Less than a month after voting against opening armouries as emergency shelter for homeless Torontonians, Mayor John Tory says the city is talking to Ottawa about quickly opening the Moss Park armoury until spring.

Tory made the announcement Wednesday, amid criticism of the city response to potentially deadly cold and a packed shelter system which has included city staff mistakenly telling frontline workers there was no more space for homeless people.

The mayor said city staff initiated talks Tuesday with National Defence officials about using the east downtown site to provide emergency shelter to as many as 100 homeless Torontonians. If the answers make sense for the city “it will have my support,” Tory told reporters at a city hall news conference.

Advocates for homeless people and some city councillors have long urged the city to open the armouries at Moss Park and Fort York as a cold-weather release valve for shelters, respite centres and drop-in centres struggling with a sustained surge in demand for shelter. Past mayors got armouries opened in the past, most recently in 2004.

But Tory and 24 city councillors voted down a Dec. 6 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam motion to ask Ottawa to open sites including the armouries to homeless people. Council opted to quickly add 400 “spaces” — some of them mats on floors — rather than the 1,000 shelter beds sought by Wong-Tam and 15 councillors.

The mayor said he changed his mind about the need for Moss Park based on city staff telling him Toronto is “virtually certain” to need a seventh cold-weather respite centre. The city-owned Better Living Centre at Exhibition Place, opened as an armoury alternative and operated by the Fred Victor Mission, expanded Tuesday to 140 cots from 110.

Tory, who was on vacation as calls rang out for more action from the city, applauded city staff efforts to find spots for vulnerable residents during the extended cold snap. But he said it was “not defensible” that some people who called the city’s shelter support line seeking help were turned away, even as cots sat empty at the Better Living centre.

“There were some mistakes made,” Tory said. “I’m sorry for that . . . We're going to do better.”

People calling the shelter office’s central intake line looking for a bed might get a different answer than those calling the Peter St. shelter referral line, he said, adding he’s confident ongoing reviews by city staff and city ombudsman Susan Opler will help get the problem fixed.

Street nurse Cathy Crowe, who has led the call to open the armouries, was pleased with the mayor’s armoury change of heart.

“It could have happened sooner, but it is happening now, so let’s move forward, fast,” said Crowe outside the military installation. “It’s a Band-Aid solution, but a lifesaving one.”

The city could also, she said, ask the Red Cross to supply volunteers to serve food and distribute blankets at sites with “stretched” resources and staff.

In the past, Crowe has called Toronto’s shelter system underfunded, overcrowded and often dangerous for those in it. She offered this week to take the ombudsman on a tour for a first-hand look at conditions people face.

City figures say Toronto’s 5,460 shelter beds were 95 per cent full at 4 a.m. Tuesday, with no shelter vacancies for families and spots for women and youths 98 per cent full. City council has committed to a never-obtained goal maximum of 90-per-cent full.

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The city figures do not, however, include 535 people who stayed overnight Tuesday on mats or in chairs at drop-in and respite centres.

With files from Samantha Beattie