With a week to go before homeless residents have to leave a Toronto hotel-turned-shelter, some say they don't know where they'll end up once they have to move out while advocates say the timing means many could be left to fend for themselves in the cold.
The shelter site at what was formerly the Novotel Hotel Centre in downtown Toronto was leased by the city after the pandemic hit. for those experiencing homelessness after hundreds fled shelters in March 2020 for fear of contracting COVID-19. The hotels offered an alternative to encampments that cropped up in parks and allowed additional space for physical distancing.
"I’m really, really scared. Right now there’s no plan in place," said Betty Ames, who has been staying at the Novotel shelter for six months. Ames, who works as an overdose prevention worker, said she can't go into a congregate shelter setting because of a heart condition that could put her health at risk. She said she had been offered an apartment at one point but wasn't allowed to view it before signing a lease so she refused.
"The intent is to find an appropriate referral for everyone prior to December 6, which could include transition to permanent housing or a move to another shelter," said city spokesperson Erin Whitton. "They've just decided to close this hotel and it's just chaos," said Jackson. "It's been really heartbreaking because we've been down there at the Novotel and people are crying, they're just like ... 'Our friends are going to die, I might die.'"
Rafi Aaron, a spokesperson for the Interfaith Coalition to Fight Homelessness, said those figures could be even higher as some experiencing homelessness no longer try to secure a place to stay. It also plans to create an additional 500 shelter beds by moving beds closer together – from two metres apart to 1.25 metres – in a move that goes against a recommendation from infection prevention and control specialists the city worked with.
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