STAFF REPORT
November 18, 1999
To: Community Services Committee
From: Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services,
Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services,
City Solicitor
Subject: Homelessness and the Municipal Emergency Plan
Purpose:
To report on the following motions adopted at the October 7th meeting of the Community Services Committee: the
development of a protocol to provide for the Mayor to enact the Emergency Plan if and when the City of Toronto finds
itself in the position of being unable to provide shelter for those who need it; the possibility of enacting the Emergency
Plan should circumstances change, and the provision of information on homeless experiences, trends and numbers in other
large municipalities in Canada.
Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
There are no financial implications resulting from this report.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1) Council continue to direct City staff to take all action necessary to address the demand for emergency shelter in the City
of Toronto; and
(2) the appropriate City Officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.
Background:
At its meeting held on October 7, 1999, the Community Services Committee had before it a communication, dated
September 23, 1999, from Councillor Jack Layton, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated
Persons, advising that the Advisory Committee recommended that the Community Services Committee and members of
Council ask the Mayor to invoke the emergency by-law and thereby enact the emergency plan in order to develop an
appropriate plan of action to immediately address the critical shortfall of emergency shelter.
The Community Services Committee did not adopt this motion but, among other things did request that the Commissioner
of Community and Neighbourhood Services, along with the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services and the City
Solicitor, report back on the development of a protocol to provide for the Mayor to enact the Emergency Plan if and when
the City of Toronto finds itself in the position of being unable to provide shelter for those who need it. In addition, the
Committee requested the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to report on the possibility of
enacting the Emergency Plan should circumstances change and to provide information on the homelessness experiences,
trends and numbers in other large municipalities in Canada.
Comments:
1. Overview of the Emergency By-law:
Pursuant to the provincial Emergency Plans Act (the "Act"), the City of Toronto enacted By-law No. 47-1998 (the
"By-law") to provide for the formulation of a plan for the provision of emergency services during emergencies affecting the
City of Toronto (the "Plan").
Both the Act and the By-law define an emergency as "a situation caused by the forces of nature, an accident, an intentional
act or otherwise that constitutes a danger of major proportions to life or property".
The By-law is essentially divided into two parts. The first, proactive part provides for the establishment of an Emergency
Planning Committee (the "EPC") consisting of representatives of the City and numerous outside agencies. The EPC has
been delegated the authority to formulate the Plan to govern the provision of necessary services during an emergency and
to establish the procedures for responding to such emergency.
The second, reactive part of the By-law, deals with the overall co-ordination of an emergency response utilizing the Plan.
2. Use of the Emergency Plan to Respond to Homelessness:
Given the definition of "emergency" contained in the Act and reiterated in the By-law, the Plan formulated by the EPC is
designed to respond to extremely large-scale disaster situations that, though long-term, are temporary in nature and require
a co-ordinated response among the various organizations that are represented on the EPC. For example, the Mississauga
train derailment two decades ago, which necessitated the evacuation of a quarter of a million people under life-threatening
circumstances, is the type of situation requiring an emergency response under the Act, the By-law and the Plan. More
recently, the response to the ice storms in Eastern Ontario required a co-ordinated emergency response. The Act, the
By-law and the Plan were not designed to address social and economic problems of an ongoing, systemic nature that
cannot be resolved in days, weeks or months, but that require the development of long-term sustainable solutions.
Homelessness, while a critical and urgent issue for the City of Toronto, is not the type of problem that the Act, By-law or
Plan were designed to address. While homelessness may be a disastrous social crisis, it does not easily fit within the scope
of an "emergency" as currently defined under the Act, By-law and Plan.
Even if provision of shelter to the homeless was the type of matter that might constitute an "emergency" under the By-law
and Plan, the By-law and Plan would only be invoked in cases where the "emergency" was of such a magnitude as to be
beyond the everyday capacities and abilities of the emergency service providers involved in daily emergency response. For
example, a chemical spill that occurs in the City of Toronto may involve a response by police, fire, ambulance, public
health, the medical establishment and others. However, those organizations would generally respond within the scope of
their usual, daily activities, which clearly involves responding to emergency situations. It is only when the nature or size of
the emergency is beyond the daily response capacity of the emergency responders, that consideration would be given to
invoking the Plan. This is particularly true since invoking the Plan results in the convening of at least a portion of the EPC
in the Emergency Operations Centre on an ongoing basis for the purpose of administering the co-ordinated emergency
response.
The discussion at the October meeting of the Community Services Committee centered on the use of the Plan to help
address the current shortage of emergency shelter space in Toronto. The City recognizes the urgency of this situation and
has placed a high priority on finding sustainable solutions. City Council has authorized the Commissioners of Community
and Neighbourhood Services and Corporate Services to approve the use of City-owned and privately-owned sites for new
emergency shelters that will add as many as 450 new bed spaces by the end of December. A special advisory committee of
Councillors has been set up to advise and support staff on the search for and development of new hostel sites including
negotiations with private owners.
The Shelter, Housing & Support Division estimates that these new hostel spaces combined with the addition of 230 beds
through the Out of the Cold winter program will be enough to meet the demand for emergency bed space this winter. The
approach taken by the Shelter, Housing and Support Division in addressing the hostel bed shortage has been to try and
manage the demand for shelter within current resources (i.e., add more beds to existing shelters, use of the Fort York
armoury, etc.) while working to open appropriate facilities that are more sustainable over the long term.
Throughout the decision-making process on the expansion and siting of new emergency shelters, there was no need to
invoke the Plan. Additional steps can be taken if the situation worsens such as using public buildings for temporary
emergency shelters. These steps are matters within the authority of the City of Toronto and, specifically, the Community
and Neighbourhood Services Department, and fall well within the scope of the Department's daily activities. The ability to
address issues of shelter and homelessness in this situation would not be advanced in any substantive way by invoking the
Plan In short, invoking the Plan does not give the City any improved capacity to address the problems of homelessness and
emergency shelter.
3. The Emergency Plan and the Role of Senior Levels of Government:
Discussions at the October meeting of the Community Services Committee also focused on the use of the plan to attempt to
extract resources from the senior levels of government to assist in dealing with the homelessness situation in the City of
Toronto
First, there is nothing in the Act that specifically requires the provincial or federal government to provide assistance to the
City in responding to an emergency declared under the By-law. While it is possible that the provincial and federal
governments would assist the City if they considered it appropriate and/or necessary to do so, there does not appear to be
any legal compulsion for either or both of them to assist.
Second, under the Act, the Premier of Ontario has the power to overrule a municipal declaration of an emergency.
Therefore, if the City were to declare homelessness an "emergency" with the goal of seeking financial assistance from other
levels of government, the Province could simply override the declaration if it chose to do so. While the Province has taken
some preliminary steps over the past year to address the growing problem of homelessness, it is unlikely that the City could
persuade the Province that emergency measures beyond those currently provided for are warranted that provision of
emergency shelter constitutes an "emergency" under the Act.
A more suitable and sustainable strategy builds on the already considerable efforts made by the City of Toronto, and other
municipalities across the province and the country, urging the Province and the federal government to do their part with
respect to homelessness. Most recently, the City, along with its municipal and community partners, made presentations to
the Standing Committee on Finance regarding priorities for the 2000 federal budget, highlighting the urgent need for
affordable housing development.
4. Homelessness in other Canadian Cities
Discussions with Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Vancouver found no other examples of
municipalities using their emergency planning by-laws to respond to homelessness in these cities.
Halifax did come close to an emergency situation when their primary men's shelter had deteriorated to the point where it
was no longer inhabitable. Efforts to find an alternative site were unsuccessful and so the City considered taking
emergency measures. The provincial Emergency Measures Office was called in for support. The City hired a private
environmental firm and they were able to bring the building up to code in time so that the shelter could stay open until a
new building was found. During amalgamation in the Halifax-Dartmouth area, all social programs and services were
uploaded to the Province and although the municipality continues to cost-share these programs they have no
decision-making powers. As a result, they were limited as to how they could respond in this situation.
The Vancouver-Richmond Health Board, which is a provincial body, did declare a public health emergency on September
25, 1997. In this instance, however, the health emergency was linked to an HIV/AIDS outbreak in Vancouver's East End.
While not presented as a stand-alone issue, housing was considered relevant as a determinant of health and was part of the
resulting action plan. One element of this plan brought together the Health Board, the City of Vancouver, B. C. Housing,
CMHC and the Ministry of Human Resources to develop housing for those affected. As a result, two East End hotels were
purchased and turned into SRO housing. These sites opened in December 1998 and January 1999. The Province was the
main funder for this project but the municipality did contribute the land.
The City of Toronto regularly draws upon the experiences of other Canadian, American and European cities in the
development of homeless and housing strategies. In preparation for the National Symposium on Homelessness and
Housing last March, a resource binder of strategies from participating cities across the country was compiled. A reference
copy of this binder and other relevant studies, in particular from the 905 area, is available in the Clerk's office.
Conclusions:
The purpose and structure of the By-law and Plan is to provide for a short-term, co-ordinated emergency response to
extraordinary situations to which the City could not otherwise adequately respond. The lack of emergency shelter space in
the City of Toronto is a serious issue and one to which the City has dedicated considerable resources. The Commissioner of
Community Services has co-ordinated the efforts of key senior staff to implement both short and long term responses to
this problem. The shelter system is currently operating at maximum capacity, however, 650 new bed spaces will be added
by the end of December as new shelters open and the Out of the Cold winter program comes onstream. It is estimated that
this increase in hostel beds will meet the demand for emergency shelter this winter.
It is therefore recommended that Council continue to direct staff to take all action necessary to meet the demands for
emergency shelter, and that recommendations for the use of public space be brought forward immediately to Council
should the situation warrant
Contact:
Joanne Campbell, Phone:392-7885/ Fax: 392-0548
Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services
Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services
City Solicitor
