Advocating for a vibrant, thriving South Etobicoke
Communities and kids safety first
New Toronto Initiative is a group of neighbours who have been actively listening to the community’s concerns about the proposal to build an emergency shelter and harm reduction site at 66 Third St. We want to make sure our community’s concerns are heard and not ignored.
While helping homeless aged 55+ is important, this shelter’s location and how it’s planned raise serious concerns.
1. Safety Concerns Due to Harm Reduction
The site will operate as a harm reduction facility, offering needles, glass pipes, cookers, and other drug paraphernalia to anyone who asks. TSSS official guidelines disallow drug use inside the facility, meaning shelter residents are pushed into the community to buy and use drugs.
66 Third is within 250 meters of two elementary schools, a children’s playground, and the only other harm reduction site in all of Etobicoke. Open drug use is already a problem in the area, and will surge with the proposed shelter.
2.Our Community is Already Overburdened
New Toronto is already a depressed, underserved area. 64% of South Etobicoke’s subsidized housing is in New Toronto. Siting a shelter at 66 Third deepens the systemic inequality and places an undue burden on the neighbourhood.
Rosedale—where homelessness is actually a bigger issue—just announced a brand new community centre on their surplus Green P lot. Meanwhile, in New Toronto, more than 700 kids are stuck on daycare waitlists. It is unfair for the City to ask us to dig deeper, while more affluent neighbourhoods are rewarded.
3.The City Used Wrong Information
The City claimed that 24% of Toronto's homeless reside in Etobicoke, but the more accurate number is just 15%—across all of Etobicoke-York. The number is smaller when you focus on South Etobicoke, and even smaller when looking at New Toronto. Most shelter residents will come from other areas, not from our community.
4.Local Services Can’t Support Increased Demand
Our community services, like LAMP, are already overwhelmed with long waitlists for basic care. Seniors often have complex health and support needs, but the nearest hospital is over 7 km away. They need safe, stable, long-term housing—not crowded warehouse style shelters where intrapersonal violence rose 283% between the years 2011 and 2021. This plan doesn’t provide the kind of care or environment our homeless deserve.
5. Failure to Meet Shelter Standards
The proposed shelter at 66 Third Street does not meet key requirements in the City’s own Toronto Shelter Standards. It lacks on-site green space and designated pet areas, offering only a rooftop patio that overlooks nearby homes and a seniors’ residence—raising serious privacy and safety concerns. And at just 9,246 square feet, the lot falls well short of the 15,000 square feet recommended for emergency shelters.
Pushing this plan forward despite these clear design and safety issues undermines public trust and raises serious questions about the oversight by TSSS, CREM, and CreateTO.
6.The City Can Change the Shelter’s Use Anytime
Even though it’s being called a senior shelter now, the city can turn it into a shelter for any age group at any time. Reducing the bed count actually increases the cost the City will pay per bed. When budgets constrict, the City will increase capacity.
In short—this plan puts more pressure on an already struggling neighbourhood and doesn’t give seniors the support they truly need.
New Toronto deserves better.
Tell Ontario to rethink shelter locations
Our peition aims to motivate the Government to rethink placing homeless shelters in locations that expose children or seniors to trauma. This is not unique to New Toronto, but is a way of effecting positive change in all Ontario communities.
Read our petition
Vote April 28th
James Maloney, Liberal Party of Canada
I ask that you engage with this community and that you and Councillor Morley hold ameaningful townhall meeting where the people living in this community can have their voices heard before any further steps are taken. Fortunately, I understand it is early in the process so there is plenty of time to get this right.
Read James’ Letter
Bernard Trottier, Conservative Party of Canada
After hearing from numerous residents and having taken the time to listen to their concerns, I would like to add my support to their call to pause the shelter plan at 66 Third Street until such time as their concerns can be heard and a more appropriate location considered. We urge you and Councillor Amber Morley to use this time to hold open public meetings with the residents so you can better understand and appreciate their concerns. Community shelters only work well if they have the support of the community.
Cory Wagar, New Democratic Party of Canada
We have reached out to Cory and his team, but have not heard back. We will publish his position when we receive it.
