A-Dub 🥝"We are the people for whom these decisions are life & death. Whatever happens in council, every council member & the mayor goes home to a soft bed & a roof over their heads & gets to sleep soundly. And we do not. We get killed or brutalized or spat on or some horrendous act of violence. And even if it doesn't happen, we're kept awake because we're scared," — Al, an unhoused person https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-advocates-demands-unhoused-people-city-hall-1.7178347 #Toronto #HousingCrisis
Al, on the executive board of the Toronto Unhoused and Homeless Union, along with members of the Shelter and Housing Justice Network, called on council at a news conference to impose a moratorium on encampment evictions, extend leases of shelter hotels, reopen the 24-hour winter respite centres that were closed on Monday and keep them open year round regardless of the weather. #Toronto #HousingCrisis
Greg Cook, an outreach worker at Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto, said the network also wants the city to open 500 more 24-hour respite spaces, add an additional 2,000 city-funded rent supplements & increase the Toronto Shelter & Support Services (TSSS) budget to ensure people living outside have survival supplies.
Cook said the city closed the Better Living Centre, a temporary winter respite centre that had 300 spaces, in March.
"The city literally closed the door on better living.”
Megan Carver, an outreach worker for more than 10 years, says: 'People I work with avoid the dangers of the streets by trying to sleep in staircases, coffee shops, hospital washrooms, ravines and the subway."
"The city sends outreach teams and Toronto police. But more often than not, those wellness-checks and encounters result in trespass notices instead of a safe referral to a shelter."
Trespassing unhoused people from the TTC is a particularly violent act by the city. our unhoused neighbours are already incredibly poor, so they definitely can’t afford taxis or Ubers, so how are they supposed to get to services like food serves or medical clinics? walk everywhere, all day every day, on dilapidated shoes?!? #Toronto #HousingCrisis #TTC #TransitShouldBeFree #TorontoTheCruel