COVID-19 Response Update: Protecting People Experiencing Homelessness and Ensuring the Safety of the Shelter System

Shelter, Support & Housing Administration's (SSHA) 2021 gross operating budget for Homelessness and Housing First solutions is $663.2M, including $281 million for COVID-19 response expenses. The City has implemented a range of strategies to expedite vaccine roll-out to people experiencing homelessness, as reducing barriers and achieving high rates of vaccination is essential to reducing the risk of COVID-19 in shelters. Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a noticeable increase in the number and size of encampments. This increase has led to heightened concerns about the safety and well-being of people living outdoors, as well as the impact on the surrounding community. The City remains focused on providing a human services response to encampments and offering voluntary referrals for people sleeping outdoors to safer inside space with supports including meals, laundry, harm reduction services and development of a housing plan. Outreach staff have provided more than 1,600 people staying in encampments with access to safe inside space since the start of the pandemic including 203 people in the past month. Space remains available for those living in encampments to access the City's shelter system. Encampments contravene several chapters of the Municipal Code and are not a solution to unsheltered homelessness. The safety and health conditions for people who stay outside are complex and serious. The City's response to encampments takes into consideration the health and well-being of those living outside and the broader community needs, including access to green space for safe outdoor recreation during the pandemic, and upcoming summer parks programming and permitting requirements including for summer camps. City parks must be ready, safe and accessible to all residents of Toronto. In particular, parks give residents living in apartment buildings or shared housing spaces a safe outdoor space to play and exercise. Homelessness is a complex social issue that has become more challenging as a result of the pandemic and requires solutions from all orders of government, businesses, community organizations and individuals. While temporary shelters are necessary to provide emergency shelter to people in housing crisis who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness and to address immediate concerns, they are not permanent solutions to homelessness. In addition to the significant efforts to ensure the safety of the shelter system during the pandemic, the City has taken immediate action to create new affordable and supportive housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness. In September 2020, Council approved the 24-month Housing and Homelessness Recovery Response Plan aimed at accelerating investments in the City's 10-year housing plan to urgently create 3,000 permanent, affordable homes before the end of 2022 dedicated for people experiencing homelessness. Through the federal Rapid Housing Initiative and the City's Emergency Housing Initiative, a total of 1,248 supportive housing opportunities, which are on track to be completed in 2021, are targeted to those experiencing chronic homelessness. Helping people move successfully out of shelters into housing will create space within the shelter system for those living outside to move indoors. Ongoing focus and advocacy from the City of Toronto to other orders of government is required to ensure successful delivery of the City's 24-month Housing and Homeless Recovery Response Plan by the end of 2022, and the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan by 2030. Investments in permanent affordable and supportive housing will improve the health and socio-economic outcomes for vulnerable and marginalized residents, reduce cost to the public sector, and increase the resilience of our housing and homeless systems. Ensuring a range of supports are available, in an integrated service model, for individuals with more complex challenges such as serious mental health issues, substance use and other disabilities alongside facing systemic racism and discrimination, will be critical to ensuring success in alleviating chronic homelessness, reducing demand on emergency services and supporting housing stability. The City of Toronto, with our community partners, will continue its dedication to reducing the risks of COVID-19 in the shelter system and work with the federal and provincial governments to secure investments in a range of affordable and supportive housing solutions. As City Manager I would like to thank City staff and our community partners for their work outlined in this report, and their ongoing commitment to protect people experiencing homelessness in our city.

4. City Council direct staff to continue working with those living in encampments to offer safe indoor space. 5. City Council reiterate its request to the federal and provincial government to urgently provide one-time capital and ongoing operating funding to fully implement the 24-month Housing and Homelessness Recovery Plan by the end of 2022, including funding for the remaining 2,460 permanent housing opportunities, comprised of 1,460 supportive housing units and funding for 1,000 portable housing benefits. 6. City Council direct the City Manager to work with Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area (GTHA) municipalities and community partners and institutions to request the Province establish a coordinated approach to create supportive housing based on a social medicine model which integrates affordable housing with health care and a range social services to help people successfully exit homelessness, acknowledging that affordable housing with wraparound supports play a critical role in reducing chronic homelessness and addressing systemic issues faced by vulnerable and marginalized groups.