Ombudsman slams city's 'serious shortcomings' in midst of shelter crisis

City staff provided "incorrect" and "obsolete" information to people seeking emergency shelter during deep freeze.

Thestar.com
March 21, 2018
By Emily Mathieu

In the midst of a record-breaking cold snap, city staff were providing "incorrect" and "obsolete" information to people seeking emergency shelter at drop-in centres, the city's ombudsman has concluded.

Susan Opler identified "serious shortcomings" in the intake and referral system for drop-ins, a service once described by a city councillor as a "Band-Aid on a Band-Aid," in a city with a strained emergency shelter system and a dearth of affordable housing.

"What was originally intended as a temporary solution to meet demand for shelter has become a fixed part of the city's response to homelessness," wrote Opler, in a report posted online on Wednesday.
An inquiry was launched after people received unclear or inaccurate information about drop-ins, including being told they were full when there was in fact room, in December and January.

The city "made a number of serious errors in its internal and public-facing communication of information about these critically important services," Opler wrote. The ombudsman also identified issues with the 311 general information line, raising "the question of how many times 311 actually gave incorrect information to callers," wrote Opler.

Opler and staff also reviewed site conditions, public information on locations, all policies and protocols, and four phone calls, where inconsistent or inaccurate information was given. Staff from the city's shelter, support and housing administration division, were interviewed, as were drop-in centre staff and clients. Staff at central intake reported feeling pressured to respond quickly to demand, but had to put people on hold or tell them to report to an intake site at Peter St.

Of eight sites opened by February, only three were accessible and none had special beds or cots for people with mobility issues, Opler found. In one, temperatures dropped as low as 10 C.

During the inquiry, nine urgent recommendations were made and immediately acted upon. City staff brought in heaters, got a boiler fixed, created temperature monitoring protocols and inspection checklists, fixed washroom facilities, arranged for more cots, began weekly visits, and improved how and when staff manning 311 phone lines got updates on capacity and updated information about shelter services online.

Cathy Crowe, who visited three sites with Opler, said there is a clear need to keep sites open past April 15, the planned shutdown date.

Patricia Anderson, with the shelter division, said staff are speaking with operators and at this time it appears the bulk of the sites can remain open, if demand requires it, and city staff are looking into finding more sites as needed.

In the full report, Opler called for better information for the public and staff, improved date collection and prioritizing minimum standards for drop-ins. Interim standards are being drafted.

Paul Raftis, interim general manager of the shelter division, said in a letter attached to the new report that staff "support and accept the findings and recommendations."

One of the four calls that were reviewed were made to the city's 311 information line, one to a 24/7 government hotline and two were handled by the central intake line for emergency shelters. In two cases, people were told the drop-in at the Better Living Centre was full, when there was in fact space. One caller was told it was the only option, when that was not the case. A fourth caller, who asked about shelter space for himself and his pregnant girlfriend who he said was asleep in a coffee shop, was told to go to a drop-in and call back. The Better Living Centre can hold up to 200 people.

In late December, as news of people being told there was nowhere to go spread through the media, the mayor's office and city officials struggled to deal with miscommunications behind the scenes.

On Dec. 31, in one of the constant updates being sent to the mayor, staff warned there may be "inaccurate" reporting in the media.

"At this stage, the system appears to be functioning as it has been the past couple of weeks, except the activists have successfully misrepresented the facts tonight," wrote Tory's director of council and stakeholder relations Luke Robertson. He accused media of "lazily" reporting information from those people.

Emails obtained by the Star show reporters repeatedly emailed the mayor's office requesting more clarity about why people were turned away despite statements from officials that there had been and was room.

Tory's director of strategic initiatives Siri Agrell sent an email to senior city officials later the same day saying it shouldn't fall on the mayor's office to correct inaccurate information. She asked city staff, who do not work for the mayor's office, to be on call to answer questions and appear in daily televised media briefings.

"Does anyone else question this approach?" one city staff member wrote to her colleagues.

The director of communications for the city Jackie DeSouza replied: "Given the (mayor's office) sensitivity to this issue, I think we will get highly criticized if we don't do it. The (mayor's office) already thinks we're not on top of this issue (even though we are) and I don't think it'll benefit us to push back. I think it's better just to do it."

In an email, Tory's spokesperson said the mayor's office was doing its job to make sure city staff were properly and accurately informing the public "especially at a time when lives were at risk."