By Daniel Featherby (with Alykhan Pabani)
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease and its economic fallout have had greater effect on those with low incomes, who are most affected by the massive unemployment seen today. People without a guaranteed place to live are no exception to this, as has been seen in Toronto, where
homeless shelters have been running at reduced capacity to avoid the spread of disease, forcing many people back onto the street. The City of Toronto responded to the situation by shutting down encampments and moving a number of people into hotels leased by the City. This response, however, has failed to resolve the issues which Toronto’s homeless face, has unnecessarily created enmity between city residents, and has demonstrated the limitations of working within a capitalist framework to provide adequate living conditions.
The Roehampton Hotel (formerly Best Western) near Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton opened up as a shelter on July the 3rd and has been the subject of significant controversy. It is some distance north of many of the encampments that were cleared out by police, and in a relatively wealthy neighbourhood quite close to several schools and daycares. As a result, certain homeowners and business owners have organized against the presence of the shelter, citing a supposed increase in drug use and crime in the area. While concerns for the safety of schoolchildren may be legitimate, the Toronto Police themselves have reported an almost negligible increase in crime, which a representative said could not easily be traced back to the shelter. It is clear from residents’ pamphlets and slogans that this “crusade to take back the neighbourhood” (their words) is also motivated by the desire to keep real estate prices high and an unwillingness to gaze upon the negative effects of a capitalist crisis.
While the city failed to adequately engage with Yonge & Eglinton area residents before leasing the hotel space, there has also been little consideration of the requirements of the shelter’s homeless residents on the part of certain neighbourhood residents or even city councillors such as Mike Colle. Shelter residents have had mixed reactions to their situation. While a few have appreciated the greater privacy which rooms provide over regular homeless shelters, it is necessary to take into account the fact
that the city is not providing people with furnished hotel rooms. The Roehampton Hotel was set to be demolished and turned into condos before the pandemic, and the lease is simply a way for more money to be made by the developers without actually providing any of the amenities usually associated with hotels. In addition to being far from most of their support networks downtown, residents at Roehampton must deal with a curfew and risk eviction if caught breaking any of the shelter’s rules, and there have been reports of harassment by police along with arbitrary arrests. As a result of the harsh consequences of getting caught using drugs, shelter residents with substance abuse problems are forced to use in unsafe settings, and there have been at least three deaths from drug overdoses near the intersection since it opened.
It is necessary that those shelter residents who suffer from addiction have access to safe supply along with a safe consumption site and rehabilitation support. Such measures will not only reduce the dangers which some shelter residents face from drug problems, but also keep predatory dealers and used needles away from the surrounding area. While concerns have been raised about a safe injection site so close to a school, given that there is already some drug consumption taking place, providing the opportunity to safely obtain and use drugs for those who need it will only make shelter residents and nearby students safer.
It is finally worth noting that leasing empty hotels can hardly be called a solution to homelessness. At the moment there are close to 100,000 people on the waiting list for subsidized housing in Toronto, and with the freeze on tenant evictions having expired on August 4th according to the Ontario Government’s Bill 184, the number of people on this list is going to continue to grow. All in all, this crisis shines a light on the issues which result from housing being treated as a commodity. There is no material shortage of housing in Toronto; the reason why there are people without a place to live is because it is profitable to landlords for them to remain homeless, and the municipal government will sooner serve the interests of companies which own hundreds of properties than those who sleep on the street. Homelessness, unemployment and the spread of disease are not inevitable troubles that will never disappear, but rather systemic issues which even societies less wealthy than Canada have been able to solve. Their root is in our profit-driven economic system and it is only in digging up these roots that such issues can have a profound and long-lasting resolution.