‘Last resort’ housing program strained
Out of the Cold helps vulnerable people on street find a place to sleep and eat during winter months
David Howard Slade feels it is a bit early to know exactly what he thinks about his new home, but does say it is better than sleeping outside or on a porch.
Slade, 56, moved into Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Housing in Toronto about a week ago and is sharing a tidy townhouse with three men, thanks to the help of a client intervention worker he met through the Out of the Cold program.
The seasonal cold-relief, volunteer-run initiative operates out of 16 churches on a rotating schedule, synagogues and temples, and is a place where men and women can find food, a place to sleep and referrals to outside support services. This year, like every year, it shuts down in the spring. Last fall and winter, the number of overnight stays was recorded at 13,199, up 9 per cent from the previous year. Two surveys — one run by the city — are underway to assess the program and provide recommendations.
Most of the programs close in March, and Monday is the last night, with just 25 spots open at the Church of St. Aidan, on Queen St. E.
That means the more than 1,200 people, like Slade, who used the program this season will now be forced to find another place to sleep.
“So under the bridge will be busy this summer, if it is raining,” Slade said. “If it is not, the parks will be full.” New numbers on who uses the program will be published in “Out of the Cold Toronto: 30 Years Later — A Growing Crisis,” a report produced by Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Services following the collection of two years of data.
Dixon Hall receives city funding to track the program, ensure city shelter standards are met, run intake and security and hire a community intervention worker, but all other costs and labour are absorbed by the volunteer organizations.
The program is a “last resort” for vulnerable people, said Dixon Hall chief executive officer Neil Hetherington. It is also strained to the limit — with most or all of the spots taken shortly after the doors open — and two years away from the breaking point, unless it is expanded, or more supports are provided to help people get into housing.
Hetherington said they need funding to hire another worker like the one who helped Slade, to help get clients into homes. “They are all living complicated lives and we are asking them to live in these circumstances and navigate a very complex system” to get housing, he said.
“The longer you remain homeless, the more difficult it becomes.” CHRISTINE FOSTER SHELTER WORKER, DIXON HALL
Right now, that workload falls on Christine Foster, a shelter worker at Dixon Hall. “The longer you remain homeless, the more difficult it becomes,” Foster said. Of the 28 people she has helped find housing this year, 64 per cent have stayed. Foster said building trust with clients who have “been burnt in so many ways” and convincing landlords to rent are the biggest challenges. She says she tries to follow-up with everybody.
Slade was born in Toronto and worked as an electrician in Toronto Community Housing buildings and local clubs and theatres.
The last time he had housing was in the mid-1990s, before he took off on a “spiritual journey” to the United States, where he saw a pod of whales in the Pacific Ocean and swam in the Mississippi River, though the water was brown.
“I like aqua green and bluish tinges,” Slade said.
A fight with drug dealers in 2005 — he can’t remember what led up to it — ended with him falling from a third-floor apartment, resulting in a concussion, crushed spine and shoulder injuries and ongoing health issues, he said.
“That took me a couple years to recover . . . By then I was already injured and damaged and couldn’t afford a place,” he said. He is on the Ontario Disability Support Program and has struggled with addiction for two decades, he said.
He came to the Out of the Cold program about 10 years ago. It is not, he says candidly, where you want to sleep. “A lot of times there is a little bit of ruckus,” he said.
Slade said people are homeless for many reasons, and spoke about the challenges of renting in the private market, in a city with a massive waitlist for subsidized housing and where repair issues at Toronto Community Housing means units are being boarded up.
The Out of the Cold program was started in 1987, out of an old storefront, by the late Sister Susan Moran and has been described as a nightly migration of the Toronto’s most vulnerable citizens.
It was created in response to the beating death of a man, on the grounds of the school where Moran was teaching, and has carried on out of necessity.
There are no beds. People sleep on mats and are provided meals and snacks and TTC tokens in the morning.
To collect the data for the report, Dixon Hall staff asked people sign in and provide a gender and age, though the specific information was not demanded.
During that time, volunteers served more than 28,500 dinners, 11,220 breakfasts and handed out more than 13,000 tokens.
The group was 84 per cent male, 14 per cent female, .05 per cent transgender and 1.6 per cent decided not to say.
Four out of 10 people using the program were 55 or older and the largest group of users was senior men. More than 80 people stayed more than 40 nights, according to data from two years ago.
This year, the program was at 96per-cent capacity. Extra funding from the city’s shelter, support and housing administration division meant Dixon Hall could boost staffing, which translated to about 760 more spots.
The Out of the Cold program was started in 1987. People sleep on mats and are provided meals and TTC tokens in the morning
Patricia Anderson, with Toronto’s shelter, support and housing department, said she looked forward to reading the report and recommendations.
The city receives regular updates and numbers from Dixon Hall and is also surveying on the Out of the Cold program.
The survey results and recommendations will go back to a city committee in June, along with similar information about city-run winter drop-ins.
Last Wednesday, the city’s shelter system, capable of housing 5,000 people, including 730 spots in motels for families, was at 95-per-cent capacity.
Women’s shelters were at 98 per cent, men’s at 95 per cent and youth shelters sat at 96 per cent.
Co-ed shelters were at 89 per cent.
Slade said as he has aged, he has found staying in shelters or outside too difficult.
His new home, he said, is at the very least mostly quiet, safe and clean.
“I don’t know how anybody gets into the housing market now,” he said.