Businesses, parents express concern that temporary homeless shelter could become permanent

TORONTO -

For some business owners and parents dropping their kids off at school in the Yonge and Dundas neighbourhood, it's become a daily occurrence to find used needles, human waste and vandalism in the area.

The problems, they say, have been an ongoing issue since the City of Toronto leased the Bond Hotel at 65 Dundas Street East as a temporary homeless shelter amid the pandemic.

"We've got kids young as seven going to this school and there are people injecting drugs right on the steps of the school building as they are coming out, drug and drug dealing are not something kids should be around," said Jennifer Franssen Keenan, whose son attends St. Michael's Choir School. "I feel we've been close to disaster."

Parents say they have raised concerns about the spill over from nearby safe injection sites with the city.

Security has been hired for the school and a police officer can be seen patrolling during drop-off and pick-up times.

"It makes me very scared, everyday that my children come to schoo,l I am scared," said parent Claudia Esposito.

Parents are concerned the shelter, which has seen its lease previously extended, may become permanent and are calling on the city to relocate it.

"It's not compatible with school children. The situation has been escalating and hasn't gotten any better," said Keenan. "They need support and treatment and not right on the steps of an elementary and high school."

The city says a number of safety initiatives and measures have been put in place for the site, including a team of four staff who provide security within the building and two community safety staff who provide onsite support inside the shelter and in the immediate area 24/7. There are also Community Safety Teams who patrol the area and pick up needles and harm reduction materials.

The shelter is operated by Dixon Hall, which participates in regular safety and security table meetings to hear and address concerns from the neighbourhood.

"Most of the people who are using on the streets are not residents of the Bond necessarily, they may be people who are drawn to the neighbourghood because of the other services that exists in the neighbourhood," said David Reycraft, director of housing for Dixon Hall. "There are systems in place, there is a safety plan."

Ward 13 city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam shares the neighbourghood's concerns.

"There are a number of interventions and actions taken to mitigate the social challenges that we see, but obviously the long term solution to this conflict is to get permanent housing," said Wong-Tam who opposes keeping the shelter at the site permanently.

The lease is set to expire in April 2022, but there is growing concern the city may make the shelter permanent after it applied to the federal government for funding to purchase hotels to be converted into affordable housing.

Joan Hunter owns the Jazz Bistro and finds drug paraphernalia daily outside her business. Hunter says staff and customers have been harassed.

"We dealt with extreme conditions in our parking lot including drug paraphernalia and fear for the staff; just unsafe working conditions and it seems to be getting worse," Hunter said.

Hunter says she sympathizes with the need to help the homeless population, but has written a letter to city officials objecting to keeping the shelter at the hotel permanently.

"It does not make sense to me that you would take homeless people and put them in a shelter and put them in the center of your tourist area, there's got to be a better way to help these people."

The city says it continually explores options to ensure its most vulnerable residents have access to shelter, but couldn't confirm what the future holds for the Bond Hotel site.

"This includes plans to continue services at temporary shelter sites to support physical distancing measures, until at least April 2022 as we continue to follow the guidance of the City's Medical Officer of Health and Provincial guidelines related to COVID-19 for congregate living settings," said city spokesperson Anthony Toderian in a statement to CTV News Toronto.

"The city is actively working with owners of the hotels to discuss lease extension to at least April 2022.Until these discussions are complete, the City is not in a position to release the hotel names or locations."

The city is currently working to create a broader transition plan that involves the restoration and decommissioning of hotels used for physical distancing, as well as individual case management for people staying at these locations to transition them to housing, where possible, or other appropriate shelter locations.

Timelines will depend on any future changes to physical distancing public health guidance and availability of additional affordable and supportive housing opportunities and shelter demand.

"A dedicated temporary staff team will be responsible for the implementation of the transition and relocation plan over the next 12 months," the statement read.

However, Toderian said the plan will continue to evolve over the coming months based on situational updates and monitoring of available data.