Toronto's homeless community demands better winter plan from city
Toronto's homeless community and their supporters are demanding a better plan from the city for the coming winter.
The Shelter Housing Justice Network, which represents members of the homeless community and those who work with them, issued a report Tuesday with several recommendations.
The group wants the city to extend leases it holds on hotels that are used to house the homeless during the pandemic.
The group also wants to city to allow the homeless to camp in public spaces.
"The city must repeal the no-camping bylaw," said Greg Cook, an outreach worker at Sanctuary Ministries Toronto. "People have the right to exist."
Homeless encampments popped up throughout the city when COVID-19 hit in March 2020. Hundreds fled shelters for fear of contracting the virus.
The city won a court battle last year that upheld its powers to enact and enforce the no-camping bylaw.
This past summer, the city cleared three encampments in public parks, some of it by force from the police riot squad. The city said the encampments were not safe.
The overdose crisis in the province is also hitting the homeless at a much higher rate than the general public.
On Tuesday, advocates added 16 names -- many John Does -- on a memorial for homeless people who have died on the streets and in shelters during August and September.
"We are in the middle of an escalating overdose crisis," Cook said at the memorial outside the Holy Trinity church.
"Our loved ones and fiends are dying. Half of the people who die without housing die of drug toxicity -- this is alarming and must be addressed."
Jennifer Jewell, who lived in an encampment before taking the city's offer to move in to a shelter hotel downtown 10 months ago, said safe housing should be the city's highest priority.
"We need housing now, people need to be provided safe spaces to heal, they need homes," Jewell said.
While shelter hotels provide a room, she said the city needs to offer more harm reduction because she's seen many die in her hotel alone. She said it took the city 11 months to set up a peer-support program to help with the overdoses.
"Please help us," Jewell said. "Police are no solution."
The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the groups' recommendations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NDP motion regarding Palestinian statehood passes after major Liberal alterations
A motion from the federal New Democrats initially calling on Canada to recognize the 'State of Palestine' passed amid widespread acrimony on Monday, after the Liberals drastically altered its wording to see the government simply work towards that aim as part of a two-state solution.
'He didn't want to die': Family of Calgary man killed in standoff speaks out
Family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week are speaking out, sharing details of the tense and heart-wrenching experience.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder
An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
5 charged in Calgary kidnappings that targeted women
Calgary police have charged five men in a pair of kidnappings last year that targeted innocent victims.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Canadian commander of volunteer fighter group dies in Ukraine
A Canadian-born commander of the so-called Norman Brigade, a volunteer fighting group in Ukraine, has died.