Some 26 City Councillors have agreed in a virtual vote that Lake Shore Blvd., and Eighth St., may be the best place for a homeless shelter.
It took about an hour on July 28 before Council agreed to open, pending public consultations, a 95-bed shelter on the vacant office building and Bi Way site, in New Toronto.
Council members gave Councillor Mark Grimes high marks for his handling of the acquisition, which has been in the works since last November.
Council ruled the matter will return before them in September after public consultations has been held with local groups, agencies, residential and other bodies in the community.
Council will then decide if the shelter will proceed.
Grimes is hoping the massive site can be used as a womens’ centre since there are other related groups in the neighbourhood like the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment, Women’s Habitat and the Jane Tweed Centre for Women and Their Families.
‘I have had about a dozen letters and 200 calls from the community on this issue,” Grimes told Council. “The community wanted to know what was going on at that site.”
A Toronto official warned that the City does not have to seek permission from the community to open a shelter, but they are obliged to have public consultations after.
City staff said parts of the shelter will be specially outfitted to treat those suspected of having COVID-19.
Members of the Lakeshore Village BIA, who first discovered the acquisition last week, say they are pleased with the outcome.
“We are cautiously optimistic,” says BIA Board Chair Chris Korwin Kuczynski. “We are pleased that there will be community consultations.”
News of the shelter acquisition has split members of the community, with property and business owners opposed to the shelter, while many others are in favour.
A motion for the acquisition was presented by Grimes, who received vocal support from Councillors Shelley Carroll, Michael Thompson, Mike Colle, Josh Matlow, Frances Nunziata and Stephen Holyday.
Holyday says it is up to City staff to meet and talk with the community and hear their concerns.
If approved, work will begin in the next few months to convert the buildings and bring them up to City standards. The site will open for patients in 2022. Five other shelters are in different stages of opening citiwide.
The City said the two properties ‘create a large-sized property that allows flexibility in responding to changes in shelter standards and demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.’
The shelter could end up serving equity-seeking groups as seniors, people with disabilities, newcomers, individuals with mental health issues, the working poor, Indigenous people, people who identify as LGBTQ2S and other vulnerable groups.