Item - 2025.EX23.5

The Acting Executive Director, Social Development 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 forward the 2025 Update on SafeTO Implementation to the Toronto Police Service Board, Boards of Directors of Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto Public Library, Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir.

4. City Council request the Federal Government 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.

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.

This report provides an update on Phase 1 (2022-204) implementation of SafeTO: Toronto's 10-Year Community Safety and Well-Being Plan and outlines the priorities for Phase 2 implementation.

The implementation of SafeTO Phase 1 (2022-2024) focused on building a strong foundation through key initiatives that have transformed how Toronto approaches community safety and well-being. Building on the achievements of Phase 1, Phase 2 focuses on additional priority actions from the current plan, which will be implemented within existing corporate resources (including staff) as well as requiring new investments, including partnerships with external agencies and other levels of Government.

Since the SafeTO Plan was adopted in 2021, the City has invested over $60.6 million gross and $55.7 million net in community-led violence prevention and interruption programs and to build partnerships with community organizations delivering frontline services. This amount reflects direct investment and excludes administrative costs of the program. In addition, financial support from the Federal Government is essential to showcase the collaborative efforts behind the SafeTO implementation plan.  

Funding to sustain Phase 1 and begin implementing Phase 2 in 2025 is part of the 2025 Operating Budget for Social Development and includes funding of $6.8 million from the Federal Government through the Crime Prevention Grant and the Building Safer Communities Fund, which are set to expire by December 31, 2025, and March 31, 2026, respectively. SafeTO has been implemented using City resources as well as Federal grants. Efforts continue to take place to secure new sources of funding through inter-governmental engagement and seeking additional partners.

Required funding to advance the four priority actions of Phase 2 SafeTO implementation, as outlined in Attachment 3: SafeTO Phase 2 Priority Actions, will be requested in the 2026 Budget and future Budget processes for consideration along with other City priorities, subject to the City's financial resource capacity. 

The Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer has reviewed this report and agrees with the information as presented in the Financial Impact section.