Item - 2024.EC17.4

City Council considered the following Items together:

EC17.4 headed “Shelter Safety Action Plan and Contract Amendments related to Lodging for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, and Community Safety Team Services”; and

CC24.1 headed “Ombudsman Toronto Report - An Investigation into the City's Decision to Stop Allowing Refugee Claimants into Base Shelter System Beds”.

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council adopt the Shelter Safety Action Plan, a 36-month plan to continue to advance safety within the shelter system for staff and clients, in Attachment 1 to the report (November 12, 2024) from the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services and the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and the Chief Procurement Officer.

2. City Council re-iterate its request to the Government of Ontario to:

a. Protect community health, well-being and safety by continuing to fund all currently   operating Supervised Consumption Services and Consumption and Treatment Services Sites beyond March 31, 2025.

b. Consider the inclusion of Supervised Consumption Services in new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment program proposals that demonstrate outcomes for life-saving medical services, primary care, and increased pathways to treatment services and that include mandatory neighbourhood and operational safety plans.

3. City Council request the Government of Ontario provide ongoing and sustainable funding to ensure that appropriate primary health care, mental health and crisis intervention services are available to adequately support individuals experiencing homelessness and sleeping outdoors in Toronto, and that provincial investment in new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment programs do not result in the overall reduction in service and a corresponding negative outcome for vulnerable people in the City of Toronto.

4. City Council authorize the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, to reimburse up to $3,475,332 to churches and community organizations for their eligible expenses towards providing temporary shelter to refugee claimants incurred until December 31, 2023.

5. City Council authorize the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services to develop and implement the Shelter Management Information System file notifications for incidents of anti-Black racism within the homelessness sector and the use of the Anti-Black Racism Reporting Tool custom solution to track and manage incidents of anti-Black racism in City operated shelters and units, subject to completion of a Privacy Impact Assessment and confirmation by the City Clerk that the Anti-Black Racism Reporting Tool custom solution and associated operations comply with all requirements of the Municipal Freedom and Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

6. City Council authorize the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, in consultation with Purchasing and Materials Management, in accordance with Section 71-11.1.C of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 71, Financial Control, to enter into the necessary amending agreements on terms and conditions satisfactory to the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor to increase the value of the following contracts to maintain service levels in the winter and early spring:

a. Non-Competitive Blanket Contract 47024284 with Canadian Red Cross Society for lodging services for asylum seekers and refugees by an amount of $13,957,712 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($14,203,368 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries), increasing the contract value from $60,137,629 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($61,196,051 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries) to $74,095,341 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($75,399,419 net of Harmonizes Sales Tax recoveries) and extending the term to December 31, 2025.

b. Competitive Blanket Contract 47025287 with 2756732 Ontario Inc O/A One Community Solutions for Community Safety Team Services by a total amount (including all option years) of $8,102,600 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($8,245,206 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries), increasing the total contract value (including all option years) from $10,818,272 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($11,008,673 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries) to $18,920,872 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($19,253,880 net of Harmonizes Sales Tax recoveries).

7. City Council authorize the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, in consultation with Purchasing and Materials Management, in accordance with Section 71-11.1.C of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 71, Financial Control, to enter into the necessary amending agreements on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor to increase the value and extend the term, of the following contract:

a. Competitive Blanket Contract 47025624 with 2756732 Ontario Inc. O/A One Community Solutions for Community Safety Team Services by a total amount (including all option years) of $300,000 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($305,280 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries), increasing the total contract value (including all option years) from $300,000 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($305,280 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries) to $600,000 net of Harmonized Sales Tax ($610,560 net of Harmonizes Sales Tax recoveries).

The General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services and the Director, Strategic Programs, Toronto Shelter and Support Services gave a presentation to the Economic and Community Development Committee.

The City is committed to prioritizing and continuously improving shelter safety for staff and clients. On April 30, 2024, the Economic and Community Development Committee adopted the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Shelter Safety Study and directed Toronto Shelter and Support Services (TSSS) to report back on the development of a Shelter Safety Action Plan in consultation with people with lived experience and the Housing Rights Advisory Committee (2024.EC12.13). This report outlines the Shelter Safety Action Plan, which advances the recommendations from the CAMH Shelter Safety Study, and builds on the expertise and guidance from people with lived experience, shelter providers, health and mental health partners, and the Housing Rights Advisory Committee, and sets out an implementation roadmap to support staff and client safety in the shelter system. To continue supporting people experiencing homelessness and living in encampments, including people with complex health and mental health needs, the City requires ongoing commitment, investment, and collaboration with all orders of government, community organizations and sector partners.

TSSS continues to implement the City’s 10-year Homelessness Services Capital Infrastructure Strategy, which aims to make physical shelter infrastructure accessible, safer, and better aligned to respond to the diverse needs of shelter clients, staff, and the surrounding community. In response to 2024.EC9.4, City staff have been working to review and improve community safety efforts in and around shelter sites in collaboration with existing community safety services. This includes continued collaboration with Toronto Police Service, Business Improvement Areas, City Divisions, community organizations and institutions, partnership tables, and local networks. In addition, this report seeks City Council authority to amend competitive blanket contracts 47025287 and 47025624 for Community Safety Team Services that enhance safety in shelter for staff and clients, and support two Toronto Community Housing Corporation social housing buildings with a concentration of tenants with complex needs.

A report back is provided based on an evidence-informed needs assessment supported by Toronto Public Health to continue overdose prevention at large temporary shelter hotels. The City aims to maintain and expand lifesaving supports available in large shelter hotel sites, which may be particularly important considering proposed provincial legislation which, if passed, may lead to a significant decrease in the availability of overdose prevention services across the city.

With the ongoing arrival of refugee claimants to Toronto since September 2021, the City requires the support of all orders of government, community organizations, and sector partners. In follow up to the Council request (2024.EC11.7), this report seeks City Council authority to provide reimbursement to churches and community organizations, many Black-led, for eligible expenses incurred while providing temporary emergency shelter and support to hundreds of refugee claimants who arrived in Toronto in 2023. It also seeks City Council authority to amend and extend non-competitive blanket contract 47024284 with Canadian Red Cross Society to continue providing temporary lodging services for refugees until December 31, 2025. Refugees continue to arrive in Toronto and require services beyond what the purpose-built shelter system can currently provide, as Toronto Shelter and Support Services gradually transitions from temporary shelter hotel sites as part of its Homelessness Services Capital Infrastructure Strategy.

These continued efforts are important measures to support people experiencing homelessness in need of immediate support. The City is committed to long-term solutions to homelessness including affordable housing and supportive housing, which, with adequate income support, remain the most important factors to end homelessness and to build safe and secure communities for the people we serve and all residents of Toronto.

At its meeting on November 4, 2024 the Housing Rights Advisory Committee considered Item HS4.2.

Summary from the presentation from the Supporting Unhoused Rights Holders Working Group:

The Chair of the Supporting Unhoused Rights Holders Working Group will provide an update and share the outcomes of the group’s consultation on Toronto’s Shelter Safety Action Plan.