Launching the 2024-2025 Winter Services Plan

This morning I joined Gord Tanner, General Manager of Toronto Shelter and Support Services, for the announcement of this season’s Winter Services Plan. The Plan focuses on increased indoor spaces for people who are experiencing homelessness during the winter season, including: 

• 530 more shelter and 24/7 indoor respite spaces, including at the Better Living Centre 
• Expanded operating hours at daytime drop-in programs – something I’ve long advocated for – so people can access supports and services during the day when shelters are often closed
• Up to 200 more spaces in Refugee Houses to provide accommodation and refugee-specific services  
• 286 new supportive homes and available social housing units coming online through the season 
• 218 spaces at four Warming Centres for when temperatures reach -5 Celsius or during a winter weather event warning, plus more surge capacity spaces 
• Additional street outreach teams during extreme cold weather, along with surge capacity spaces and an additional Warming Centre 

City staff have worked for months to secure more spaces for this season’s plan. But we know that more is required to meet the urgent need in our city. 

We are committed to building out our shelter system. City staff are finalizing negotiations for six new shelter sites, with further details to be available soon. These new sites must be championed by local communities, and we need support from the Federal Government to build out all of our Homelessness Services Capital Infrastructure Strategy. 

The longer term solution requires connecting more people to housing they can afford. Over the past six months I’ve pushed for the Provincial and Federal Governments to release funding for the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit. Earlier this month they finally announced the months-overdue funds, which will help 1,700 households transition from shelters and living outdoors into housing this winter. It’s a good start, but the money to bring on new families ends in April 2025. We need a dedicated, long-term commitment that meets the level of need. 

We need to continue to explore new partnerships. I’ve been working with refugee-serving agencies to expand shelter and housing options. A recent example of success is a partnership between Romero House, the City of Toronto, and a private landlord which will provide housing to 38 refugee families in the Bloor and Dundas West area. 

The Winter Services Plan is a living document, and additional measures may be added throughout the season. City staff will continue to search for more locations for indoor spaces to bring online. 

Toronto is in a housing crisis, and many of the challenges people are experiencing are decades in the making – beginning when the Feds and the Province stopped building affordable and social housing in the 1990s. The primary solution to homelessness is a safe and secure home. To make this possible, we need all partners at the table.