Chow calls for 250 more shelter beds for refugees as key item in 1st council meeting as Toronto mayor

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is calling on the city to open 250 additional shelter spaces for refugees as she takes part in her first council meeting as mayor.

In a statement ahead of the meeting Wednesday, Chow said that she will be moving an urgent motion to address the refugee crisis as her first key item.

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“We’re in a crisis. Toronto’s shelters are full, and so are the dedicated spaces for refugees the city has opened,” Chow said in the statement. “Refugees who come to our country fleeing persecution deserve dignified housing and the services they need for settlement.”

She said her motion calls on council to open 150 more spaces “immediately” primarily through renewing hotel contracts. Another 100 spaces would be identified in the coming days, though she acknowledged that “finding space continues to be a challenge.”

Speaking with reporters, Chow suggested that a processing centre near Pearson International Airport to match newcomers with appropriate services could be part of the solution.

Her motion also calls on council to continue working with the provincial and federal governments on the immediate crisis as well as a long-term plan.

At the same time Chow released a separate statement saying she and Premier Doug Ford are working together to address the issue through a one-time top-up to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit.

“To urgently do more to address this crisis, Ontario and Toronto are each funding a one-time top-up to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit to help move more people into permanent housing and quickly free-up spaces in the city’s shelter system,” the two said in a statement. “Ontario and Toronto are each providing $6.67 million to support another 1,350 individuals and families in the city.

They added that historically, the federal government contributes two-thirds of the cost of the program.

“To meet this commitment to help even more people move into permanent housing, we strongly urge the federal government to provide $26.7 million in funding,” Chow and Ford said.

The move comes a day after the federal government announced money to help cities deal with asylum seekers, including around $97 million for Toronto.

FEDS SAY ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN SEPARATE STREAMS

Speaking with CTV News, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser drew a distinction between people who arrive through approved federal refugee programs and those who seek asylum once they land in the country.

“It's very important to understand that when we're dealing with refugees, people who've been brought in deliberately through government programs, we have extensive supports – income supports for their families and funding to the organizations that provide services to them, including helping them find housing, provide language training, employment assistance, and other measures,” Fraser said. “There's a distinction between people who come through those programs and asylum seekers who have fled violence, war and persecution, but were not brought in through a formal government program.”

He admitted that he wasn’t sure exactly how many of those who have been sleeping on Toronto streets recently fit into each category, but said the federal government was “seeking clarity” on that from the city.

“The amount that we put forward is the precise amount the City of Toronto had requested just a few months ago,” Fraser said. “And I know that while the mayor is indicating she'd like to see more cash, they recently put up about $6 million compared to a federal investment of $212 million for the country, $97 million of which is going to help address this challenge in the City of Toronto.”

Toronto is facing a massive budgetary shortfall, in part because the federal government declined to provide further help with the lingering fallout from the pandemic. A staff report before council this week calls on the city to delay or cancel some $300 million in capital funding to help deal with the crunch. The cash-strapped city has repeatedly argued that the federal government should at least be paying for areas within its purview, such as costs related to immigration and refugees.

Fraser said that the federal government will come to the table with “serious money” to deal with the problem, but said the government would like to see it spent within the framework of a wider discussion on housing.

“To the extent that we want to have conversations about support beyond this fiscal year, we're going to have in-depth conversations about how we build up the shelter capacity and housing supply in the City of Toronto and across Canada more broadly,” he said. “That is a much bigger conversation because people who come here on their own, not through a federal program, are going to tap into the same housing supply that Canadians tap into, the same shelter system that Canadians tap into.”

CITY SAYS FEDERAL MONEY NOT ENOUGH TO ADDRESS ‘CRISIS’

Fraser said the money announced this week should address Toronto’s concerns. But echoing a statement from the GTHA Mayors and Chairs, the city said in a statement Wednesday that it’s not enough.

“Together the Mayors and Chairs agree that the money received yesterday by the Federal government is not enough. As the City of Toronto has been flagging for over a year – we are in a state of crisis when it comes to homelessness, shelter and refugees,” city spokesperson Lindsay Broadhead said in an email. “The money received yesterday does not cover the crisis that has been escalating and continues to grow.”

A flood of asylum seekers have been sleeping on the streets of Toronto outside of the shelter intake centre on Peter Street for the past few weeks after the city said it could no longer accommodate the huge volume of refugees in the shelter system and started referring them to federal programs.

The city has said that around 3,000 refugees make up a third of the population using the shelter system in Toronto. Federal support to the city for refugees is granted in a piecemeal way rather than through a regular sustained program.

Advocates have called for both the city and other levels of government to do more, saying the refugees are being used as “pawns.”

Other Ontario municipalities have recently said that they too have been overwhelmed by the recent influx of asylum seekers.

Ford and Chow called on the federal government to also do more to help refugees and asylum seekers to quickly gain employment, pointing out that Ontario needs to fill 300,000 jobs.

'NOT A PERMANENT SOLUTION’

Community and faith groups and individuals have stepped up to help over the past few days, busing 230 refugees to a church in North York.

Judith James, pastor and founder of The Beautiful Foundation, is one of those helping. She told CP24 Wednesday that “the need is great” even though those bused in now have a roof over their heads.

She said monetary gifts, pillows, blankets, flip flops, ziplock bags and food are among the items that the refugees need.

B’Nai Brith Canada said Wednesday that it would be distributing fresh food at the church, Revivaltime Tabernacle Downsview, and will follow up with 4,000 pounds of clothing on Friday.

James said that while the response from community groups has helped, the current response cannot be the long-term solution to the ongoing problem.

“I think I want to make this message very clear. This is not a solution. Right? They are still on the floor, a lot of them,” James said.

She said while mats and cots have been donated, people ultimately need housing.

“This is a very temporary solution. You’ve got pregnant women who are on cots. They deserve to be in a bed,” she said.

She said the groups helping out are rallying together, but long-term programs are needed.

“We want the government to answer the call,” James said. “We need them to respond immediately.”