The city funded thousands of beds that were not made available at winter centres across the city last year, according to a new report from Toronto’s auditor general.
Last winter, Toronto operated 10 winter centres (four warming centres, five winter respite sites, and one surge site) for people experiencing homelessness, with 625 beds at peak capacity.
Toronto’s winter centre program runs from Nov. 15, 2023, to April 15, 2024 — some sites only open when it gets cold — but a significant portion of those beds were left empty due to logistical or operational reasons.
The city operates some winter centres directly, while others are run in partnership with third parties. They provide extra space — outside the city’s base shelter system — for people experiencing homelessness during the cold winter months.
Over 2,000 people stayed in one of the city’s winter centre beds for at least one night, with nearly 53,000 beds occupied over the 153 nights the winter centres were open.
Five of these centres, dubbed respite centres, operated 24/7, while others were temperature-dependent: four others, known as warming centres, only opened when temperatures dropped below -5 degrees or when a winter weather warning hit. Another, called a surge site, opened when temperatures dropped below -15 degrees.
But nearly 8,500 beds at the sites open round-the-clock were empty throughout the winter, which equates to a nightly average of about 11 empty beds per site.
The auditor general found that some beds were unavailable because the buildings opened late or closed early. Other sites were partially empty because they weren’t ready for use. Additionally, some beds were purposely kept vacant to ensure the centre had more surge space later in the season.
At the weather-dependent sites, over 4,300 beds were left empty because new people were turned away when temperatures warmed up and the sites were meant to close.
City could provide more beds without further spending
The city could make more beds available in warm indoor spaces to people experiencing homelessness during the winter, the auditor’s report said.
And it might not require more money.
“This can be done within the existing funding constraints since the division has budgeted for warming centres to be open and operating at full capacity for the entire winter season,” Auditor General Tara Anderson said at a city council committee meeting on Wednesday.
But her report cautioned it won’t be easy.
“It is unlikely that [Toronto’s shelter division] will be able to make every bed at every site available for the entirety of the winter season.” But “action can be taken” to help more people.
To better understand the demand for city services, the shelter division needs to track the number of people turned away from the centre’s doors. More rigorous accounting practices will also help “stretch dollars further,” Anderson said.
Gord Tanner, general manager of Toronto’s shelter and support services, said he “welcomes” and “accepts” the auditor general’s findings and will work to implement all the recommendations.
He also pointed to the city’s new plan that provides more spaces to meet skyrocketing demand.
Relying on these centres going forward is a fool’s errand, Tanner said.
They “are not a long-term answer to homelessness. More affordable and supportive housing are needed to solve this crisis.”
Sites opened late or weren’t ready
The auditor general’s report found that some winter centres didn’t open on time or only partially opened, resulting in city-budgeted beds being unavailable to use.
At the 24/7 respite sites, 2,400 beds were left vacant because some buildings opened after the Nov. 15 planned start date. Another 1,400 beds were lost because the sites weren’t fully operational.
In the audit, city staff said they gradually offer more beds rather than opening all at once because it “allows for a controlled intake process” that is more manageable for operators.
“This gradual ramp-up ensures safety by giving site staff time to onboard new clients at a pace that allows them to familiarize themselves with the space, services, and expectations,” staff said.
The two winter centres at the Better Living Centre in Exhibition Place didn’t open because “some necessary work to prepare onsite programs could not be completed ahead of time.”
Another unnamed site was late because the third-party operator submitted its budget in October, pushing back the opening date to Nov. 27, 2023, 12 days past the Nov. 15 deadline.
Another site was a month-and-a-half late due to construction delays.
Beds intentionally withheld
At the Better Living Centre in Exhibition Place, 60 of 300 beds were withheld from late Dec 2023. to mid-Jan. 2023 because the city’s shelter division wanted to wait to open until colder temperatures struck.
If the beds hadn’t been held back, over 1,000 would have been available.
No beds have been held back this winter.
The Better Living Centre also started to shrink its operations on Feb. 20, 2024, to ensure the site would be vacated by March 20, 2024, when the lease ended. This meant 3,291 beds weren’t available over the course of the month.
Some winter centres deactivating
At the centres that only opened when temperatures dropped, over 4,300 beds were left empty because new entrants were barred when the weather warmed up.
It’s city policy to bar new people when these centres are supposed to close, and staff work to get people in the centres into a more permanent arrangement, such as the base shelter system.
In the 153 days between Nov. 15, 2023, and April 15, 2024, 4,331 beds were left vacant while the temporary winter centres went out of service.
However, the city’s shelter division budgeted for these temporary spaces to be open for the entire winter.
“While keeping these beds open for the entire winter period would cost more than leaving them vacant, funding had already been set aside to make them available for use,” the report said.
City staff told the auditor that, even though there’s enough money, opening the temporary spaces for the entire winter means they “would fill completely early in the season, leaving no surge capacity during the coldest months of the year.”
The centres also don’t have enough amenities, such as proper washrooms and showers, to permanently house people in winter, staff said.
Statistics suggest that there is demand for additional beds to be open. The auditor general found that, on average, 174 people called the city’s Central Intake shelter line per day who weren’t matched with a bed last winter.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of beds unavailable at the Better Living Centre in Feb. 2024. The previous version said 3,921. The correct number is 3,291. The article was also updated to better differentiate between the city’s various winter centres offered to people experiencing homelessness.
