GUELPH – Mike Schreiner, released the following statement in response to reports that Toronto’s homeless shelter system is facing a capacity crunch.
“It is appalling that Canada’s largest city – one of the richest cities in the world – is currently turning away more than 100 people a day from its overcrowded homeless shelters.
Only unseasonably mild winter weather is saving Toronto and other Ontario cities from seeing unhoused people dying on their streets.
This is what happens when we have a provincial government that presents housing legislation with no plan to address the housing affordability and homelessness crisis.
Once again, I’m calling on the government to step up and address the ongoing crisis in shelters in Toronto and across Ontario.
As a first step, it must reverse past downloading decisions that have put unsustainable burdens on municipal budgets. The province should be funding 50 per cent of shelter and community housing costs while allowing municipalities to maintain management control.
And we need the provincial government to commit funding for permanent supportive housing to ensure that everyone has an affordable place to call home.”