‘Embarrassed’ by homeless encampments, Tory says

Toronto Mayor John Tory says he has a “deep concern” about the number of people sleeping on the streets of Toronto and the encampments that persistently pop up in the downtown.

“I don’t know how it can be a positive thing even for people who are going by who would like to feel a sense of pride in their own city, let alone visitors,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

“It’s not that I’m embarrassed about it. I mean I am embarrassed about it, but it’s more that I just feel, morally, surely we can do better than this.”

The extent of the problem confronts the mayor every day as he walks from the subway to city hall. There is one man who sleeps on a bench on University Avenue. One or two others seek shelter in a covered area near Osgoode Hall. The lineup that snakes around the corner for the law society’s free breakfast Thursday morning troubles him terribly, he said.

Mr. Tory has called a meeting with rental housing developers to figure out what the city can do to get them building more affordable housing, but he says the issue is much bigger than anything the municipality can tackle on its own. For those who suffer from a mental illness, it’s a matter of proper health care, and that falls on the provincial government.

He has gone out on rounds with shelter staff whose job it is to coax the homeless inside and seen how difficult that can be.

“When I was a talk show host, people would come on and say, well, you can’t have these people sleeping on the street, it’s unsightly. And I’d say, well, OK, what would you have us do with them?” he said.

Sending them to a hospital wouldn’t work because the facilities are already maxed out and people could sign themselves out anyhow, he said.

“Would you take them to jail? Some people would say yes, and I’d say, well, come on, get serious. Charged with what?”

Homelessness has received added attention this year after a string of deaths of people braving the elements overnight. His inaugural draft budget includes a proposal to add 181 shelter beds to the system, which he admits is mostly a stop-gap measure but important because he refuses to accept that people will be turned away. What is needed is more “supportive housing,” he said, and affordable housing.

“I am having meetings and trying to do something about it but I don’t have a magic wand that I can wave,” said Mr. Tory. The city is also looking to the federal and provincial governments to contribute to a massive repair backlog at its subsidized housing provider.

The question of funding from the federal government will be front and centre at a meeting of the mayors of Canada’s largest cities in Toronto on Thursday. It marks a return to the table for Toronto, which eschewed participation under previous mayor Rob Ford.

Mr. Tory says he’s going with a focus on jobs and creating an environment for Toronto to attract investment. To that end, the federal government needs to start funding on a predictable basis transit, transportation and infrastructure projects in major urban centres, Mr. Tory argues.

He’s hoping the meeting will produce a game plan.

“I think transit and transportation and infrastructure is something where the federal government buys into the connection between those investments and job creation. And I certainly do. I think they’re an essential and integral part to attracting jobs and investment,” he said.