INJUNCTION SOUGHT TO STOP TINY HOMELESS SHELTERS

The City of Toronto is asking a court to order a local man to stop building small wooden shelters for the homeless. The city filed an injunction application on Feb. 12 against Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter who has been building the small structures. The city wants an order that permanently stops Seivwright from placing or relocating structures on city-owned land. It cites bylaws that prohibit camping and living in city parks. Seivwright has been building the shelters since the fall and has raised more than $200,000 on Gofundme for materials. Homeless encampments have popped up throughout the city as hundreds fled shelters last year for fear of contracting COVID-19. Seivwright’s insulated, wooden “tiny shelters” are in numerous parks around the city. “I’m makin this post to let you all know that we have stopped building Tiny Shelters but will continue to do maintenance and relocating of shelters as people staying outside get into housing,” Seivwright said on his Gofundme page on Feb. 11. The city said the structures are not safe.