Mayor John Tory and council are being pressed to address what advocates and councillors are calling a growing crisis in the city’s emergency shelter system as temperatures drop.

On Monday, the community development and recreation committee approved several motions aimed at increasing shelter capacity as frontline workers urged politicians to do more and councillors warned of pending deaths this winter.

A successful motion from Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam asked Tory to declare an emergency in the shelter system and move immediately to open new beds. It passed 4-1. Councillor Michael Ford was the only councillor against.

Council has the final say next month on whether to make that and other requests of the mayor and city staff.

“We don’t have the luxury to be patient anymore,” Wong-Tam told the committee. “We are in an emergency situation, which means that we have to respond accordingly.”

“People are going to die this winter. I think that we can logically assume that’s going to happen.”

Wong-Tam’s motion also asked that Tory work with city staff to find funding to create additional temporary shelter space and to request the federal government open the Fort York and Moss Park armouries for shelter.

Declaring an emergency would give Tory the power to act without council approval, according to city rules.

A statement from Tory’s office did not address if he would invoke emergency powers but said the mayor “continues to believe that we all must do more to make sure our vulnerable residents have a safe and secure place to live.”

It noted “city staff have been clear and consistent in stating that use of the armouries would not be a safe or adequate option for shelter space” and that the demand on the shelter system has been temporarily increased because refugee families have struggled to find housing.

Council has asked the other levels of government to help pay for refugee resettlement and earlier this month extended leases at hotels to accommodate refugee families.

On November 16, the city's emergency shelter system had a total of 5,591 spots available and was at 96 per cent capacity. That total included 1,305 spots in motels, of which 93 per cent were taken, to manage the overflow in the family system. The city adds an additional 85 spots to the overall system during the weekend and next year an additional 270 spots are expected to be brought online, according to city staff.

The city has set a shelter capacity target of 90 per cent.

On Monday, the committee also passed a motion from Councillor Joe Mihevc, Tory’s newly-appointed poverty reduction advocate, for staff to open 1,000 new shelter beds.

City staff highlighted to committee that even with funding they have struggled to find space for shelters. They are still looking for locations for 400 replacement beds to accommodate the revitalization of George St. and the city’s largest shelter, Seaton House.

Wong-Tam’s motion also requested that city staff be asked to re-examine their criteria for shelter space and re-assess dozens of sites that have not made the cut.

Last week marked the opening of the city's five cold-respite centres, as well as the volunteer-led initiative Out of the Cold. The program is run out of faith-based centres across the city, and is a place where people can get warm and be fed, though sleep on mats. Last year, faith leaders warned that severe overcrowding meant they were turning people away.

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Street nurse Cathy Crowe has long called on the city to open the armouries, something former mayors David Miller and Mel Lastman both did. She has also been a vocal critic of what she says is the city’s reliance on the Out of the Cold programs, rather than opening new shelters.

"If we don’t do something soon we are going to end up with families and children out on the street or in the Out of the Cold program,” Crowe told the Star.

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