Respite centres pushed to limit
City’s bitter cold has throngs of people seeking refuge
It’s early afternoon and the lighting is dim inside the parish hall. There’s a faint smell of urine in the air. A woman coughs phlegm onto the floor. Two people adjust a crude barricade, cordoning off a corner from roughly 60 others who lie on mats.
This was what it looked like at a respite centre set up in All Saints Church on Dundas St. E. during last week’s record cold snap.
City-supported services such as this one, which is operated by Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services, are the only refuge for people who have nowhere else to go — and when temperatures dip, they can buckle under the pressure.
“The facility is not made to hold the people it’s holding right now,” said one man there, who identified himself only as Anthony.
“It’s like crabs in a bucket. It’s a band-aid solution.”
The Star visited All Saints on two consecutive days last week and observed that the washroom has one small sink and two toilets — not counting the one that’s out of commission — but no shower. There are no lockers to secure personal belongings.
It’s better than the alternative, Anthony continued, which can mean curling up in a stairwell or a desolate parking lot.
“You can’t blame it on the church,” he said. “There’s only so much they can do. I believe if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
Margaret’s runs two 24-hour win- ter respite centres on Dundas St. E., taking in, with the help of church staff on the parish hall side, upwards of 100 people every night, but that’s only a “stopgap measure,” says executive director Diane Walter.
“Overall, there’s a housing shortage,” Walter said. “All levels of government ought to be working collaboratively to solve the homelessness issue.”
The organization has a third respite centre on 21 Park Rd.
Anthony told the Star the parish hall can be erratic at times, oscillating between calm and hostility. Drug deals outside, shouting matches, fullfledged fights, all occur at Margaret’s, sometimes daily, said David, who wanted to be identified by his first name only.
“At times, it can be very crowded and you don’t really see it or feel it until the personality clashes and fights start,” he said.
“It’s a risk just going in there. Something could happen at any given moment in time.”
Behaviour that poses a risk to staff or clients can get a person removed, Walter said, and sometimes police are called.
A service restriction wouldn’t be issued in weather as cold as this, she added, and if a client is asked to leave, another place is selected for them to go to.
Leon Alward said he was restricted for two weeks in November when he got into a verbal argument with staff.
“They actually called the police on me and two other people that didn’t have their bed rolled up and put away,” he said.
Walter said she wasn’t aware of Alward’s case, specifically.
Alward, 46, said the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society, where he volunteers, allowed him to sleep under its trailer in Moss Park for two weeks until he could return to the church.
He is currently at the Streets to Homes Assessment and Referral Centre, located on Peter St., transitional housing that helps people find a permanent place to live. He said he hopes a home is found soon for him.
Although the St. Felix Centre can hold fewer people — overnight capacity sits at 50 — things seem a little better at its respite service on Augusta Ave.
Near the reception desk, four people surf the internet listening to rap music on YouTube. During the week staff assist clients in finding stable housing, said Brian Harris, executive director at St. Felix.
The facility includes five washrooms, one of which has a shower, harm reduction supplies and a shipping container for storage.
Homelessness is a complex issue to solve, Harris said, and the stress on the shelter system can be attributed, at least partially, to the state of mental-health services in the city.
“There’s not the requisite amount of supportive services available for people when they are in a crisis,” he said. “There needs to be an evaluation of current mental health legislation.”
The city’s six respite centres are low-barrier, 24-hour services that operate on a seasonal basis. They served 390 people on Jan. 4. Bedding is a mat on the floor and a blanket.
Shelters, on the other hand, are open year-round and must meet health and safety standards established by the city, which include infection control policies, protective equipment and, if necessary, to ensure safety, bed inspection procedures, according to a city shelter standards document that is posted online.
“This winter has stretched resources across the city,” said Councillor Lucy Troisi, whose ward includes the two Margaret’s sites at Dundas and Sherbourne Sts.
“Low-barrier services like winter respite centres are a piece of the puzzle in an emergency but ultimately, we know that we have a lack of affordable housing in Toronto,” Troisi said.