"Toronto will open 1,275 additional shelter spaces for unhoused people this winter, but advocates say the plan is not robust enough to get everybody without a home out of the cold. The city will provide more spaces in shelters, 24-hour respite sites and warming centres, open units in supportive and subsidized housing and make surge capacity spaces available, as part of its winter services plan for people experiencing homelessness, according to Gordon Tanner, manager of Toronto Shelter and Support Services."
"The plan, released on Friday, runs from Nov. 15 to April 15, 2026. "This year's plan looks very much like last year, but there's always learning to be done," Tanner said. This weekend, the city will open a "select" number of warming centre spaces ahead of the plan's launch. Environment Canada has said between two and 10 centimetres of snow could fall in Toronto on Sunday and the temperature could drop to 5 C at night."
"When the temperature drops below 5 C, it will open five warming centres throughout the city, which means 244 spaces. Then, when the temperature plunges to 15 C, the city will open another two warming centres that will add about another 175 surge capacity spaces. To help people move out of the shelter system, the city will open 370 supportive and subsidized housing units over the course of winter, he added."
Toronto will open 1,275 additional shelter and service spaces for unhoused people between Nov. 15 and April 15, 2026. The plan expands shelters, 24-hour respite sites, warming centres, supportive and subsidized housing units, and surge capacity spaces. The shelter system will initially add about 490 beds. Five warming centres (244 spaces) will open when temperatures drop below -5 C, with two more centres (about 175 spaces) added at -15 C. The city will open 370 housing units over winter, extend daytime drop-in service hours by 262 weekly hours, and deploy extra street outreach at -15 C.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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