Housing First and a Real Answer to Homelessness

Shelter & homelessness

A real answer to homelessness

Shelter is never a destination, an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home. The mayor runs Toronto’s shelter system. I will make it safe, humane, and housing-focused, and keep demanding the housing, health, and income supports only the province and Ottawa can fully fund.

Organizing principle

Shelter is never a destination, an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home.

Where we are

About ~8,925 people used Toronto’s shelter system on a single night in Nov 2025, and about ~9,637 were “actively homeless” over the prior 3 months, more than doubled in 3 years. On average about ~148 people were turned away nightly in Sep 2025 (down from 200+ in 2024 as fewer refugee claimants). The City is opening 1,275 additional shelter spaces for winter 2025–26; advocates say it is still not enough.

Toronto Public Health: about ~300 deaths of people experiencing homelessness in 2023; 331 in 2022; for women experiencing homelessness the median age of death was 36; overdose is a leading cause, why safe women-only spaces matter. People get stuck without permanent housing exits, HousingTO 2020–2030 is the spine.

What a mayor can deliver

Deliver: Move people home, every shelter stay paired with a housing plan and a worker; expand housing-focused shelter, rapid rehousing, rent supports, and supportive housing; ties to keeping public land public.

Deliver: No one turned away into the cold, expand capacity and 24h respite; end nightly turn-aways; year-round planning, not a winter scramble.

Deliver: Safety, privacy, dignity as standards city-wide, protect and expand women-only and family spaces; trauma-informed design; more private/single-room capacity; staffing, security, health and harm-reduction; a working complaint process.

Deliver: Single-user universal washrooms across the shelter system and all city facilities, private, lockable, accessible.

Deliver: Encampments, humane: offer indoor options people will accept (safe, private, room for a partner, pet, and belongings) plus a real path to housing, not sweeps-first.

What I’ll fight for

Housing, health, and income supports need the province and Ottawa, a mayor pushes for them.

Advocate: Supportive housing, mental health/addictions, and income supports funding.

Advocate: A fair federal share of asylum-claimant costs downloaded onto the city.

Honest line

The mayor runs the shelter system and can make it safe, humane, and housing-focused, ending homelessness needs the province and Ottawa on housing, health, and income. Deliver the first; never stop demanding the second.

An emergency bed is a bridge. Permanent homes (and the care that keeps people in them) are the destination.

Housing

Housing First, Learn from Finland, Deliver for Toronto

Finland cut homelessness by treating a home as the starting point, not the prize at the end of a maze. Housing First: people get a permanent place to live, then optional supports for mental health, addiction, and daily living, without making sobriety or perfect compliance the ticket in the door.

Toronto can learn that lesson without copying Helsinki wholesale. Our costs, laws, and shelter system are different. The principle travels: housing is the foundation; treatment and services wrap around it; shelter stays an emergency bridge, not a destination.

What the City can Deliver

Deliver: Make Housing First the organizing rule for exits from shelter and encampments: every stay paired with a path to a permanent or long-term home and a worker who follows through.

Deliver: Expand supportive and rapid-rehousing stock on public and partnered land, including well-run tiny-home and modular options where they meet safety and dignity standards, so people are not stuck waiting for a perfect apartment that never comes.

Deliver: Separate housing from punishment: do not require treatment completion before offering a key; offer treatment, harm reduction, and recovery as available supports once housed.

Deliver: Fund and coordinate on-site and mobile supports (case management, mental health, addiction care, life skills) so tenancies stick.

Deliver: Measure what Finland measures in spirit: fewer people homeless, shorter shelter stays, successful housing retention. Publish the numbers.

What we will Advocate

Advocate: Queen’s Park and Ottawa capital and operating dollars for supportive housing at the scale Housing First needs.

Advocate: Income and health supports so rent and care are stable after someone is housed.

Honest line: Finland shows Housing First works when government builds enough homes and funds the supports. A Toronto mayor runs shelters, land, and partnerships; ending homelessness still needs the province and Ottawa. Deliver the city side; demand the rest.

Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com, call (647) 785-3729