Homeless people are dying in Toronto.
With 135 recorded deaths during the first half of 2024, nearly one homeless person dies every single day — an egregious failure in a city of extraordinary wealth.
Toronto is a city with 12,200 homeless residents as well as 18 billionaires: we’re a hub of extreme disparity, whether we acknowledge it or not.
But even within that disparity, homeless women lead a particularly short, violent life. According to new data from Toronto Public Health, they are dying at an alarmingly young age.
The median age of women who died on the street last year was 36 — seven years younger than the year prior. For unhoused men, that median age is 50.
As someone who has worked with homeless people in Toronto for the past decade, I’m not surprised women are dying younger — and overwhelmingly as a result of toxic drugs.
Women are usually more able to secure temporary shelter with friends, family and acquaintances — which isn’t inherently good, as the price of shelter can be coercion, exploitation, and physical and emotional harm. But for those who can’t, they are dying under atrocious circumstances. I know, because I’ve seen it.
Tiffani was a young woman — just 30 years old — who I supported last year. She had been living in an encampment with her partner, but had found housing through the City of Toronto’s Streets to Homes outreach program. Unfortunately, her partner nearly beat her to death last winter. He went to jail as a result.
At Tiffani’s request, my co-workers and I applied for an emergency transfer to move her out of their Toronto Community Housing unit before he was released. Despite the gravity of the situation, the transfer was left in limbo for months and Tiffani’s partner was free before it was approved.
Tiffani spiralled after that. Her partner dragged her outside to live in an encampment again, afraid that people he owed money to would find him if he stayed in their unit.
Under extreme stress, Tiffani began using more and different drugs — usually a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl, and whatever else they were mixed with in the illicit street supply.
Eventually, my co-workers were able to secure Tiffani her own housing, but she died from an overdose almost immediately after this happened. Tiffani is now one of Toronto Public Health’s statistics, leaving behind five young children in foster care.
Tiffani was a sweet, playful and generous young woman who loved her children. But she is among 27 other homeless women who died in the first half of 2024.
Not everyone’s story looks like Tiffani’s, but they all face the same risks and active harms — not just from being homeless, but from the physical and sexual violence, and sexual exploitation that is specific to women on the street.
In the absence of other support, drugs are one of the only available tools for them to cope and feel OK. Sometimes men — and not necessarily homeless men — will prey on these women and ply them by using drugs.
If it sounds dark, that’s because it is. And women are dying as a result — including in shelters, where they are supposed to be safe. Toronto Public Health’s data shows that 30 per cent of homeless women are dying outdoors and 23 per cent dying in shelters, meaning that there isn’t a demonstrably safer option.
The city must immediately expand resources specific to the needs of women on the street, especially safe indoor space and trauma support.
Toronto has two 24-7 women’s drop-ins but this is far from enough.
Services must be accessible and appropriate for women who use drugs, who have experienced violence on the street and who are involved in sex work.
We also need greater action by the City of Toronto to build supportive and affordable housing specific to women.
While Toronto’s 10-year housing plan includes 10,000 homes for women, an abysmal 224 have been approved — not built, just approved — four years into the plan.
I can’t help but wonder if Tiffani would be alive if we prioritized the needs of women on the street. If we had made the effort she required — especially to build housing for women like her — maybe she would still be here.
I can only conjecture, but I hope her death — and the continued deaths of women like her — spark the change Toronto needs.
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Diana Chan McNally is a front-line community worker in downtown Toronto
