Leigh Chapman heard her neighbours’ concerns about a proposed Leslieville homeless shelter — drug use, public drinking, child safety — and thought of her brother.

Drug addiction helped send Brad Chapman, a father of three, to Toronto streets, to shelters, to jail and, last August, to his grave at age 43.

“I’d like to think that Brad could have been in a shelter in Leslieville and that maybe it would have provided the opportunity for it to be safe for us to re-establish a relationship as brother and sister,” Chapman, choking up, told a city committee Wednesday.

Homeless Torontonians are “just regular people,” coping with struggles any of us could face, Chapman later told reporters, after the committee voted unanimously to endorse a new 80-bed Hope shelter on Leslie St. just north of Eastern Ave.

Help is available for substance abuse and mental illness, she added, but “without food and shelter, you can’t even begin to address some of those issues.”

The Salvation Army chose the site in rapidly gentrifying Leslieville after a two-year search. It would replace a shelter at College and McCaul Sts. in a building that was sold.

The agency’s Bradley Harris said the building is the best fit for size, location and other factors.

Harris pledged to work with the Leslieville community. The committee recommended city council require the establishment of a community liaison committee to address neighbours’ concerns.

Residents who urged the committee to deny the permit said they were worried about increased crime, drug use, public drinking, child safety and second-hand smoke.

Some said they had worked hard for years to rid the area of drug dealers and prostitutes.

Rod Rego said a busy laneway adjacent to the building is not well lit. He is also worried about the proximity of a rooming house and the temptation of a nearby beer store and Loblaws selling alcohol.

“To me, in my mind as a homeowner, this might be a perfect storm of undesirable elements,” Rego said.

The local councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon, apologized for flaws in community consultation, including the fact that not all the surrounding homes received notice of a public meeting on the proposal.

However, she argued passionately for approval, saying Torontonians need to break down the stigma and stereotypes that have generated community fear.

“Being homeless does not mean you lack a moral compass,” she said. “People are dying in the streets.”

Councillor Joe Mihevc predicted city council will approve the Leslieville site, adding he could not recall a proposed shelter being rejected.

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“You are only supportive of homeless struggles if you are willing to say ‘They are my neighbours,’” said Mihevc (Ward 21 St. Paul’s).

Eglinton-Lawrence Councillor Josh Colle said the city must improve its process for shelter approvals, predicting that one day they will exist in all 44 Toronto wards.