Hotel check out: The city’s plan to close temporary homeless shelters

Guests: Victoria Gibson, affordable housing reporter, and Gru, a resident of a temporary shelter

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Toronto leased a number of hotels to augment the number of homeless shelters and allow adequate space between residents. These temporary shelters now account for 27 sites housing over 3,000 people and 40 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in Toronto. Now the leases are coming up and the city is looking at a number of options to take these temporary shelters out of the system, and find a way for the residents to not end up back on the streets.