Homeless encampment clearings cost the City of Toronto more than $1.5 million this summer
The City of Toronto has released information on the cost of multiple encampment clearings that took place over the summer.
According to the city, the clearing of homeless encampments in three public parks and subsequent clean-up cost just shy of $2 million.
The city released the numbers, breaking the costs down into staffing, landscaping and fencing on Friday. The breakdown, as provided by the city, is as follows:
Staffing costs associated with trespass enforcement, including contracted security costs:
- Trinity Bellwoods Park - $416,690
- Alexandra Park - $200,049
- Lamport Stadium Park- $223,388
Landscaping restoration costs:
- Trinity Bellwoods Park - $54,700
- Alexandra Park- $375,156
- Lamport Stadium Park - $362,812
Total fencing costs: approximately $357,000
The city began clearing encampments in late June, citing safety concerns. According to the city, unregulated temporary structures present a threat of uncontrolled fires, while also breaking municipal bylaws.
“The enforcement followed several months of engagement with encampment occupants to encourage them to come inside where they have access to meals, laundry, medical and social supports, and a housing worker,” a release from the city reads.
The first clearing took place in Trinity Bellwoods Park on June 22. The removal saw clashes between activists and police. Police reported “several” arrests soon afterwards and later announced three charges.
The city says that 30 metric tonnes of debris and 25 metric tonnes of “contaminated grass, soil and sand” were removed from the property following the clearing.
Approximately a month later, encampments in Lamport Stadium and Alexandra Park were removed. These clearings were also met with protests and resulted in 35 total arrests.
The city says 19.5 metric tonnes of debris were removed from Alexandra Park and nine metric tonnes were removed from Lamport Stadium.
Housing activists and protestors have been consistent in their opposition to the clearings.
In late July, the Encampment Support Network called for the resignation of Toronto Mayor John Tory, saying the encampment clearings were a “brutal assault” on the city’s homeless population.
“They are brutalizing people indiscriminately, including the residents of encampments. Tory has compared what happened at Lamport to the previous day’s eviction at Alexandra Park, saying the former was only violent because of the presence of protesters. This ignores the reality that forced displacement is in itself violent,” the group said.
The group called on the city to adopt recommendations put forward by the Toronto Drop-In Network, outlined in a document titled “A Path Forward,” which claims that forcible removal of the homeless community “has no place in a caring, compassionate society” and “does not address the issues [the city is] trying to solve.”
Those recommendations were echoed in a separate letter penned by councillors Shelley Carroll, Mike Layton, Josh Matlow, Gordon Perks and Kristyn Wong-Tam.
Since the start of the pandemic, the city says it has referred 835 people from four major encampments to indoor shelter. That includes 94 people referred from Trinity Bellwoods, 169 people referred from Alexandra Park, 159 people referred from Lamport Stadium and 413 people referred from Moss Park.
The city has not released the percentage of those individuals that ultimately secured long-term indoor housing from the referrals.
The city also says that, since mid-December 2020, it has opened more than 570 supportive homes, adding that its “planning to open more than 900 permanent, affordable and supportive homes over the next 12 months.”
The city also says that a number of amenities have been able to reopen since the clearings.
“Following enforcement, the parks have been open to all residents,” the city said.
“Children's summer day camps closed due to the encampment were able to open in Alexandra Park along with the splash pad, pool, dry pad and rink including a pop-up skateboard park, and community garden [and] permits for use of the sports field at Lamport Stadium that were cancelled as a result of encampments have now resumed.”
On Thursday, the City announced that it made three additional arrests in connection with a protest that occurred outside Toronto Police’s 14 Division following the clearings in July. They also released images of eight individuals who police say are outstanding suspects in connectin with assaults on officers.
With files from CTV Toronto's Phil Tsekouras and CP24's Kerrisa Wilson.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.