Surge of refugees swamp city shelters
Toronto looking to expand contracts for hundreds of emergency beds at hotels, motels
Toronto’s shelter services have seen an unusual surge of refugee claimants over the past two years and are struggling to keep up with them.
According to a staff report heading to the city’s community development and recreation committee next week, the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) is projecting that by the end of the year it will have overspent $10.33 million on motel and hotel contracts to house refugee claimants.
Between 2016 and September of this year, the number of refugees staying in city shelters on a daily average shot up from 456 to 1,271.
This put existing refugee shelters at full capacity and forced the city to rent an additional 275 rooms with about 900 beds, according to the report.
Staff are recommending that council approve a $19-million funding proposal to prolong the response until the end of next year. City council will vote on the proposal at its November meeting.
“Staff believe the current spike in refugee claimants will continue into 2018,” Patricia Anderson, manager of partner- ship development and support at SSHA, said in an email.
She noted the majority in the new wave of refugee claimants are families from Nigeria, Eritrea and Ethiopia. There are geographic, political, economic and social factors that make people feel unsafe and want to seek better opportunities for themselves and their children, she added, including natural disasters, floods, droughts, political instability, totalitarian governments, civil war, persecution due to race, religion and sexual orientation.
The new surge of refugee claimants looking for accommodation forced SSHA to create emergency agreements with housing companies in the city.
In December 2016, the Toronto Plaza Hotel offered 70 rooms. In March, Quality Hotel and Suites was brought on board with 105 rooms. In May 2017, Radisson Hotel offered 70 rooms, and will expand to 100 by mid-November.
Anderson said the current financial pressures are a result of change in funding for emergency shelters. Until 2013, the province covered 80 per cent of the cost of any additional beds in the system. Now provincial funding is fixed.
“While immigration policy is under federal and provincial jurisdiction, it is municipalities that are responsible for providing services to all their residents, regardless of their immigration status,” she explained.