Toronto's unhoused population reaches 'crisis' level, more than doubling in 3 years: survey

Toronto's unhoused population more than doubled in three years, reaching an estimated 15,400 last fall, according to a new city survey that calls the numbers a "crisis."

Toronto's 2024 Street Needs Assessment homelessness survey, a point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness, says the situation is one that "no single organization, sector, or level of government can address alone."

The survey, released on Monday, says the latest estimate from October 2024 is an increase from the 7,300 unhoused people estimated to be in Toronto in April 2021.

"When multiple systems such as affordable housing, health care, mental health, income support, and the justice system fail, people are left with nowhere to turn and the shelter system or staying in encampments becomes the option of last resort," the survey says.

Research shows the increase being driven by a lack of affordable housing, unmet health needs, inadequate income support and individual struggles with substance use, the survey says. It also says the increase mirrors trends seen in Ontario and across Canada.

Racialized people continue to be overrepresented in homelessness rates, according to the survey.

It found that nine per cent of the total unhoused population surveyed in October identified as Indigenous, while 58 per cent identified as Black. Indigenous people make up only three per cent of the city's population, while Black people make up 10 per cent. The survey says Indigenous people make up 31 per cent of people experiencing what it calls outdoor homelessness.

The number of unhoused people who identified as part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community has also doubled since 2021, with the greatest representation among refugee claimants at 31 per cent and young people staying in city sites at 27 per cent.

Numbers of unhoused people dropping, city says

In a news release on Monday, the city said it has seen a drop in the numbers of unhoused people since the survey was conducted. It attributes the drop to a decrease in refugee claimants in shelters, lower encampment numbers across the city and movement of people into permanent housing. 

Gord Tanner, general manager of the city's Toronto Shelter and Support Services, described the increase in the city's unhoused population on Tuesday as "significant" and he said the numbers are driven by failures by a number of systems, including housing, income support, immigration, child welfare and health care. 

Tanner said the survey helped to identify unhoused people's needs in terms of housing and the supports needed to get them out of homelessness.

"Fundamentally, this is an affordability issue. People need more money to afford a place to live. They need more money to maintain their housing," he said.

"And when you look beyond the income issue, people need support finding housing. They need support with some mental health and unmet health needs."

He said the city needs a long-term, coordinated plan from the federal and provincial governments to invest more in preventing homelessness. That means efforts to keep people from losing their housing, working with young people and children so that they never become homeless and supporting refugee claimants as they arrive to prevent them from ending up in shelters.

"What we really need is that upstream support to have somewhere for them to go permanently."

CBC Toronto has reached out to the Ontario and federal governments for comment.

Tanner said the city is building more supportive and affordable housing, as well as supporting thousands of refugee claimants to leave the shelter system and to get into housing. Its teams are connecting with people in encampments and on the transit system, he said.

According to the city, 1,078 people living outside were referred into shelters last year, more than 4,300 people were housed and 25,000 outreach visits were made to people experiencing homelessness. Up to 45 new front-line and outreach workers are being hired this year.

Report is 'devastating,' advocate says

One homeless advocate says she hopes the numbers are a "turning point" for change, while others say they aren't entirely surprising. All say the numbers demand a response from all three levels of government.

"It takes a lot to shock me, but I was shocked by the numbers. And I say that knowing that they're clearly even an underestimation of the numbers, especially of people living outside. So over 15,000 people are homeless in the city of Toronto," longtime street nurse Cathy Crowe said on Monday. 

"I think this is a devastating report overall because of the numbers," she said. "They're not numbers. They're people. They're men and women and youth and families with children," she added. "I hope it's a wake-up call."

Greg Cook, an outreach worker at non-profit organization Sanctuary and a member of the steering committee of Shelter and Housing Justice Network, said the numbers and trends identified in the survey are concerning. He noted that the survey says outdoor homelessness has increased in Toronto since 2021 from 742 to 1,615 in 2024. 

"From what I'm seeing on the ground, no big surprises, although it does, I think, portray just how much worse the crisis has gotten," Cook said.

Cook said the solution is clearly housing and all three levels of government need to be involved in the effort.

"I think ultimately we need housing that people can afford and we have done that in the past. The government knows how to do this. Really, what we need is tens of thousands of units every year of subsidized housing built," Cook said.

On Wednesday, city council's economic and community development committee will discuss the findings and the city's plans for shelters.