The shelter hotel, 45 The Esplanade, formerly known as Novotel Toronto Centre, stopped accepting new guests Wednesday, the city said in a news release. The site is expected to return to hotel operations in 2023, the release said. City staff, with the help of a group called the Homes First Society, will work with residents to develop “individualized relocation plans.” That could mean moving into permanent housing or a bed in another city homeless shelter. Homes First Society, which manages the shelter hotel, has spoken with residents and sent them a letter, the city said. Gordon Tanner, general manager of the city’s Housing and Support Services, told CBC Toronto on Wednesday that the city will increase the number of on-site workers to help clients find housing. “Certainly, we don’t want anyone to go back to a camp and sleep outdoors,” he said. “We will have a very targeted approach where we will bring in additional resources to bolster the housing staff already working there and support as many people as we can to move into permanent housing as the program closes.” Gordon Tanner, general manager of the city’s Housing and Support Services, says staff will work with residents to develop “individualized relocation plans.” He says: “Certainly, we don’t want anyone going back to a camp and sleeping outdoors.” (City of Toronto) Each individual plan will give people choices about what best meets their needs, he added. “Over the next three months, we’re going to be very focused on connecting with people in the shelter and seeing if we can connect them with housing as our first opportunity. And if housing isn’t available or doesn’t meet their needs, then we look at an alternative shelter placement for those people,” he added. Tanner said the city will make “moderate” increases in its bed capacity as public health restrictions have been eased during the pandemic. In the release, the city said the change in bed spacing in its shelters, made during the COVID-19 pandemic, can increase capacity by 500 beds.
Some may end up on the streets, a resident says
However, at least one resident, who goes by the name Grew, said he and his neighbors had trouble finding a housing worker or employee at 45 The Esplanade. Grew, who has lived at the shelter since March 2021, said he believes the closure could mean some people may end up on the streets because they don’t want to be in crowded shelters. “I think my biggest fear is that, for a lot of my neighbors in the hotel, they’re not going to want to go back to the concourses. I think there’s still a very healthy fear of the concourses because of the ongoing COVID.” he said. “I think a lot of people will choose the lesser of two evils and go back out into the streets, back into parks, under bridges, into ravines, back into tents.” The city said in the release that the shelter hotel will be the third temporary shelter site to be decommissioned this year. The other two locations, already closed, are the Better Living Centre, at 195 Princes’ Blvd., and the former Days Inn hotel, at 1684 Queen St. E. There are 25 temporary homeless shelters open across the city. According to a staff report approved by the council on April 6, the city is working to extend leases on most temporary shelters through April 2023. “We cannot speak to the status of a potential lease extension as discussions with the landlord are ongoing,” the city said in an email Wednesday.
