Toronto’s largest temporary homeless respite center will soon close for the season.
On Tuesday, the City of Toronto announced it has stopped accepting new admissions to its 24-hour site at the Better Living Center (BLC) at Exhibition Place, with the plan to completely close that location by March 15.
“The city is working to transfer clients to other spaces within the shelter system and those who have submitted applications for refugee status will have the opportunity to transfer to hotels outside of Toronto operated by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada,” the city said. from Toronto. in a Feb. 20 press release.
To help offset the closure of this location, service is being adjusted at two other locations until the city’s winter season programming concludes on April 15.
Starting in mid-March, the 60-space warming center at 75 Elizabeth St., near Bay and Dundas streets, will transition to a 24-hour respite program.
Metro Hall at 55 John St. will also be available for use as a warming center with seating for about 45 people when temperatures reach -5 C or when Environment Canada issues a winter weather event warning, the city said.
Speaking with CP24 Tuesday afternoon, Gord Tanner, general manager of the city’s Shelter, Supportive and Housing Administration (SSHA), said the early closure of the respite program at the Better Living Center was something they had been planning .
He noted adjustments that have been made at other sites to meet any additional shelter demand, as well as accommodations being arranged for those currently using the program at the Exhibition Place site.
“Everyone currently in the Better Living Center will be offered a referral to another space in our shelter system, in addition to working closely with our colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, some people will be will offer support to move to another community in Ontario. continue with their work to access permanent housing,” he said.
This winter season, the City of Toronto is also operating 24-hour winter respite sites at 20 Gerrard St. E. and 502 Spadina Ave. The Gerrard location, which opened Nov. 15, has approximately 30 spaces for vulnerable youth, while the one in Spadina, which opened Nov. 27, has 50 spaces for people who identify as men.
The closure of the Better Living Center respite center is nothing new, as the city had indicated in December that the site at 195 Princes’ Blvd. must be vacant by March 25 for another contracted reservation.
“The city thanks Exhibition Place for their partnership in helping the city provide these services,” he said in a statement.
The temporary respite at the Better Living Center first opened Dec. 21 as a 240-bed program, but expanded to 300 all-gender spaces when extreme cold weather hit earlier this year. The respite at the BLC has been operating at full capacity since opening, the city said.
“The city is encouraged that so many people have been helped by the services available at the Better Living Centre. “We recognize that more supports like this are needed and that is why the Winter Services Plan continues to evolve to address the current challenges faced by homeless people,” the City of Toronto said in a statement.
The city is asking anyone who needs to access space at these sites to call Central Intake at 416-338-4766 or 1-877-338-3398.
As part of its 2023/2024 Winter Services Plan for homeless people, the city also added approximately 180 spaces to the shelter system and activated four warming centers for when temperatures reach -5 C or below, as well as additional spaces for emergency cases when it drops to -15 C.
An additional 140 hours of operation were also added at 10 city-funded drop-in locations across the city during the winter season.
In addition, assistance teams are sent to the streets when temperatures reach -15C in an effort to encourage people to go indoors, the city said.
Work is also underway to lease 275 available housing units throughout the winter.
In the last three months, approximately 11,000 people have used Toronto’s shelter system.
The city currently provides shelter to approximately 9,800 people at any given time in the shelter system, while another 2,000 homeless people are supported outside of Toronto’s shelter system. Almost half of those seeking emergency shelter in the city are refugees and/or asylum seekers.
This month, an average of 144 people per day seeking shelter in Toronto were turned away due to lack of capacity.
SSHA’s Tanner said it’s “critically important” that the city continue its work to support people experiencing homelessness in Toronto, especially efforts to secure permanent housing for them, which he said happens every day with support “narrow” of community partners. as well as the provincial and federal government.
“And we continue to support people as best we can to get them into permanent housing with the support they need,” he added.
“The long-term solution to homelessness is housing and that is something the city and the mayor of Toronto have largely embraced. “We are building more supportive housing in the city of Toronto than we have in decades.”
Tanner went on to say that a “huge gap” still exists and efforts continue to address it.
“We will continue to work as hard as we can to get people out of the shelter system and into supportive housing to the best of our ability while we continue to work with other levels of government to build housing as quickly as possible in Toronto.” he said.