Encampments

Claim: As of December 2, the City has identified 395 tents in 66 sites in parks across Toronto.

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FACT:  The City’s estimate of roughly 400 people living in encampments in Toronto is a severe undercount.

The City’s estimate1 of the number of people in encampments is limited to Streets to Homes workers counting the number of encampments and the number of tents in those encampments.2 Based upon the similarity between the City’s tent numbers and encampment resident numbers, it seems that the City is assuming that there is roughly one person living in each tent. This methodology is flawed. The City’s map indicating the number of encampments and tents in different parts of the City is drastically lower than numbers provided by local homeless-serving agencies that provide regular outreach services to homeless people in their communities, which puts the number at closer to 800 people in encampments.3 An analysis of encampments that have been cleared by the City demonstrates that each tent has sheltered roughly 2 people, not one as the City has assumed.

FACT: Not every unhoused person living outside is staying in an encampment. City figures don’t include people who have been sheltering in places like in TTC vehicles,4 in TTC shelters, in stairwells, on sidewalks, on subway grates, or in abandoned properties. The number of unhoused people living outside in Toronto is likely over 1,000 people.

Notes:

City Claim: City of Toronto Press Release, December 3, 2020

  1. The City has provided inconsistent numbers regarding the number encampment population. “Around 400” was asserted by Mayor John Tory at the December 7, 2020 COVID-19 Briefing and by SSHA General Manager at the October 28 Toronto City Council meeting. Four days after the press release that said there were 395 tents (including other shelters) in encampments, Gord Tanner, Director of Homelessness Initiatives and Prevention for the City said there were “423 tents in encampments in Toronto” at the Economic and Community Development meeting.
  2. Bedard, M. (October 28, 2020). Toronto City Council meeting.
  3. Doug Johnson Hatlem provides his detailed methodology here.
  4. See: Yuen, J. (Dec 11, 2020). Uptick in homeless sheltering on TTC vehicles during pandemic. Toronto Sun.