Communities raise $96K for homeless

Amid what one outreach worker called a “giant systemic collapse,” people pushing for social change in the city are feeling reinvigorated.

In two days, an organization that advocates for prisoners’ rights, in partnership with other community groups, have raised approximately $96,000 to keep the city’s unhoused population warm as many city shelters remain full and temperatures plummet.

The city announced the opening of warming shelters when the weather alert took effect Jan. 7, but advocates said no beds were available to people who needed them.

“The amount of money that we’ve been able to raise — it gives you another little second wind within this work to keep going,” Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project organizer Lindsay Jennings said, adding they saw more than 1,500 individual donations. “It shows how much community can mobilize and that we don’t necessarily need John Tory or other government officials in order to get what we need for our folks.”

On Monday, Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project posted an urgent call for donations to social media to provide tents, warm clothing and other necessities for people who would be bracing for a freezing night with no roof over their head. An extreme cold weather alert was in effect for the city as the temperature dropped to -26 C.

After 24 hours, the fund reached $64,000.

With the money, the organization will be working with sex workers’ rights advocacy group Maggie’s Toronto to place bulk orders of supplies and distribute them to pick-up spots throughout the city. The remaining funds will be equally distributed to the organizations involved in the mutual aid initiative, including Maggie’s, Unity Kitchen, Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction and Sanctuary, so each organization can decide how best to meet the needs of their communities.

While donations have been helpful, Sanctuary outreach organizer Lorraine Lam said we’re seeing is a “giant systemic collapse,” pointing to the lack of indoor space and isolation recovery beds. This pushes people to survive with whatever they can access, such as tents and sleeping bags, she adds.

The City of Toronto told the Star in an email that its Streets to Homes outreach team “continues to connect with those living outside and encampments, seven days a week, to encourage them to come indoors and to hand out blankets, sleeping bags and warming winter clothing. Additional street outreach teams are deployed during Extreme Cold Weather Alerts.”

The city also said that while demand was high for warming centres on that cold Monday night, there were spaces available at various locations, adding they’re accessible by TTC, and tokens are available at the city’s drop-in programs.

However, that’s a different story on the ground Lam explains, noting there are only four warming centres in the entire city, and just two of them are downtown.

The urgency continues as temperatures this weekend are forecasted to hit below -20 C.

The “survival fund” is still accepting e-transfers and new or gently used items. People are encouraged to donate items directly to Unity Kitchen at 10 Trinity Square Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

On Tuesday, 12 names were added to Homeless Memorial. In December there were a record 34 added.

Jennings said part of the problem is that people being released from jails don’t usually have vaccine documentation, and aren’t tested for COVID-19 before they leave. If they are looking to access shelters or looking for priority into a recovery or isolation site, they require a positive test, she said.

“When you are not eligible to access certain supports, such as COVID sites due to a gap in services, then people fall through the cracks,” she said. “Supports are not set up to help individuals integrate, which then contributes to recidivism and the cycle of incarceration.”

The urgency continues as temperatures this weekend are forecasted to hit below -20 C