From Sunday, November 15, to Thursday, April 15, 2027, the City of Toronto is making additional resources available to care for people experiencing homelessness.
This year’s plan delivers immediate support by expanding shelter system capacity, activating Warming Centres and extending service hours at several daytime drop-ins. To protect vulnerable residents, the City is also enhancing street outreach and adding surge capacity during extreme cold weather alerts, while connecting people to appropriate shelter, housing and other supports.
Toronto continues to experience a homelessness emergency, driven by unaffordable housing, insufficient income supports and unmet health needs. The City is working to build more housing and long-term shelter capacity while providing emergency relief through its annual Winter Services Plan for People Experiencing Homelessness.
Highlights
The City will open up to 1,533 additional shelter and housing spaces, 18 per cent more than last year, with an emphasis on both emergency response and moving more people into permanent housing.
This includes:
The City will dispatch additional street outreach teams during extreme cold to encourage people to come indoors. Staff also conduct regular outreach to provide services along with warm clothing, sleeping bags and other cold weather supplies all winter long.
Operating hours will be extended at several daytime drop-in programs, which provide food, health care, showers, laundry, and recreational activities, leading to 252 extra hours of service each week.
Full details are available on the City’s Winter Services Plan for People Experiencing Homelessness webpage: www.toronto.ca/winter-services-plan.
Homelessness in Toronto
Toronto has seen a decrease in the number of people in need of homelessness services since the 2024 Street Needs Assessment was conducted.
The City is currently providing accommodations to nearly 7,000 people each night, down from 9,000 last year. The number of encampments has decreased by approximately 67 per cent, from more than 353 in October 2025 to about 118 in October 2026.
Since January 1, 2026, Streets to Homes made a total of 461 shelter referrals from encampment locations. More than 4,158 people have also moved from the shelter system into permanent housing in the last year. A new report by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario found that between 2022 and 2025, homelessness across Ontario has risen by 17.9 per cent, but fallen by 8.2 per cent in Toronto.
While the winter services plan provides emergency spaces during the cold weather, work to stabilize the shelter system by developing 1,600 long-term shelter spaces is also underway through the City’s Homelessness Services Capital Infrastructure Strategy.
Without stable funding agreements between all three orders of government, the momentum is at risk. The City will continue to look for ways to maximize its resources to care for as many people as possible, while advocating for fair agreements that adequately support shelter and housing for vulnerable people across Toronto.
Toronto is home to more than three million people whose diversity and experiences make this great city Canada’s leading economic engine and one of the world’s most diverse and livable cities. As the fourth largest city in North America, Toronto is a global leader in technology, finance, film, music, culture, innovation and climate action, and consistently places at the top of international rankings due to investments championed by its government, residents and businesses. For more information visit the City's website or follow us on X, Instagram or Facebook.