I take great pride in the strides we have made here in Ward 13 to connect encampment residents to housing, particularly with the successful resolution of the Allan Gardens encampment last October. To date, Allan Gardens remains free of any new encampments. Our dedicated City staff have displayed remarkable persistence and resolve, and for that, I thank them.
Our Encampment Dashboard provides updates encampments in parks, how we’re managing them, and outlines City’s new encampment protocol.
Toronto now has a new Encampment Protocol with a multi-divisional approach to respond to the complex needs of those living outdoors.
With the new Public Developer Delivery Model for housing, the City is working to increase supply of public, not for profit & co-op homes being built on city-owned lands.
In 2023, over 50% of rental units approved for demolition and replacement across the city were in Toronto Centre.
A common complaint is that City bylaws are not sufficiently responsive to climate change and encourage landlords to keep the heat on unnecessarily.
Since the end of the pandemic, residents have had real concerns about the condition of our Downtown East, including public drug use, encampments, homelessness, unclean laneways and sidewalks, graffiti, broken windows, break-ins, public intoxication, used needles, and a noticeable lack of visible enforcement.
Spanning Downtown, the Financial District, Queens Quay, and the Jarvis corridor, gridlock can be at its most acute in our Ward, especially at intersections near the Gardiner on- and off-ramps at rush hour.
I'm proud to once again be coming back to our community for this year's Neighbourhood Town Hall series!
Over the course of the summer we have seen encampments pop up in parks across Toronto Centre. I wanted to provide an update in response to the concerns I have heard and the questions about what can be done to make our parks accessible to everyone.
