Anthony Marcusa –
Following a startling survey that deemed the housing situation a “crisis,” with homelessness due to “lack of affordable housing and unmet health needs,” Toronto is once again seeking creative short- and long-term solutions.
The city’s 2024 Street Needs Assessment homelessness survey concluded that more than 15,000 people experienced homelessness in October 2024, double the number from April 2021.
“This data highlight the failure of multiple systems, such as affordable housing, health care, mental health, income support, and the justice system,” the report states. “People are left with nowhere to turn, and the shelter system or staying outdoors become the last resort.”
The survey recommended assessing the feasibility of providing micro-shelters while awaiting construction of permanent shelters.
Micro-shelters – also referred to as tiny shelters, sleeping cabins or pallet shelters – are small, modular pre-fabricated units that include heating and electricity but no plumbing. They are envisioned as a temporary solution for those less likely to access the shelter system, particularly people staying in encampments.
In March, Ward 13 (Toronto Centre) Councillor Chris Moise voiced support for micro-shelters on city property in response to the housing emergency.
“Micro-shelters should be rapidly procured and installed in underutilized City-owned parking lots and land across the city,” Moise wrote. “In this absence, micro-shelter type structures are being placed illegally in our parks without important safety and oversight considerations, further frustrating efforts to clear these spaces for use by the broader public.”
The July 9 meeting of the city’s economic and community development committee heard several hours of testimony advocating city-supported micro-shelters as temporary housing.
“Toronto must also remain open to creative, interim solutions such as micro-shelters and modular housing, particularly as we face urgent encampment displacement. Barriers such as zoning and land access are real, but so is the urgency to act,” Marianne Kozinets of the Toronto Drop-In Network wrote to the committee.
Speakers representing the Toronto Shelter Network, Ontario Nonprofit Housing Association, Right to Housing Toronto, Neighbourhood Pods TO and TTCriders also favoured such efforts.
Finding feasible locations, however, has proved problematic; most viable locations are sites of future shelters. “Availability, size, and planned use of potential sites have emerged as the three primary constraints impacting development of a micro-shelter program,” the city clerk wrote in response to Moise.
Some Toronto residents are pushing back against shelters in their neighbourhood.
“Community opposition has reached new heights of antagonism,” said Leslie Gash, executive director of the Toronto Shelter Network. A recently opened shelter on 629 Adelaide Street West has been the focus of vitriol.
“There’s been extremely harassing behaviour. [Neighbours] are questioning anyone who leaves the shelter. They call the Ministry of Labour alleging lack of permits. They write down licence plate numbers and call the parking authorities. There have been verbal threats [of] physical violence.”
Police are on site “to protect the shelter from the community, not the community from the shelter,” Gash added.
Stigmatization of the unhoused and concerns about financial investments should not be normalized, one speaker emphasized, saying better community consultation should make clear which citizens’ rights are protected, and which are not.
“You don’t actually have an inherent legal right to property values that automatically rise every year,” said Vicky Sanderson of Willowdale. “Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you don’t actually get to decide who lives beside you.”
Some of those supporting temporary housing suggested a name change to prevent further stigmatization.
“They’re not micro-shelters. They comprise permanent cabins that meet all the city standards for construction and greenscape,” said John van Nostrand, senior executive of Two Steps Home. “They’re there as an interim use for people to move from the encampments to these sites for the three or four years it takes to approve the affordable housing that has to be built at the end.”
Such temporary villages have found success in neighbouring municipalities, with speakers representing groups working in Peterborough and even Cape Breton touting accomplishments.
“The shelter system is very helpful for many people, but it’s not a good fit for everyone. Some people are too disruptive, while other people are vulnerable and don’t feel safe in the shelters,” said Jeff Willmer, chair of A Better Tent City in Kitchener-Waterloo.
“A tiny home’s community really provides community. It provides stability and dignity and hope. People no longer live with the threat of being asked to move along all the time. They actually have a home, a safe place to sleep, and a safe place to store their belongings.”
Ryan Donais, founder of Tiny Tiny Homes in Toronto, echoed the need for small, temporary housing. “Each person that resided in Tiny Tiny Homes … refused to subject themselves to the condition of the shelter system,” he said. “Each of these units provided the resident with dignity and a safe space that they needed to start working on their life.”
