New emergency shelter set to open in Annex

Toronto's Annex neighbourhood will be the site of a new permanent shelter, with beds for up to 90 people. The site will open as a 24/7 drop-in this weekend, one of two opening in the city.

Thestar.com
Jan. 25, 2018
Emily Mathieu

A former steak house and high-end rug shop in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood will be the site of a new permanent emergency shelter.

The four-storey, 17,000 square-foot, red-brick building on Davenport Rd. near Dupont St. will eventually house up to 90 people and provide them with a range of health and housing services, councillor Joe Cressy announced during a news conference Thursday.

“Finding space for up to 90 permanent beds does not solve the homelessness and housing crisis. This is one piece of the puzzle,” said Cressy.

“First we need to ensure that we have places for people to live. We also need to ensure they have the wraparound supports and services that people need to get on their feet and thrive.”

In the short-term, the site will be used as a 24/7 warming centre, with room for up to 100 people and scheduled to open on Saturday.

On Sunday, a former youth detention facility on George St. is also expected to be ready to serve as a temporary 24/7 winter drop-in, also with room for 100 people. That opening was expected to coincide with the scheduled closure this weekend of the Moss Park Armoury, which was opened for use as a 24/7 drop-in during a record breaking cold snap in early January.

Cressy was joined by the vice-chair of the Annex Residents’ Association and former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, a long-time Annex resident who spoke about the building’s former life as a restaurant and rug shop.

“We should realize that everybody is a citizen in our city and that we need to help those who are the most vulnerable,” said Clarkson. “This is a wonderful statement of what a neighbourhood can be.”

Author Margaret Atwood, who Cressy said was on a writing trip in the United Kingdom, wrote a statement in support of the shelter.

The cost of the building has not been made public. Paul Raftis, general manager of the city’s shelter, support and housing administration division, said once the details related to the sale are finalized the numbers will be released.

A listing for the building on the Century 21 Harvest Realty Ltd. website shows the listed price as $7.9 million.

Cressy said the money comes from funds set aside for shelter development in the capital budget and the site is one of three council voted to open as quickly as possible, during a December meeting.

Mayor John Tory, in a written statement in support of the Davenport site, said there is “no greater responsibility” than ensuring people have access to shelter, while the city works to address the shortage of affordable and supportive housing.

“Working to ensure these locations are located seamlessly in communities, and are part of their communities, is a collective effort which requires the co-operation and the sensitivity of every single Torontonian, just as it is the responsibility of everyone to fight homelessness,” he said.

The news has not been welcomed by the Davenport Triangle Residents Association Inc. (DATRA).

Cressy had written to the association alerting them to the planned use of the building and noting he hoped to work with them to welcome and manage the change to the neighbourhood.

The association responded in a newsletter, stating members were “appalled” that they were not consulted and hoped they could provide “productive input” into the building’s final use.

“The general objection is that the Annex has more than its share of ‘social problem’ housing and it is time for the rest of the city to share the burden,” they wrote.

In a written statement to the Star, DATRA said the association represents 50 residents, in properties that back onto Designers Walk Ln. and the newsletter was “unanimously drafted” by their board. The association was created, they wrote, so residents could have “positive input” into the planned development of five condominiums in that area, because of concerns about density.

The shelter will be next to what will be a luxury midrise condo building, built by Freed Developments.

Board member Nigel Napier-Andrews told the Star ‘social problem’ housing was not meant as a disparaging remark about individual people, but a reference to supportive housing in the area, including a Toronto Community Housing building and rooming house.

Napier-Andrews said the core issue was the decision was made “without any public consultation whatsoever,” to determine a shelter was the best fit for both the neighbourhood and the people who would be using it, because of the distance to public transit and downtown.

The area is already under strain because of increased traffic and there have been reports of criminal activity, he said.

“If the established residents whose rights are being trampled on complain about anything, people just wave the NIMBY banner. So it is frustrating.”

NIMBY is the acronym for the phrase “Not in my backyard.”

“It is very complicated. I don’t deny that. I just want a solution,” he said.

Cressy said while the city negotiates the purchase of properties for emergency shelters, those details must remain confidential, eliminating the possibility of public consultation. Communities, he stressed, also do not have the right to say no to shelters.

“If they did, we would have no shelters. Communities have a responsibility to work with their neighbours in the city to welcome shelters and make them work for everybody.”