Progress Update on Little Norway Park - November 24, 2024
At the November 6th Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association meeting, Gord Tanner, the General Manager of Toronto Shelter and Support Services (TSSS), committed to implementing an enhanced services protocol in the park.
This week, we received two significant updates:
- A security team is now positioned at the park on a 24/7 basis, as of Tuesday November 19.
- Starting November 25, Community Safety Teams will move to 24/7 operations. They will cover the same area around 545 Lake Shore building and parking lot, the condo building immediately to the east, Little Norway Park / Norway Park, Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre, and the Waterfront School. They can be reached at 647-455-0062 or 647-455-2800.
By the end of December, TSSS is working to put the following services in place:
- A staff trailer, which will facilitate the daily presence of City staff and community service providers for enhanced outreach and supports to ensure: housing/shelter availability is presented and prioritized; the park is maintained and cleaned; and culturally-connected service providers are available to help residents in need.
- Initiating the Encampment Prevention Plan, a focused and intensive deployment of supports and resources with the overall goal of ensuring all residents have an indoor place to stay, and the park is returned to full community use.
- Establish and begin organizing the regular meeting of the Little Norway Working Group composed of local service providers and City Staff to inform and guide the response to ensure people are housed as quickly and safely as possible.
This protocol will build on the teams and services already in the park, including Streets-to-Homes staff who offer shelter referrals and housing plans, harm reduction partners, Toronto Fire Services who conduct regular fire risk assessments and education, Neighbourhood Community Officers who engage with residents and address safety concerns and TSSS staff who visit daily for litter cleanup and needle sweep. TSSS can be reached at 416-392-0548 or [email protected].
This week, my office has heard a number of concerns about criminal behaviour in the community that were deeply troubling. It was important to see that 14 Division had a town hall at the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre this week and community members had the opportunity to get advice. I’m staying closely connected to staff as response continues.
As of November 22, the encampment at Little Norway Park had 26 tents with 26 people staying in the park. Of the 26 in the park, 22 people are continuing to work with City staff and 4 people already have housing plans.
With an increased presence of City staff in the park, 17 encampments have been reduced since November 1st, and 42 referrals to shelter and housing have been completed since January. A total of 9,975 kg of material has been removed since January.
Little Norway Park
With limited green and public spaces in our downtown neighbourhoods, I understand how important Little Norway Park is to our community. Encampments are not the solution to the housing crisis that is gripping our city and country. And I am committed to working together for lasting results that ensure our neighourhood parks are accessible and enjoyable for all.
Ensuring Safe Parks and Safe Residents
While we work to build and open new shelter beds and new affordable housing to keep up with the unprecedented homelessness crisis in Toronto, we also must continue to work hard to keep our parks, communities, and all residents safe. I have ensured that Little Norway Park is a top-tier priority for extra services and resources among the 450 other park encampments across the city, in recognition of Bathurst Quay’s highly diverse population and need for basic services, very busy urban context, and sensitive proximity of the community centre and schools.
The following enhanced actions are being taken in Little Norway Park:
- Daily visits from Streets to Homes staff
- Daily patrols from the Mobile Security team to report and respond to any safety issues and medical emergencies.
- Daily patrols by the Community Safety Teams to address concerns like crisis intervention and needle pick-ups. They patrol key areas and can be contacted daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 647-455-0062 or 647-455-2800.
- Daily visits by Toronto Shelter and Support Services staff for clean-ups and needle sweeps.
- Regular visits by Toronto Fire Services for fire risk assessments and to provide education.
- Engagement by Neighbourhood Community Officers to address security concerns.
- Frequent visits from harm reduction services and street outreach like The Works to connect to services.
- Homes First teams have been working to address reported issues and reduce the amount of public drug use in the area and increase the amount of clean-ups around the outside of the building. Security teams patrol multiple times an hour.
Intensive outreach and offering housing support to people residing in Little Norway Park is working: 39 encampments have been voluntarily removed from the park since August 1. Of the 26 remaining people, 22 are currently actively working with City staff and 3 more already have housing plans. While I know that the progress is not always immediately visible, the City is tracking outcomes closely and continuously looking for improvements.
At the same time, over 3,400 kilograms of materials have been removed from the park through cleanups. This is vitally important for safety, especially the removal of fire risks, and it helps to reduce how much space is occupied.
The Homelessness and Affordable Housing Crisis
Each night, more than 230 people are turned away from shelters because there are no beds available, even though Toronto provides over 9,000 shelter spaces – more beds by far than any other city in Canada. Over 89,000 households are on the waitlist for affordable housing, with average wait times stretching from 8 to 13 years.
This crisis has been decades in the making – a frustrating result of funding and policy choices over time. Thirty years ago, the federal government abandoned its responsibility to fund social and affordable housing. Ontario offloaded this responsibility to municipalities without the necessary funds. Years of funding cuts and austerity, frozen social assistance rates, and escalating rents and cost of living have resulted in the fact that many people in our city and community cannot find an affordable place to live – and are more unwell because of it.
Forcibly clearing encampments is not the solution. Not only is it harmful to people who are living in parks as a last resort, it simply does not work. After the violent encampment clearings of 2021, Toronto’s Ombudsman laid out clear recommendations to focus on alternatives to enforcement actions because the evidence showed that people were only being shuffled from park to park due to lack of shelters and housing. There is no long-lasting solution to encampments without housing.
Based on these lessons, the City created an Encampment Approach and Strategy that creates a path to shelter and focuses on lasting results to ensure the park is a place for everyone in our community to enjoy. This approach is being implemented city-wide, and all parks are equally subject to this protocol.This approach is echoed by the recommendations from the Federal Housing Advocate in her Review of Homeless Encampments.
Building Shelters and Housing
The City of Toronto is investing in 65,000 new affordable housing units, investing in a new shelter capital plan to provide more spaces in every part of the City and not only the downtown, and acquiring existing rental buildings to keep affordable rental within reach.
Thank you for community advocacy on the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) program that enables people to move out of emergency shelters and access permanent housing, opening up much-needed space in the shelter system. It put pressure on the Ontario Government to finally release the benefits, after a months-long backlog. Making this fund permanent is an important next step to address the housing crisis.
How to Share Concerns
Little Norway Park remains a top priority for the City’s Encampment Office, and to work with you to address community concerns as efforts continue to resolve the encampment. Please report incidents to the appropriate agency, and also inform my office at [email protected], as well as the General Manager of Toronto Shelter Support Services Office at 416-392-0548 or [email protected]. We escalate requests and having them on record ensures the best action.
311 or 416-338-0889 (TTY)
To report concerns about:
- Excessive noise
- Excessive litter
- Hazardous materials in parks
- Illegal dumping
- Graffiti
- Request Sidewalk and street cleaning
911 Emergency Services
For situations where the safety of people or property are at risk
- Fire
- Crime in progress
- Medical emergency
- Agitated or aggressive behaviour
Toronto Fire Services 416-338-9375 or [email protected]
To discuss general non-emergency fire safety concerns related to an encampment.
Central Intake 416-397-5637
Telephone support to individuals seeking access to emergency shelter.
Toronto Community Crisis Response 211
If someone is experiencing emotional distress or in need of crisis intervention.
You can always get in touch with my office if you have any concerns that you aren’t sure where to direct at [email protected].
Thank you for your continued care and commitment to work together for a safe and caring community.
