter, including a new 24-hour respite centre. Those on the front lines say it’s important to read between the lines and that the devil is in the details.

In an update to its Winter Services Plan, the city confirmed the Better Living Centre on the grounds of Exhibition Place will serve as a 24-hour respite site until March 2024. Officials say while the facility is accepting upwards of 40 people a day through referrals only from Dec. 21 to Dec. 26, once fully operational, there will be space for 240 people.

The City notes that many of the spaces will already be accounted for as it will refer people from existing outdoor locations but it will add what it calls “critical capacity” for January and February, considered the coldest months of the winter season.

The 180 additional spaces opened in the shelter system this winter is an increase of 44 per cent over the last couple of years. Advocates have described the plan as a piecemeal approach to helping those on the streets.  

“It sounds good on paper but what we don’t hear about is how they’re adding those shelter beds and the way that they’re doing it is by actually putting people closer together at a time when we see that COVID numbers are rising exponentially,” said outreach worker and housing advocate Lorraine Lam.

The City has confirmed that bed separation in shelters will be reduced from two to 1.25 metres in order to increase capacity by 500 spaces.

City officials say three warming centres will be opening in downtown, North York and Scarborough and a fourth is expected to be operational by the end of the year – but only when temperatures reach -5 degrees C or colder. An additional 30 surge spaces will open when temperatures reach -15 C. As well, 140 extra operating hours have also been added at 10 City-funded drop-in locations for the duration of the winter season.

The City admits it isn’t enough, noting that more than 200 people are turned away from the shelter system every night and there are approximately 300 different tent encampments throughout the city. As well, since September 2021 the number of refugee claimants in the emergency shelter system increased by more than 653 per cent.

“While we’ve seen these numbers grow significantly over the course of the summer and into fall, we’ve seen a slight decrease as we open some winter programming,” said acting General Manager of Toronto Shelter Support and Housing Gord Tanner. “But we know that it doesn’t reflect the total number of people in need of shelter space either day in the city.”

The City says it expects demand for shelter space to continue to rise throughout the winter season and into 2024, citing insufficient affordable housing supply, increasing living costs, inadequate wage and income supports and an increasing number of refugee claimants arriving in Toronto.