Toronto needs up to 15 new homeless shelters, including some in the city’s inner suburbs, to address overcrowding, disrepair and displacement, as downtown buildings are sold for redevelopment, according to a city report.

“Pressure created by a rising real estate market and the need to upgrade existing shelter facilities to better meet clients’ needs will result in several changes in the shelter system over the next five years,” says the report by the city’s hostel services.

With 53 per cent of the city’s 4,500 shelter beds concentrated in Toronto’s three downtown wards — and almost half of city’s wards with no shelters — “underserved locations outside of the downtown core should be prioritized for new shelters,” it says.

But some homeless people like Derek George worry that opening new hostels in the suburbs will be a hardship for those whose social networks and community supports are in the inner city.

“We need shelters downtown because this is where our support is,” said George, 55, who is house-sitting for his aunt in a Yonge St. apartment. “We’ve got the drop-ins, food banks, meal programs, medical services, hospitals all right here.

“It’s also easier to get around on foot downtown. We can’t afford to take transit everywhere,” said George, who suffers from mental and physical health problems as well as substance abuse.

George was one of five downtown shelter users who addressed the city’s community development and recreation committee last week (Mon March 23) when it discussed the new shelter report.

He is also a long-time user of the Salvation Army’s 124-bed Hope Shelter at the corner of College and McCaul Sts. The shelter is closing April 15 because the building has been sold.

“This place is like a family. And it has the best meals,” said George, who has stayed at the shelter for several six-month stints since he first became homeless in 2007.

The city has been working with the Salvation Army to help men currently staying at Hope find permanent housing or beds in other shelters while the hostel looks for a new home. Area Councillor Joe Cressy (open Joe Cressy's policard) (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) said several possible sites have been identified, but he wasn’t “at liberty” to say whether any of them are downtown.

“I think we need to increase shelter capacity in the downtown core as well as across the city. I don’t think it’s an either-or proposition,” he said in an interview.

“You need to support people in times of crisis wherever they live and in all corners of the city. And you need to ensure that the services are there to support them beyond just shelter support,” he added.

Andrew Burditt of the Salvation Army, which runs four other downtown shelters, said a new location in the core “would be ideal.” The charity would consider a new facility in the inner suburbs as long as it was close to public transit and well-served by other community services, he said.

“We want to make sure it’s a good place, the right size, a good location and that it has all the right amenities that would allow us to continue to support people,” he said.

But George and advocates for the homeless say the city needs to consult with shelter users and the social agencies that serve them before moving shelter beds to the suburbs.

“There is definitely more poverty in the suburbs,” said Liane Regendanz, executive director of St. Stephen’s Community House. The agency runs the Corner Drop-in in Kensington Market, where many men from the Hope shelter spend their days.

“But a lot of that poverty is the working poor as opposed to the street-involved homeless population we see downtown,” she said. “So the concern is that if shelter beds start moving out to the suburbs, the homeless population will have to travel to the suburbs. And that’s expensive.”

City staff say only three of the proposed 15 shelters represent new capacity to the system. And they would be the only shelters that the city is actively looking to locate in the suburbs “where there is need.”

“The intent is not to take away existing services for those who need it in the downtown core,” said Patricia Anderson acting director of the city’s hostel services.

Toronto funds 59 emergency hostels, including 10 run by the city. The rest are operated by community agencies. Nine shelters are in leased facilities and vulnerable to real estate redevelopment, the city report says. The system is filled to capacity most nights with overall occupancy running at 93 per cent last winter, surpassing the city’s threshold of 90 per cent.

Numerous factors are putting pressure on the shelter system including the lingering impact of the 2008 economic downturn, the lack of mental health services, a child welfare system that abandons too many Crown wards when they become adults, flawed immigration and refugee policies, insufficient funding for women fleeing domestic violence and the growing scarcity of affordable housing in the city, the report says.

“The city’s shelters have become de facto housing for many people who should more appropriately be receiving housing or supports from other service systems,” it says.

In addition to opening new shelters, city staff will be stepping up “housing first” efforts to move the 10 per cent of shelter users who have been homeless for a year or more into transitional and permanent housing, the report says.

City of Toronto homeless shelter needs

* Three new shelters with a total of 153 new beds are needed to meet demand for single men, single women and co-ed hostel users over the next five years.

* The 2017 redevelopment of the city’s 644-bed Seaton House men’s hostel, infirmary and transitional housing on George St. will require six new shelter sites before construction begins.

* Three existing shelters, including the 106-bed Red Door family shelter, which is being rebuilt by a condo developer; the 124-bed Hope shelter, which is losing its leased space in April, and the 40-bed Dixon Hall Schoolhouse next door to Seaton House, will need new temporary and/or permanent space.

* At least one shelter which is losing its leased space this year, along with two others that need renovations, will also be looking for new homes.