A downtown youth shelter just found a new home. In four months, it too will close

As a downtown hotel shelter for homeless youth has been preparing to relocate its occupants by the end of April so the property owner can return to the tourism business, the shelter’s next location is already on a ticking clock — with four months before it will also be forced to close.

The Strathcona, a hotel near York and Wellington Streets that city hall has been leasing since the onset of the pandemic as an extra shelter, has already been in turmoil this spring, with more than 100 adult residents displaced to other facilities to make space for the youth programs.

But as those moves are underway, the city now says it expects the Strathcona lease to also be terminated, this time by the end of August — despite Toronto’s continued struggles with shelter capacity, and statistics showing an average of 119.8 people turned away each night in March.

“The City is working to confirm the end date with the property owner in light of their desire to return to hotel operations and we anticipate having to hand the property back over by the end of August,” a city hall spokesperson said, noting the site “was always intended to be temporary.”

As of Sunday, there were 90 people staying in the remaining adult shelter program at 60 York St., and 126 young people at the youth hotel nearing its final days. Three of the four youth programs at the closing hotel are slated to move to the Strathcona, though city hall was looking at an alternate arrangement for the smallest program, which as of Sunday had 11 occupants.

It’s not clear at this point where those programs will move once the Strathcona closes, with the city statement vowing to work with its “operating partners” to develop relocation plans.

Mark Aston, executive director of youth shelter agency Covenant House, previously hinted that the Strathcona may be on borrowed time, while pointing to the city’s plan to close up to five of its temporary, pandemic-era shelters in 2023. “I’m not anticipating us to be at the Strathcona for a long period of time,” he said. “This is not, by any means, a permanent or long-term thing.”

While the city continues to see more demand for shelter than available space, municipal officials have pointed to the financial strain of the temporary sites in outlining the closure plan. A 2021 lease extension for the Strathcona, for example lists the room rates as $100 per room each day.

In its statement about the Strathcona closure, the city also said decisions were made based on the “availability” of sites and property owners’ willingness to continue to lease them out.

With a deadline now looming, city hall said it would prioritize moving Strathcona occupants into housing, where possible, before looking at moves to other shelters. But in a city where affordable housing is hard to come by, the city has struggled with that effort during the initial closures of the more than two dozen temporary shelters opened during the pandemic.

Looking at sites that shut down in 2022, the city has reported housing rates as low as three per cent — at 195 Princes’ Boulevard — while 58.4 per cent of residents went to another shelter, 5.2 per cent went to a health or correctional site, and 33.5 per cent went to unknown locations.

At the higher end was the Bond Place, which underwent a “phased” closure after the city purchased the site to convert into housing. There, the city reported a housing rate of 30.4 per cent after the closure was announced, with 29.6 per cent moving to other shelters, 8.8 per cent to health or corrections sites, and 28 per cent to unknown locations. (A further 2.4 per cent of the remaining Bond residents died before they were forced to leave, city statistics detail.)

One current occupant of the Strathcona’s adult shelter program, Robert Brown, told the Star that as of Tuesday, those staying on-site still hadn’t been formally notified about the looming closure — with occupants only finding out after staff were informed, and word trickled out unofficially. There was now a meeting scheduled for occupants next week, Brown said.

“There are 90 residents, there’s nothing that’s been said, and there is really no plan of action.”

Looking ahead, he wants to see a clear plan to help people access permanent housing before the shelter closes — noting that some residents still hadn’t started on the complex paperwork and applications required to access supports like housing subsidies for people facing homelessness. With such a tight timeline, he suggested extra investments could be made in housing workers.

If it wasn’t possible to get someone into proper housing, he’s hoping residents in the single-room setup aren’t funnelled into the city’s older, dormitory-style shelters, suggesting that would be a step backwards. To fellow resident Katy Chiappetta, it’s a situation that’s left her anxious.

“There’s only so much time to (find) vacancies for housing 90 people, as we stand right now,” Chiappetta said, looking at the four-month runway ahead. “That’s not even including the kids.”

Victoria Gibson is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering affordable housing. Reach her via email: victoriagibson@thestar.ca