The City of Toronto is committed to delivering high-quality services that improve the lives of individuals and families experiencing homelessness and work towards reducing any real or perceived barriers to accessing shelter services.

Recently, SSHA became aware that there may be incident(s) where access to shelter services was denied based on immigration status. This Bulletin serves as a reminder to Shelter Providers of their obligations under the Shelter Standards and the City of Toronto’s Access TO for Undocumented Torontonians policy.

Guiding Principle 5.4 (a)(iii) of the Toronto Shelter Standards states:

“Shelter Providers will not use immigration status as a basis to deny newcomers to Canada access to shelter services.”

Additionally, the Intake/Assessment requirements found under Section 8.1 (e) of the Toronto Shelter Standards states:

“Shelter Providers will not request or collect immigration status information in order to determine service eligibility as part of a shelter’s intake or admission process unless approved by SSHA”.

Shelter Providers who do not adhere to the above requirements are not complying with the Shelter Standards.

Resources:

  • The Toronto Shelter Standards webpage.
  • Access TO for Undocumented Torontonians webpage.

Contact Information: For more information about this Bulletin, please contact your Agency Review Officer or Tommica Givans for Homelessness Initiatives and Prevention Services, tommica.givans@toronto.ca.