Advancing a rights-based approach to shelter safety in Toronto
Deputation to the Economic and Community Development Committee on November 26, 2024
Good morning,
My name is Samantha DiBellonia and I am the Manager of Policy at Maytree, a charitable foundation focused on advancing systemic solutions to poverty through a human rights-based approach.
I’m here to discuss the proposal for a Shelter Safety Action Plan – a plan that has the potential to improve the conditions of the City’s shelter system for both residents and the staff who support these critical services.
While the current plan is a high-level overview of the changes we can expect in the coming months, we support its broad areas of action. These include better supporting staff, creating safe and accessible spaces for people who use substances, exploring how to link people with housing and other supports, and, importantly, improving the use of service restrictions. These actions can help to address some of the discrimination that people face in the system, and hopefully, will prevent the forced eviction of people who often need the deepest levels of support. We’re also pleased that the City engaged with people with lived experience in the plan’s development.
However, the CAMH Shelter Safety Study used to inform this plan also pointed to challenges with several City policies that aren’t addressed. These include policies that limit autonomy and privacy for residents, such as those that limit access to secure storage. The City should take care to ensure that the important information collected from the CAMH study about how people are experiencing the system are reviewed and reflected.
But taking a rights-based approach to shelter safety will mean more than examining procedures alone. It will also mean reviewing the built environment of the shelter system, mechanisms to provide feedback, and objectives and targets to monitor the plan’s success.
On the condition of the City’s shelters, the CAMH Shelter Safety Study noted that overcrowding was one of the main reasons for shelter-based violence. While some of the plan’s recommendations could help with this over time, there is a need to address how well shelters are meeting resident needs now.
This means ensuring that there are sufficient spaces and services to support people, especially in the coming winter months. The City can also improve accommodations for people with disabilities, informed by the City’s shelter accessibility audits.
In addition, while we’re glad to see there are plans to improve complaint resolution, these improvements need to take a people-centred approach. This means empowering residents to know and exercise their rights, free from retaliation. Key to achieving this goal will be creating an environment that fosters trust between staff and residents.
People with lived experience also need to continuously be engaged in this plan, not just in its initial development, but as it’s implemented.
Lastly, the City needs to be clear about the plan’s objectives, how it will monitor them, and roles and responsibilities in this process. For example, while stronger staff training is important, the City will need to be clear about what kind of training this is, who develops and monitors this training, and how they will measure success.
In closing, while we support the approval of the Shelter Safety Action Plan, there are opportunities to further ground it in a rights-based approach as it’s implemented.
Thank you.
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