City to set new standards for 24/7 drop-ins, warming centres

Toronto drop-ins will be adopting new standards to ensure people using the emergency warming centres have ample space and access to health services.

Thestar.com
March 5, 2018
By Emily Mathieu

Toronto's 24/7 drop-ins will be adopting new standards following a surge of advocacy on the often cramped and inconsistent conditions at sites across the city.

City staff are developing guidelines for the winter respite and two women's drop-in programs, including rules on physical space and facilities, health and safety, staffing levels and services people should be able to access.

The standards will be reviewed over spring and summer and be ready for next winter. Interim standards will be shared with service providers "in the coming months," according to city staff. New standards will also be created for the Out of the Cold program, a volunteer-led initiative held at faith-based centres across the city, during the fall and winter months.

The early details were included in a comprehensive report on the state of the city's emergency shelter services produced by Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Division staff, at the direction of city council, and discussed at the community development and recreation committee Wednesday.

The materials included detailed summaries of current use, as well as how city shelters and drop-ins are operated and what kind of funding is provided by all levels of government.

Toronto's emergency shelter system has minimum space requirements - including that each person must have 3.5 square metres of sleeping space - and people sleep in beds and adhere to often strict rules, including curfews.

Drop-ins allow people to come and go as they please and to sleep on everything from cots, to mats, to chairs and the floor.

Any drop-in standards "will need to balance provision of high quality services while ensuring a low-barrier service model continues to be offered," so people who might seek out a drop-in over a shelter will continue to do so, the authors wrote.

Most of the drop-ins and Out of the Cold programs are scheduled to wrap up April 15, but city staff are looking into extending services at existing sites, based on need.

This winter, Health Providers Against Poverty (HPAP) visited eight of the city's winter drop-ins, as well as two 24/7 drop-ins for women and documented people sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder, with few places to store possessions and limited access to toilets and showers.

Newer centres, including the Better Living Centre and the now closed Moss Park Armoury, had more space and cots but still fell short of what people need to be comfortable, healthy and safe, said HPAP.

HPAP members, speaking to the committee, expressed concern that a too tight focus on keeping things low barrier could result in sub par conditions.

The recommendations they made, which included standard space requirements and improved access to toilets, showers and health services, were ones they identified as reasonable, or easily accomplished within the existing drop-in facilities, they told the committee.

Member Dr. Kate Hayman, an emergency room physician, described how in February a team of health-care providers couldn't find a safe place to sleep for a man who suffered from severe anxiety and vision problems. He needs not just a shelter bed, but additional health services, she said.

"Ultimately, the best suggestion that we were left was to discharge him to a warming centre, where the staff could at least keep an eye on him in the large room," said Hayman. "I'd like you to imagine how a person with no vision would navigate this environment."

Council has approved a plan to open 1,000 new shelter beds over three years. Patricia Anderson, with the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Division, said division staff intend to open 361 new shelter beds and 170 replacement beds this year.

The city has also enlisted the help of the Toronto Real Estate Board, calling on the 49,000 members to help them identify potential sites for new facilities.

Even with 1,000 beds, the city still risks falling short of the council-mandated occupancy rate of 90 per cent for the emergency shelter system, the report shows.

"If demand remains exactly the same as it is currently, including providing permanent shelter spaces for those using winter respite services, the city would need an estimated 1,077 new shelter beds," to meet that target, city staff wrote.

On Thursday, the city's emergency system had spots for close to 6,250 people and was 94 per cent full overall, with men's shelters at 92 per cent, women's shelters at 97 per cent capacity and family shelters entirely full.

The city is using motel beds to manage the overflow from the family system and 1,614 of the 1,777 spots were taken. More than 650 people used the drop-ins and three of the Out of the Cold sites.

Last year, more than 19,000 people accessed the emergency shelter system, according to the report. The bulk of clients were men, or 63 per cent, 36 per cent were female and 1 per cent identified as transgender.

More than 5,200 people moved out of the system and into housing and of that group, more than 1,650 continue to receive housing allowances and additional supports, according to the report.

While most people stayed in the emergency system for less than two months, more than 20 per cent had been homeless for six months or more, "meeting the federal definition of chronic homelessness," and 6 per cent stayed between one and two years, the authors wrote.