Toronto’s homeless shelters now house almost triple the number of kids they did eight years ago — with more than 1,400 in hotel rooms paid for by city hall
[…] Across Toronto, child and family homelessness has been rising quickly, with more kids showing up on the doorstep of the shelter system than it was designed to handle. That growing pressure has meant a rising number of families shuffled between stopgaps and shelter overflow solutions to keep their children off the streets.
As of September, nearly 1,500 kids were staying in the city’s shelter system, two thirds of whom were 10 or younger, as well as more than 1,400 children waiting for space in scattered hotel rooms paid for by city hall.
The last decade has seen demand for Toronto’s family shelter spaces rise dramatically, with the number of kids in shelter today nearly triple counts in 2016. City hall says more than 10 times as many families are also waiting in temporary hotel rooms for vacancies compared to a past surge in 2018-19. […]