The City of Toronto’s Street to Homes (S2H) team is hiring 15 additional street outreach counsellors to support people experiencing homelessness to find and maintain permanent housing.
Street outreach counsellors work to build trust with people who live outdoors and focus on helping them secure and successfully transition into housing and remain stably housed. Counsellors assess an individual’s reasons for homelessness, provide ongoing case management and coordinate care and services that meet individual needs.
The 15 new positions, which were approved as part of the 2022 budget, represent an investment of $1.18 million, and will bring the total number of Streets to Homes housing staff to 41. The City also funds a number of street outreach agencies that work to help those living outdoors secure housing.
S2H street outreach teams provide year-round support, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, engaging with people who are experiencing homelessness and sleeping outdoors to establish supportive relationships, help address immediate health and safety needs and find permanent housing. Teams endeavour to create trusting relationships and help connect people living outdoors with wrap-around and client-centred case management supports. This includes access to physical and mental health resources and on-site mobile help from ID clinics to obtain replacement identification. Lack of valid identification can be a key barrier when trying to access critical supports.
Building trusting relationships is fundamental in how S2H is able to help support those experiencing homelessness in their transition to safe and supportive indoor settings. When an individual accepts an inside space, this engagement process continues with the street outreach counsellor or a shelter housing worker to help ensure the individual has ongoing support and access to community resources as well as a housing plan.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, S2H has referred 2,417 individuals to a shelter or hotel program. This includes 405 individuals who have been referred indoors so far this year. S2H staff have connected with individuals living outdoors more than 24,000 times since July 2020.
S2H and its outreach partners have also helped transition 654 people to permanent housing throughout the pandemic. While the emergency shelter system plays an important role in supporting the health and wellness of those experiencing homelessness, its intended purpose is to provide short-term accommodation for people when they are in a housing crisis. The solution to homelessness is permanent housing with supports. The City’s 10-year housing plan, HousingTO 2020-2030, includes actions across the full housing spectrum – from homelessness to rental and ownership housing to long-term care for seniors. The plan calls for the approval of 40,000 new affordable rental homes including 18,000 new supportive homes by 2030.
The Toronto shelter system is the largest in Canada currently providing shelter and support to more than 7,800 each night. Over the past five years, the City has continuously added and maintained new capacity in the shelter system. As a result, the number of beds currently available for single individuals or couples experiencing homelessness is at a five-year high. This includes a 25 per cent increase in capacity for individuals and couples added to the system since the onset of COVID-19.
More information is available on the City’s Streets to Homes Outreach & Support Program webpage.
Quotes:
“The City of Toronto continues to do everything we can to help protect our most vulnerable fellow residents. Hiring additional street outreach counsellors will help the City reach out to more people experiencing homelessness to help them access safe emergency shelter, critical services and supports and assist them in finding, transitioning to and maintaining permanent housing.”
– Mayor John Tory
“Hiring additional street outreach counselors is another example of how the City continues to help its most vulnerable residents find and maintain stable permanent housing and receive additional supports and services as needed.”
– Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre), Chair of the Economic and Community Development Committee
“These additions to our Street to Homes teams are so important to ensure that we’re able to meet those experiencing homelessness where they are and help connect them to the right supports and services so they can get on the path to permanent housing.”
– Gordon Tanner, General Manager (Acting), Shelter, Support & Housing Administration
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