The federal government said it will be providing $15 million to help ease a shortage of temporary housing in Toronto, especially during the winter months.
The announcement was made in a news release issued by the Liberal government on Friday amid an extreme cold weather alert in the city.
“We appreciate the city of Toronto’s willingness to collaborate and to find solutions together to help those in need of shelter,” Minister of border security and organized crime reduction Bill Blair said in the news release.
The federal government provided the city of Toronto with $11 million to help address this situation in June 2018. The additional funding announced on Friday comes amid a “greater demand” for shelter space in Toronto this past year “due to the impacts of global migration,” the federal government said.
“I want to thank the government of Canada for providing this additional and immediate financial assistance in response to the city’s request,” Tory said Friday. “We are working to help refugee claimants and asylum seekers who arrive in Toronto, but we have been clear that we cannot do this alone.”
“We will continue to work with the federal and provincial governments to help address this ongoing issue.”
The federal government said it is looking towards developing a “cost-sharing agreement” with the province of Ontario to address “the challenge that asylum claims and irregular migration present.”
“While Mayor Tory has been a particularly important partner, I continue to engage with Minister MacLeod and believe the government of Ontario is best placed to distribute funds for housing pressures,” Blair said. “I look forward to continue working with Ontario.”
Toronto’s medical officer of health issued another extreme cold weather alert for the city on Friday morning ahead of very cold temperatures overnight that could feel like -23C with the wind chill.
The alert remains in effect until further notice.
