TORONTO -- As several provinces take steps to relocate the homeless into vacant hotel rooms, advocates in Toronto say the city it not moving fast enough to protect its most vulnerable population.
A group of organizations that support Toronto’s homeless have launched legal action against the city, saying its failure to keep some beds in its shelters at least two metres apart constitutes a violation of residents’ charter rights.
Although the city says it has secured 1,200 hotel rooms for use by shelter residents, those advocating for the homeless say the city must expedite its efforts to move shelter residents.
“The city has moved over 700 people out of the shelters and into hotels. That’s about 30 a day and, at this rate, in order to clear out the shelters to a level that is of a basic public health standard we are looking at months and months,” Jessica Orkin, a lawyer representing some of the organizations in the charter challenge, told CTV Toronto.
“We are saying that the courts need to take a look at this, intervene and press the city to allocate all the resources required to make this happen in a rapid and appropriate way.”
According to city officials, there are 135 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among shelter residents in Toronto, including 88 at a welcome centre for refugees.
Toronto Mayor John Tory has called the legal challenge “disappointing,” noting that the city is working tirelessly to enforce physical distancing in shelters while moving residents to new facilities.
“We have hotel rooms that have been arranged beyond the ones we are presently using,” Tory told CTV Toronto.
“We have to consult with these people, we have to try to make sure that where we send people will have all the suitable supports, medical and otherwise… it isn’t as simple as just saying: ‘Book a hotel room.’”
On Saturday, officials in British Columbia announced a public safety order to dismantle homeless encampments in Vancouver and Victoria and move residents into vacant hotel rooms in an effort to reduce the chance of a coronavirus outbreak in the camps.
The government has been working municipalities in the province to secure 1,700 hotel and community centre spaces, including spaces for 686 people in Vancouver and 324 in Victoria.
“While a fear of COVID-19 sweeps through our communities, we must also remember there are those who are facing this pandemic without shelter and without the support which many of us take for granted,” B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Saturday during a news conference in Vancouver.
“These are people with no place to isolate, no place to rest or relief from this growing global threat."
Alberta has also provided financial support to help open 14 new shelter facilities for the homeless, noting that more than 400 people have been moved into housing since the start of the pandemic.
The province also plans to begin testing asymptomatic residents in homeless shelters to prevent the spread of the virus. However, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the province has not identified any cases of COVID-19 in the city’s shelters.
- With files from CTV News Toronto
