Toronto neighbourhood divided over city's plan to open new respite centre

A downtown Toronto neighbourhood is divided after the city recently announced that it intends to open a new 24-hour respite centre for people experiencing homelessness in the community.

And while some are welcoming this “low-barrier,” social service program into their community, others feel that the city needs to find a different location for it elsewhere.

The site in question is a commercial building at 629 Adelaide St. W., just west of Bathurst Street, in what is known as the Niagara area.

The city’s plan is for the new respite, which will eventually accommodate up to 80 people, to be ready to open its doors by early next year.

This new facility essentially replaces now-closed respite centre at 25 Augusta Ave., which is being redeveloped into 31 units of long-term affordable housing.

That centre in the Queen West area was operated by St. Felix Centre, which will also be running the new one on Adelaide.

The location of this new respite and what it will entail only recently came to light.

Long-time area resident Nicole Rajakovic told CP24.com that she found out about the proposed site a week or so ago from a local crossing guard, who expressed his vehement opposition to it.

“I’m not against (the respite). … The way that I see it, we live in a neighbourhood that does have a lot of social services currently and that can be hard, but I also know that I live downtown so I expect to see a bit more than I did growing up in Etobicoke,” she said late Thursday afternoon.

Rajakovic said in the last few weeks she’s seen strongly worded posters around her area and “harmful tropes” that she said are breeding fear in people as they unfairly equate homelessness and shelters with violence, drug paraphernalia, and other negative stereotypes.

“I think you’re more likely to be hurt by a car in this neighbourhood than to be attacked by someone using a respite,” she said, adding providing community members with more information should help empower them and in turn reduce some of that rhetoric.

She also urged people in the neighbourhood with concerns about safety to continually bring them up with the local councillor and to get involved in advocating for leaders to address bigger issues like the housing, drug poisoning, and affordability crises.

The mother of two also noted that the location of this respite isn’t something that’s up for debate, adding instead residents and local business owners should be working with the city to make it a success.

“We can’t have people who are determined for this to be a failure. … It’s hard to build from there,” said Rajakovic, who attended one of several online meeting this week for local stakeholders about the site.

“Going in on the attack is never going to get you what you need. … I think that the shared concern is how we make that space work,” she said.

A public meeting is scheduled to take place next month about the new respite. A community liaison committee will also be set up in the near future.

Curtis Priest, a local parent and business owner who serves as the president of the Garment District Neighbourhood Association, said he found out about the city’s plans for 629 Adelaide St. W. after some local moms saw posters and raised concerns online.

Priest, who also sits on the board of his condo, told CP24.com that he was “shocked” that the community wasn’t directly told about or consulted on this important development.

He along with a number of parents, residents, and local business owners have since come together to form a group they’re calling Niagara Neighbours for Community Safety (NNCS) as they galvanize their opposition to the centre at that location.

“Our Number One main concern is the proximity of this site to schools and the kind of programming it will be offering,” Priest said on Thursday afternoon, just hours before they held a protest outside the site.

The group, which has also created a Facebook group and launched an online petition, is also concerned about the impact they believe this site will have on public safety, it’s location in a densely-populated neighbourhood, and the city’s “lack of process, transparency, and proactive public consultation with the community.”

Among other things, Priest pointed to concerns some have about the high volume of shelters and other social service programs in the area, the new respite site’s lack of greenspace and its proximity to a supervised consumption site, and drug paraphernalia in local school yards and violent incidents connected to this centre.

He said for these reasons what is proposed for 629 Adelaide is “unacceptable.”

Priest also underlined that this pushback from the community is not a “not-in-my-back-yard situation,” but part of an effort to partner with the city to get “meaningful, in-person discussion with (it) to find an appropriate use for this space that will not impact the safety and security of our children.”

“(Respites) have to be in certain spaces that makes sense, that can accommodate them, and that are appropriate,” he said, adding, if necessary, NNCS is prepared to take its concerns to the province if a solution can’t be reached with the city.

“We would rather not be an adversary.”

A newly formed group called Niagara Neighbours for Community Safety held a protest outside a proposed respite site at 629 Adelaide St. W. on Oct. 26.

Brian Harris, the executive director of St. Felix Centre, attended some of those meetings and told CP24.com that it’s been hard navigating all of the negative rhetoric and dealing with a barrage of angry, and often times misinformed, community members who oppose the new respite centre.

“I’m not sure why people feel that it’s OK to have a sense of entitlement to say where people should have access to social services,” he said.

“People are very emotionally escalated. … It has been disappointing, but this is also something that I personally don’t want to give a lot of oxygen to. I’m not eager to give a platform to something that I feel shouldn’t have one.”

Harris said narratives that unhoused people are dangerous, addicted criminals are both untrue and unfair.

“Making sweeping generalization about an entire group of people doesn’t lead to constructive dialogue,” he said.

He urged people to direct their energy to advocating for solutions to the homelessness crisis.

“Sheltering is not what anybody wants, but we have a big fire to put out,” he said.

“We’re trying to meet an emergency need and we’re not losing sight that housing is the solution to homelessness, but you still have to keep people alive in the meantime.”

Harris said their goal is to get people off the street in the interim and help them find a good place to live.

He said that despite these initial tensions, he’s confident that this new respite will become part of the neighbourhood in due time.

“I think we’ll be fine and we’ll integrate into the community,” he said, adding St. Felix has received many messages of support from neighbourhoods since this news came out.

An outside shot of a commercial building that will soon become a new respite centre at 629 Adelaide St. W. (Google Maps iphto)

On Oct. 12, local Coun. Ausma Malik shared more details about the new respite on her website, noting that the city has a “fundamental duty to house residents safely.”

“We must act now, especially as winter approaches, to improve housing stability. I unreservedly support providing shelter for our unhoused neighbours,” she wrote.

“Patrons of these facilities are our fellow Torontonians: they deserve respect and the opportunity to be welcomed to the community as they work towards long-term housing.”

One of the key points Malik raised is that city staff have a delegated authority to establish shelters anywhere in the city that meet zoning bylaws and other required criteria.

“This was done to help speed up and depoliticize the shelter development process and is consistent with a human rights-based approach to housing and related services for vulnerable residents,” she noted.

“St. Felix is a trusted long-term non-profit partner with considerable experience in providing homelessness services to those in need. They also have a proven track record of meaningful engagement with local communities in the vicinity of their sites. … I have faith that they will continue this good work at their new location.”

In a statement provided to CP24 late Thursday afternoon, Malik said that over the past few weeks she’s heard from many residents with concerns about the relocation of the respite and that she understands that some may have concerns.

“I am listening closely and take them very seriously, as a neighbour, as a former school board trustee and as who I am moving through the city,” she said, adding more than 300 people in Toronto cannot access safe indoor space every night.

Malik said working together in a “solutions-focused way” is the answer.

“(It’s) plain to anyone walking down the street or through local parks that we're leaving people behind in this neighbourhood right now. … In a city like ours, we should have everything that we need to thrive and that means safe, secure, dignified housing that all of us can afford. We know that shelters and respites are not the answer to homelessness. A diversity of affordable, accessible and appropriate housing is,” she said.

“To do this, we also need the provincial and federal governments to step up to their responsibility and work with us to solve the housing crisis and end chronic homelessness. Every MPP and MP should be working in their respective level of government to advance this.”