Item - 2025.EX23.5

City Council considered the following Items together:

EX23.5 headed “2025 Update on SafeTO Implementation”; and

EX23.4 headed “Management Update: Auditor General Recommendations on 9-1-1 Operations and Responses to Calls for Service by the Toronto Police Service”.

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council request the Executive Director, Social Development, in collaboration with the relevant City divisions, agencies and corporations, to continue to advance the goals and actions of SafeTO: Toronto's 10-Year Community Safety and Well-Being Plan and report back to City Council on a progress report in 2027.

2. City Council request the Executive Director, Social Development, in collaboration with the relevant City divisions, agencies and corporations, to negotiate and enter into agreement(s) with other governments, institutions, agencies and vendors as required to advance SafeTO initiatives, including information and privacy agreements and request for proposals processes in a form acceptable to the City Solicitor.

3. City Council request the Federal Government to continue funding the Crime Prevention Grant and Building Safer Communities Fund to support SafeTO violence prevention and intervention programs and initiatives, in collaboration with community partners.

4. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Community Development and Social Services to work with the Toronto Transit Commission to develop an agreement to expand and strengthen access to the Toronto Community Crisis Service on subways, subway platforms, buses, streetcars and Toronto Transit Commission property, and to report back to City Council in the third quarter of 2025 with options and recommendations for how dedicated Toronto Community Crisis Service staff could be deployed particularly in subway stations around the City in collaboration with other mental health services.
 

5. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Community Development and Social Services, in coordination with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission and the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, to report back to City Council in third quarter of 2025  on what additional mental health resources and infrastructure would be needed in order to effectively scale and implement community safety services such as expanded Toronto Community Crisis Service on the Toronto Transit Commission.

6. City Council forward the Item to the Toronto Police Services Board, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation Board of Directors, the Toronto Public Library Board, the Toronto Transit Commission Board, the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir.

The Executive Committee considered Items EX23.4 and EX23.5 together.

Toronto consistently ranks among the safest cities in Canada and globally. However, this sense of safety is not experienced equitably across all communities. Disparities in violence, crime and well-being persist, especially in neighbourhoods and for populations facing socioeconomic pressures and systemic inequities. City Council and multiple agency partners have committed to respond to these concerns through SafeTO: Toronto's 10-Year Community Safety and Well-Being Plan (SafeTO).

The following report provides an update on the outcomes of Phase 1 (2022-2024) implementation of SafeTO and outlines the priorities for Phase 2 (2025-2027) implementation. With over 90 per cent of the 26 actions identified in SafeTO completed or in-progress, the report highlights some of SafeTO's achievements and identifies actions that require a renewed focus for the City of Toronto and partners across all sectors and levels of government to build a safer, healthier and more resilient Toronto.

The City developed SafeTO in response to provisions under the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019, which required all Ontario municipalities to prepare and adopt a community safety and well-being plan by July 2021. Community advocacy on rethinking how public institutions respond to community violence significantly shaped the City's approach to these legislative requirements. As per O. Reg. 414/23 of the Act, municipal councils must review and, if appropriate, revise the plan four years after the day the plan was adopted and every four years thereafter. The City is required to complete its review of the plan before July 14, 2025.

City Council unanimously adopted SafeTO in July 2021, introducing a fundamental shift in how Toronto addresses community safety, moving from reactive emergency responses to a culture of prevention. The plan also applies a public health approach to safety. It defines safety as more than just the absence of crime, emphasizing the need for protective factors like stable housing, accessible services, strong social connections and opportunities that allow children, youth, and families to thrive. By prioritizing a public health, data-informed, and people-centred approach, SafeTO aims to tackle the root causes of insecurity and violence to create lasting, transformative change.

To bring this bold vision to life, SafeTO includes 26 actions across seven strategic goals that will be implemented through a phased approach. This approach was outlined in the SafeTO Implementation Plan, which was approved by City Council in February 2022.

During Phase 1 (2022-2024) of SafeTO implementation, the City focused on four priority actions that resulted in the following achievements:

- The City launched the Toronto Community Crisis Service in 2022, establishing it as Toronto's fourth emergency service. Since its inception, the Toronto Community Crisis Service has responded to more than 25,000 mental health crisis calls, resolved 78 per cent of calls transferred from 911 without police involvement and in 2023, contributed to a 4.5 per cent decrease in mental health related 911 calls.

- The City established the Violence Prevention Toronto Office as a vehicle for multi-sector coordination with institutional partners, other levels of government and community partners to develop comprehensive violence reduction strategies. The Violence Prevention Toronto Office has organized Integrated Safety Coordination Teams in six geographic SafeTO Zones that have led to 60 multi-sector responses to violent incidents, including shootings and stabbings, and mobilized 70 interventions in response to emerging trends of community violence between April 2023 to January 2025.

- The City strengthened community crisis response protocols to better support victims and communities impacted by violence through the expansion of the Community Crisis Response Program to seven-day-per-week deployment across Toronto. From 2022 to 2024, the Community Crisis Response Program has responded to 1,844 critical incidents and achieving an 88 per cent response rate within 48 hours.

- The City launched the SafeTO Collaborative Analytics and Learning Environment, integrating key datasets across institutions to inform evidence-based policies. The SafeTO Collaborative Analytics and Learning Environment has enabled the development of the Toronto Transit Commission's Safety Dashboard, which tracks safety incidents and informs transit safety planning.

Building on this foundation, Phase 2 implementation of SafeTO will sustain Phase 1 efforts and focus on the following four SafeTO priority actions from 2025 to 2027:

- Develop a comprehensive approach to address gender-based and intimate-partner violence, in partnership with City divisions and agencies, including the Toronto Police Service.

- Implement responses to Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

- Engage residents and build community capacity to lead safety initiatives.

- Strengthen multi-sector collaboration through partnerships and integrated investments.