New shelter at less than half capacity
Only 47 homeless people spent the night at Better Living Centre facility with 110 cots
Amid the frigid cold weather gripping Toronto this week, a recently opened shelter at the Better Living Centre is reporting that it was less than half full Thursday night.
The centre has 110 cots available but the centre’s executive director reported that 55 people slept there Wednesday night, when temperatures fell to a low of -22 C, decreasing to 47 people Thursday night.
Homeless shelters across Toronto were bursting at the seams, with occupancy at 95 per cent Thursday night, above the 90-per-cent mandated maximum.
Cathy Crowe, a street nurse and advocate for services for homeless people, blamed the empty cots at the Better Living Centre on a lack of awareness of the respite site, which opened Dec. 21.
Accommodation for up to 100 was designed for the site by mid-January, with service for 20 begun immediately. But that was expanded quickly to 110.
“I just checked with some front-line outreach workers who thought capacity was still 20,” Crowe said.
She added the city “does a lousy job with communication” and that city staff and local media should do outreach work “with images showing nice cots, blankets, hot food being served . . . like you would in a natural disaster.”
A Star photographer was denied permission to take pictures inside the centre.
The centre is run by Fred Victor, an organization that provides shelter to homeless people in Toronto.
“Given it is a new service, there may be some awareness issues,” said executive director Mark Aston. “Most people are coming via the city-run assessment and referral centre at Peter St.”
The Better Living Centre is on the relatively isolated Exhibition Grounds in Toronto’s west end. The city said it adjusted the TTC 29 Dufferin bus route to drop people off outside the building.
Crowe also criticized the city’s transportation efforts, arguing that there should be “extra street outreach teams with vans” taking people to the centre.
More than 5,400 people are staying in shelters in Toronto, according to the city. So far, 80 homeless people have died in 2017.
Councillor Joe Mihevc told the Star that “we have built enough capacity to deal with the demand that was there on the street” Thursday night.
“I’m not sure what else we could do,” said Mihevc, who serves as the mayor’s poverty-reduction advocate on council.
He said street outreach teams encouraged people to go to shelters Thursday night, when temperatures fell to -16 C, with 36 people refusing.
“We give out tokens to people who are able to take the TTC . . . If you’ve injected drugs and are unable to take public transit, there’s a (free) taxi service,” he said. “If there’s something that’s missing, I would like to know and I would certainly advocate for that.”
Mihevc said there was also space at respite centres at Park Rd. and Cowan Ave.
Respite centres are temporary and do not have to meet the city’s shelter standards, such as having a shower facility.
“This really is a bandage on a bandage, these respite centres,” Mihevc said. “We can’t just flick a switch and open a fully functioning facility that adheres to our shelter standards, that takes a year.”
Aston, the Fred Victor director, said he hopes to add shower facilities and mental-health services to the Better Living Centre in the coming weeks.
They offer hot meals and accommodation for pets.
Aston said they could add 10 to 20 more cots if demand made it necessary.
“It is extremely hazardous to be outside for any length of time,” he said. “It’s that much more critical that the city shelter system can respond quickly and adequately to the needs of homeless people in the city.”
The centre, which will be open until April, was opened soon after city council voted to add 400 more beds for the homeless by the end of the winter.