Homeless Action: Toronto
Graeme Bacque (gbacque@idirect.com)
Sun, 11 Oct 1998 12:08:09 -0700
TORONTO STAR October 11, 1998 =20
http://www.thestar.com/editorial/news/981011NEW01_CI-HOME11.html
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City eyes crisis plan for homeless
Solution could include tent cities, councillor warns
By Nicolaas van Rijn
Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Tent cities and trailer parks for the
homeless are among drastic solutions being
considered to solve the growing homeless
crisis, says the head of Toronto's
advisory committee on homelessness.
Councillor Jack Layton has also asked
chief executive officers of the city's
leading real estate firms to meet with
city officials this week, in a desperate
effort to identify empty office buildings
and other commercial space that could be
used as temporary hostels and rooming
houses.
``We'll pay for the space, but we've got
to find it first,'' Layton said yesterday.
``We need to get facilities identified and
prepared right away. The hostels are full,
affordable housing programs have been
cancelled, rents are being allowed to go
up - we really are stuck here, and we've
been abandoned totally by Ottawa and
Queen's Park.''
The need to find space took on an added
urgency Friday with the release of the
province's long-awaited report on
homelessness.
Instead of providing concrete answers or
pointing the way to a solution, critics
say, the 22-page report simply turns the
problem over to the cities.
Adding to the problem, Layton said, are
unregulated rent increases being permitted
for the first time in decades under
legislation passed by Premier Mike Harris'
Conservative government.
``In St. James Town we're seeing 20 and 30
per cent rent increases on empty units, so
affordable housing is continuing to
disappear,'' Layton said.
In Toronto, he added, a short-term
solution could include tent cities and
trailer parks to take in homeless families
with children.
``We may have to look at the erection of
emergency, tent-like facilities, things
like emergency community trailer parks for
families, just as was done here in 1946,
when Toronto was struggling to cope with
the flood of soldiers returning home from
World War II.''
Case Ootes, Toronto's deputy mayor, agreed
that Toronto has no time to waste.
``In the short term, we need to get as
many beds in place as possible for when
it's cold out.
``But longer-term issues need to be
addressed, partly housing, and partly
increasing the availability of facilities
where those in need of medical and mental
care can be accommodated and looked after.
``That's where we need the province. And
the federal government.''
Rodney Elie, an outreach worker with the
Toronto Street Patrol, said there's no
time to waste in preparing for the coming
winter.
``We're averaging 150 people a night right
now, and it's still warm,'' Elie said.
``That's higher than last year by about 50
people, and the real cold hasn't even
started.''
The patrol, which sends a van out every
night to provide the homeless with food,
coffee and blankets, will double its
strength next month when a second van
joins in as part of the Out of the Cold
program.
Elie said there have already been nights
when he's tried without success to find a
hostel bed for a homeless person seeking
to come in from the cold.
``Homeless people are worried,'' Elie
said. ``They don't want to spend the whole
winter in a park. But there's no
affordable housing for them, and nowhere
else for them to go.''
While the return of the Out of the Cold
program - which turns church basements and
other facilities into temporary feeding
centres and hostels - will provide extra
space, Ootes said, the city is far from
ready to deal with the influx of homeless
people expected once the cold weather
starts.
``We're doing everything we can to make
sure that, at least in the short term,
people are looked after and can be
accommodated,'' Ootes said.
``And before the winter is out the demand
will grow - homeless people do come to
Toronto when it turns cold - we know that.
They don't stay in small towns. They'll
come here''
The city must also cope with a large
number of refugee claimants seeking public
assistance, Ootes added.
``Obviously, we have the problem,'' Ootes
noted, ``but when it was decided it was
our problem to deal with, I'm not sure.
Because it is not a problem that we can
solve by ourselves.''
Noting that Toronto and Vancouver attract
a disproportionate number of Canada's
homeless, Ootes said both the federal and
provincial governments have left
municipalities to fend for themselves.
``It's fine to talk about 80 per cent
funding'' from senior levels of
government, Ootes said, but that isn't
going to solve the problem.
In a special review ordered by Mayor Mel
Lastman, city employees have identified 12
locations where an extra 150 beds can be
readied for the homeless, Ootes said.
``This will be coming to council in a
couple of weeks. Our staff have looked
everywhere and found some additional
accommodation.''
The city also needs a method of
encouraging people to take the help, Ootes
said.
At the very least, ``we should give police
the power to pick them up and make sure
they're in a warm place,'' Ootes said.
Toronto will also redouble efforts to
collect on a promise of extra funding made
earlier this year by Queen's Park.
``We haven't seen the money - it's still
in Mike's pocket,'' Layton laughed,
referring to the Premier.
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