Homelessness is a complex issue in Toronto, affecting thousands of people each night. It has a long-lasting and devastating impact on some of the city’s most vulnerable people and contributes to health inequities.
Toronto Public Health (TPH) collects and reports data on deaths of people experiencing homelessness, including those in shelters, respite centres, or living outdoors. The data can be used to understand trends in mortality in the unhoused population and inform programs, services and policy development aimed at improving the health of people experiencing homelessness.
This dashboard provides the latest data available from the City of Toronto, and includes Toronto’s Shelter and Support Services (TSSS) reports on deaths of shelter and 24-hour respite site residents. Data are updated biannually, typically in the spring and fall, to reflect availability from data sources.
Data are collected from four sources and are analyzed by TPH to rule out duplications.
The sources are:
TPH takes its responsibility for protecting personal health information seriously and protects the privacy of those who have died. Following privacy laws and legislation, TPH cannot release any other details that might identify an individual. This includes names, dates of birth, locations, causes of death, or any other specific information.
To learn more about how TPH collects, uses, safeguards and discloses health information, please visit the Information Practice Statement on our website.
This initiative characterizes “homelessness” as:
The situation of an individual or family without stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability to acquire it. It is the result of systemic or societal barriers, a lack of affordable and suitable housing, the individual/household’s financial, mental, cognitive, behavioural, or physical challenges and/or racism and discrimination. (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2012).
Someone who is temporarily staying with friends or family, or transitioning to new housing, but has experienced long periods without a permanent home, would be considered as experiencing homelessness.
In the past, death data for people experiencing homelessness in Toronto was limited to City-funded shelter residents, providing an incomplete picture. To address this gap, in 2016, Toronto City Council passed a motion that directed “City staff to collect all relevant data related to the deaths of homeless individuals within and outside of homeless shelters.”
Data collection for this initiative began on January 1, 2017. Through this initiative, data are collected for people experiencing homelessness who die while living on the street, at a friend’s place, at a shelter or other locations in Toronto.
The goal is to provide a more accurate estimate of the numbers of deaths and causes of death for people experiencing homelessness in Toronto. Understanding trends in mortality in the unhoused population can better inform programs, services and policy development aimed at improving the health of people experiencing homelessness.
TSSS submits Death of Shelter Residents data to TPH and are included in this dashboard.