Request to Enact the Emergency By-Law

to Assist Homeless People

The Community Services Committee recommends to Council that:

(1)Councillors who sit on the Boards of various hospitals in Toronto, and other interested Councillors, together with appropriate staff (as designated by the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services) form a team to meet with the Hospital Boards regarding their discharge policies and develop a protocol to ensure the appropriate placement of health-compromised individuals prior to them being discharged from hospitals;

(2)between now and the scheduled closure of the Fort York Armoury in December 1999, and in order to alleviate crowding in other shelters, extra cots be added at the Armoury and other shelter locations when there is over 90 percent occupancy in Toronto's shelter system; and

(3)if the shelter system is operating above 90 percent by December 1, 1999, the decision to close the Fort York Armoury be revisited by the Community Services Committee at its meeting on December 1, 1999.

The Community Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, having:

(a)expressed its support for the efforts made by staff of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Department and agencies to create the shelter spaces required for this winter;

(b)requested the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services, in conjunction with the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services and the City Solicitor, to develop 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, and report thereon to the Community Services Committee; and

(c)requested the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to:

(i)report to the Community Services Committee on the possibility of enacting the Emergency Plan should circumstances change;

(ii)continue to pursue other opportunities to create additional shelter spaces in excess of the 860 opened, or anticipated to be opened by December 1999, in order to provide a cushion for shelter space to accommodate potential unanticipated needs this winter, and to report thereon to the Advisory Committee for New Emergency Shelter Sites in October 1999;

(iii)ascertain from some of the larger municipalities in Canada their experiences, trends and numbers with respect to homelessness in their jurisdictions, and report thereon to the Community Services Committee; and

(iv)provide monthly updates to the Community Services Committee on the status of the shelter system.

The Community Services Committee submits the following communication (September 23, 1999) from Councillor Jack Layton, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons:

At its September 22, 1999, meeting, the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons, adopted the following motion to be forwarded to the Community Services Committee for action.

"It is 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 Advisory Committee has consistently heard from staff in the Shelter, Housing and Support Division that there is a significant shortage of beds in the emergency shelter system; a problem that is only expected to get worse this winter. Despite the best efforts of Community and Neighbourhood Services to add more beds to the system, it seems that few new hostels have been approved. Even with the addition of the new hostels and the Out of the Cold beds there will not be enough hostel beds to meet the expected demand.

In April of this year, Council adopted a policy objective to maintain the monthly occupancy level of the emergency shelter system for adults and youth at no more than 90 percent. It is now reported that the adult system is operating at 100 percent capacity.

Given this reality, the Advisory Committee asks the Community Services Committee and City Council to urge the Mayor to enact the emergency by-law to provide immediate relief to deal with this crisis.

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The Community Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, also having had before it during consideration of the foregoing matter, a copy of a report submitted to the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons by staff of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Department respecting Emergency Planning in the City of Toronto.

The following persons appeared before the Community Services Committee in connection with the foregoing matter:

-Ms. Kira Heineck, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, and submitted a brief in regard thereto;

-Ms. Linda Torney, President, Toronto and York Region Labour Council, and submitted a brief in regard thereto;

-Ms. Kathy Hardill, Regent Park Community Health Centre;

-Councillor Jack Layton, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons, and submitted a list of the hostels and any vacant spaces for the evening of October 6, 1999;

-Ms. Sarah Shartal, and submitted a brief in regard thereto; and

-Ms. Barbara Craig, Street Health, and submitted a brief in regard thereto.