Respite centre set to open at Exhibition Place as city unveils winter shelter plan

A 240-bed respite centre is set to open downtown Thursday as part of the city’s efforts to care for the unhoused population this winter.

The 24-hour respite centre located at the Better Living Centre on the Exhibition Place grounds will offer resting spaces, meals and service referrals.

The city says that 40 spaces will be added each day, starting Thursday, until full capacity is operational on Dec. 26. The program will run there until late March.

The centre is just one part of the city’s overall plan to try and take care of the unhoused population as the temperatures drop even further.

The plan also includes additional shelter spaces, warming centres and youth shelter spaces.

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However, city officials say that despite all their efforts, it is still not enough. Since September, an average of around 200 people per night are regularly turned away from the city’s shelter system because there's not enough room. That number has trended up into the 300s more recently.

The city has said repeatedly that a growing part of the problem is that refugees and asylum-seekers make up a large part of the city’s unhoused population and that the federal government does not do enough to house them after they arrive.

There have been a number of overtures to the federal government recently to provide more services and funding. In particular, the city is calling on Ottawa to provide matching funds to unlock provincial money for the shelter system.

“I think there's no denying anywhere in the city or in this country that homelessness and the affordable housing crisis is something that has become a human emergency in every town and city,” Coun. Alejandra Bravo said at a news conference Wednesday. “What you've heard today is the City of Toronto stretching again to meet this demand.”

The city estimates it will cost $250 million to care for refugees in the shelter system in 2024 as part of the overall $747 million budget for Shelter, Support and Housing, up from $200 million this year.

The provincial government has pledged $600 million for the city’s shelter system over the next three years, but that is conditional upon federal money coming to the table as well

According to the latest figures, the city currently supports 9,370 people in the shelter system and 1,811 people outside the shelter system, in bridging hotels and other programs supported by the Canadian Red Cross, for a total of 11,181.

Some 48 per cent of those are refugees, according to the city.

“I think it's important to remember that you know, the City of Toronto is meeting our needs, providing services outside of its jurisdiction,” Bravo said. “Refugees are not the City of Toronto's jurisdiction, but the need is being attended to here with care.”

In the fall, the city made a request through the provincial government to use the federal armories as shelter space. However Defence Minister Bill Blair has said that would not be an appropriate use for the facility as it is needed by the Department Of Defence. The city has also requested other federal space be made available, but the federal government has not yet said whether it has any buildings available to use as shelter space.