The proposed municipal shelter will be the second one in Etobicoke and residents vow to fight to halt the project.
A second City shelter is planned for Etobicoke and residents vow to fight it.
Concerned Etobicoke Centre residents say a new homeless shelter is proposed by City officials for their community and are calling for a public meeting and that the project be paused.
Tempers are flaring as irate residents say they haven’t been able to obtain from City staff the location of the proposed shelter, when it will be opened or what type of housing it will provide.
Residents have been told the shelter will be located in a ‘commercially sensitive’ area and the exact information is confidential.
An unhoused man with his loyal dog have nowhere else to go but a City park.
City officials faced a similar community backlash in New Toronto with a plan for a 50-bed seniors’ home on Third Street, which was forced to house seniors rather than homeless men. These two are among 20 shelters being built by the City by 2033.
Ward 2 Councillor Stephen Holyday has brought forward a motion to City Council seeking more information and a pause in the building of the planned shelter.
The matter will be considered by an Economic and Community Development Committee on September 16 and then City Council at its meeting on October 8, 9 and 10.
Holyday said City staff last May confirmed that a shelter was planned for his riding and provided some basic information in writing, including a real estate transaction closing date in the future.
“They advised me that the details, including the location, were confidential and commercially sensitive,” he wrote, adding that he is seeking public consultation before the project can go ahead.
New Toronto residents protest a homeless shelter on Third Street, which was changed to a home for 50 seniors.
He said City staff stepped up their efforts to speed up the real estate procurement process after receiving his letter.
“This information came as a surprise, and was in complete defiance of my response letter,” the motion stated. “ One of the effects of accelerating the date results in a limit to the ability and utility of any public input on the new shelter because of the status of the real estate transaction.”
“As details of the new shelter are revealed to the public I have every expectation that trust in the municipal government by the public will be eroded further,” according to the Holyday’s motion.
“New shelters which omit public consultation in the early stages and commence under heavy opposition in the community start out with a disadvantage,” he said.
“ They will face a long road of acceptance within the community, and will likely face more challenges as they operate. The City would be wise to find a better way from the beginning.”
Holyday said the proposed facility is not in the ‘best interests of the constituents of Ward 2.”