Seaton House closure delayed
City struggling to secure funding for project to move residents of downtown homeless shelter
The closure of Toronto’s largest homeless shelter, Seaton House, has been delayed as the City of Toronto struggles to secure funding for the project, Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said. Wong-Tam, whose downtown ward includes Seaton House, said the city still needs $475 million of a total of $562 million to replace the “woefully inadequate” shelter, which was originally scheduled to shut down this year. Staff are also still working to find new shelter spaces for those who use Seaton House’s 634 beds.
“No one at Seaton House will be left without accommodations,” Wong-Tam said. “We will not be able to proceed without that caveat being met.”
Seaton House sits behind a black metal fence on George St., nestled among redbrick townhouses in varying states of glamour and disrepair. Though it’s mere minutes away from the glitz of the Eaton Centre and more affluent neighbourhoods like Cabbagetown, this area of the downtown east is known more for graffiti-splattered walls, piles of trash and high levels of crime.
Since March 2016, Seaton House staff have also been dealing with a stubborn strep outbreak.
“No one will walk up that street,” said Glen Simourd, 78, who said he’s lived a block south of Seaton House for roughly 44 years.
“People are afraid to. (There’s) open drug activity for all to see.”
In 2013, city council decided to demolish and replace the aging Seaton House facility.
The new building will include 100 emergency shelter spaces, 378 longterm care beds, 130 assisted-living units and an affordable housing component.
However, not everyone who currently stays at Seaton House will be able to return.
The city estimates about 200 clients will qualify for space in the new building, while roughly 400 will need to be relocated permanently.
The city’s overburdened shelter system already needs up to 15 new facilities, including some to be placed in the suburbs, the Star reported in 2015.
Though moving clients away from their home area isn’t ideal, WongTam said the current high concentration of social housing in her downtown ward is making it difficult to get everyone the help they need.
“No other ward carries the social burden we do, not even close,” she said.
Danielle Koyama, a member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, said the city shouldn’t be moving Seaton House residents, some of whom have lived there for years, to suburban areas where they’re far away from downtown support services.
“Nobody’s advocating that Seaton House is a good place to live. It’s not,” Koyama said.
“They could replace the beds in the downtown core so that people are still close to services.”
Simourd said other homeowners in the area are frustrated by the delay, and the lack of information on when demolition will go ahead. Wong-Tam thanked George St. residents for their patience, saying the city is talking with the provincial and federal governments to try and secure more funding for the project.
“I don’t believe there’s any shortcuts for us,” she said.