Toronto considers ditching zoning rules that restrict homeless shelters

Thestar.com
March 14, 2019
Jennifer Pagliaro

City staff say the rules restricting where new shelters can be located should be relaxed as a capacity crisis continues to overwhelm existing spaces and front line workers.

A new report headed to the city’s planning and housing committee next week says council should delete the zoning rules that prevent shelters from being located within 250 metres of one another as well as a rule that a shelter must be within 80 metres of a major street.

At drop-in centres such as Sistering people can often be found sleeping on mats on the floor or any other available space, as Toronto's shelters are consistently near or over capacity.

The recommendation comes as staff are having a very difficult time finding sites for new shelters, with direction from council to open 1,000 new beds by 2020.

In 2018, staff identified 379 potential sites for new shelters, but only 11 made the shortlist after sites were ruled out for various reasons. Of the sites, more than 50 were ruled out because of zoning restrictions alone, staff reported Wednesday. Other reasons include price and landlords unwilling to agree to shelter use.

“The results of the recent site search undertaken by the city outlines the difficulty in locating and securing sites for municipal shelter uses,” the report from city planning staff says.

“Deleting these two locational requirements from the zoning bylaw would increase the potential sites where municipal shelters could locate city-wide, is consistent with provincial policies and the Official Plan and will support the city’s ability to respond to the increasing need for shelter services, and provide assistance to those experiencing homelessness.”

Council first adopted the municipal shelter bylaw that governs where shelters can be located in 2003, which included the distance restrictions.

Staff considered amending the rules, holding public consultations in November.

Attendance at those meetings was “less than expected,” staff reported, but those who participated were generally supportive of deleting both of the distance restrictions.

The 250-metre rule was never recommended by staff, who now say there was “no planning rationale” for including it in the bylaws. It was included based on a vote of council, who wanted to avoid the concentration of shelters in any one area, staff reported.

However, the 250-metre rule has not seen shelters evenly distributed across the city, staff say, with most shelters located downtown.

The original intent of the requirement for shelters to be located within 80 metres of a major street was to ensure shelter clients had access to services and transit within walking distance. But staff noted that 80 metres is less than a minute walk. Today, 500 metres is more widely used as “comfortable” walking distance, staff said -- about 7 to 10 minutes.

“Since the majority of properties in the city would fall into the proximity of 500 metres from a major street, it is the recommendation of city planning staff that no regulation is required to address this,” the report says, noting staff working to locate shelter sites already take access to services and transit into consideration.

In Toronto, shelters are consistently full or over capacity despite two new shelters opening and a long-standing council policy they be kept below 90 per cent capacity.

In addition to those sites, 24-hour respite services and drop-ins have grown to just over 1,000 spaces -- where people can often be found sleeping on mats on the floor, chairs or any other available space. At last count early Tuesday, those locations were near capacity at 95 per cent, with just a handful of beds available as of 4 a.m.

Most respites were full or reported just one bed available.

Patricia O’Connell, the executive director of the 24-7 women’s drop-in centre Sistering, said the city “desperately” needs more spaces, noting workers on the ground are not able to find any overnight spaces for those needing them.

“We need a lot more shelters and they need to be proper shelters not these respite centres,” O’Connell said. “We’re still over capacity with everything that’s been open . . . I was trying to get a space for a woman yesterday and there’s just nothing.”

She said the city also has great need for transitional and supportive housing to move people out of shelters and into more stable housing.

Staff reported Wednesday that they are consulting with supportive and other housing providers to discuss new opportunities and plan to report to committee in July 2019.