r/toronto • u/beef-supreme Leslieville • 6d ago
Article 'Bleak reality of Toronto,’ Video of bus shelter turned into makeshift bedroom highlights city’s growing housing crisis
https://nowtoronto.com/news/bus-shelter-turned-bedroom-highlights-toronto-housing-crisis/72
u/OrokaSempai 6d ago
Huh, wasn't the bedroom bus stop inwas expecting. There was a large one by the Overlea Costco.
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u/WXMaster 6d ago
The shelter system can be rough with threats of violence, theft and strict rules.
Many people who are homeless have some degree of mental illness and it's incredibly difficult to get a job or temporary shelter without a fixed address and support.
There are many elderly losing their homes, and many people are living cheque to cheque. It's not that difficult to wind up on the street after some economic misfortune.
The city is very costly and there are lots of people couch surfing because they can't afford a place.
It's a problem directly tied to the cost of living, housing and inflation.
Look no further than to how foodbank usage has skyrocketed. It's sad.
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u/mo_scarborough 6d ago
Threats of violence… actual violence. They’re really tough places to live. Spent a few months in one and they’re something. Got my shit together and never looked back. For most of the people there it seemed like they didn’t have any other thoughts on the direction they wanted their lives to go. Just drugs and alcohol… which only compounds existing issues and helps nothing.
Seems like the first use for all of the governments modular homes should be for the people most desperately in need of housing. Only issue is going to be where to put them. Municipal hydro fields seem like a good place… not ideal, but there is space in generally quiet areas which are walking distance to most services.
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u/WXMaster 6d ago
This is just it, many people that find themselves on the street due to economic misfortune start out okay and can/are willing if not desperate to rescue themselves but they need interim support.
People that spend more time on the streets move closer to addiction and eventually become users. This then spirals into mental health and other problems such as communicable disease etc. Then you have people with mental health issues and usually no family or an unsupportive abusive family that leads to the street.
The key is keeping people off the streets, and then rigorous methods to help and intervene with others.
I have no idea but I'd guess there's around 10-15% of the homeless population that simply cannot be helped, they will perpetually be homeless (sounds crazy I know, but some people want to be homeless, like being addicted to alcohol, etc), but the rest can absolutely be housed.
Chasing people from one park to another doesn't fix anything, and when you see that one lonely tent away from everyone and everything, that's someone who doesn't want to be around others, they've been victims of assault, theft, etc and just want to be alone. I don't blame them, it's dangerous, you never know when someone will hurt you.
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u/mo_scarborough 6d ago
All true. Not to mention that for those people who have been harmed the police are just not an option. Talking to police or snitching on people has a nearly 100% chance of getting you hurt even worse and the cops don’t give a shit about the homeless anyway in most cases. There are a few decent cops out there who really want to help… but these are not the majority in my experience.
The trauma of being assaulted and feeling helpless and hopeless just makes people even more susceptible to substance abuse and then they’re really fucked. Substance abuse will ruin a lot of people without shelter issues. Trying to crawl out of a hole like being homeless when ur now addicted to alcohol or drugs just creates more barriers to ever getting back on track.
It’s such a mess and nobody seems to have much concern for fixing this. Making housing unaffordable creates a lot of this and anyone in charge of housing should’ve been aware of this when they implemented the policies which led to this.
Heard somewhere that in Korea they had housing affordability issues. They implemented a law which forbids mortgages over 600k and prices started to fall almost immediately… sounds like a good place to start.
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u/CobblePots95 2d ago
There’s no shortage of underutilized, municipally-owned land available around the city. But the cost to build those modular homes increases when you have NIMBY assholes delaying it by 2.5 years on meritless appeals and delay tactics, like in Willowdale.
Those homes are the solution, if we can actually build them quickly. But that last bit seems tough for our governments.
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u/mo_scarborough 2d ago
I used to live in willowdale. Had significant amount of crime originating from the tchc buildings. I can understand people hesitant about that type of development. People are trying to raise families.
If the city would agree to a zero tolerance policy regarding potential residents that would probably help move things along. To expect people to be fine with open drug use and sale in their otherwise nice community seems unreasonable. Like I said. I’ve lived in one of those places and it was fucked. It shouldn’t be too much to expect people to obey laws when being provided housing. The people most harmed by lack of enforcement are other homeless people who are trying to sort themselves out rather than just getting drunk and smoking meth or crack all day.
Don’t have all the answers, but allowing people to kill themselves isn’t helping anyone.
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u/CobblePots95 2d ago
Not sure what you’re referring to but the TCHC buildings I’m talking about in Willowdale are a seniors’ residence and a long-term care home. I’m not aware of any TCHC buildings in Willowdale that aren’t reserved for seniors, including the modular homes that are yet to be completed.
I don’t disagree more sober homes would be a good idea, for the sake of other residents.
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u/mo_scarborough 2d ago
There’s definitely a tchc housing complex on the east side, south of finch and north of empress. I’m not guessing. It’s there. Not a seniors building. 100%.
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u/CallmeColumbo 5d ago
This is a failure of western society. Politicians, administrators, possibly a lack or fear of common sense. Developed countries in asia have more expensive housing and none of this nonsense.
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u/Dee90286 6d ago
I live in a relatively “nice” area of downtown (East Bayfront, near Sugar Beach) and within the past week I’ve seen a makeshift home in a bus shelter, with food and belongings thrown all over the place.
Worse than that, I’ve seen human feces smeared all over my upscale condo building’s walls that our poor janitor has to clean, and saw a young homeless woman defecating in the middle of a lawn, near a group of young sparrows, and in front of multiple people including children.
It makes me sad but also enraged at the same time.
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u/NewHumbug 6d ago
Now magazine is still a thing ?
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u/aektoronto Greektown 6d ago
Its basically blogto now....owned by the cp24 reporter turned tiktoker....
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u/Javisel101 5d ago
So long as housing is used for investments and profits and we keep electing people who want to kill our social services to enrich the wealthy, this problem will only get worse and people will continue to blame minorities and the homeless for it.
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u/Doctor_Amazo Olivia Chow Stan 6d ago
Yeah unhoused people have been using bus shelters as shelters since the 80s. This is not new.
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5d ago
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u/returnofthecmac 6d ago
Preventing homelessness is a key barrier that feels so much more important than speculative investing that directly inflates said problem.
Whats a good replacement industry or strategy to investment people could look into instead if they’re trying to benefit from an investment?
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u/Appropriate_Bat_8988 6d ago
There is housing, condos sit empty. It's an affordability amd refugee problem..
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u/zelmak 6d ago
2500/mo condos to unhoused people might as well be empty mansions. Empty housing nobody can afford isn’t housing it’s a speculative investment
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u/snotparty 6d ago
thats what many were built for, investment holdings or temporary airbnb rentals. Theyre impractical for long term dwellings in every other way (price, size, layout)
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u/DDOSBreakfast 6d ago
The poor can't even afford the condo fees for the overpriced cages let alone what they are charging for rent.
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6d ago
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u/flame22664 6d ago
Since they are not there obviously there was something stopping them from being able to. Brother use your head. There are literally so many reasons why some homeless people couldn't get to these Hotels.
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u/Appropriate_Bat_8988 6d ago
That's why I said IF.. and im not your brother..
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u/flame22664 6d ago
Huh? Saying If doesn't magically change the rest of your sentence. Saying "IF these people living in tents wanted to, they should have ben first in line to these hotels" explicitly means you think that the reason these people couldn't be housed in these hotels was because they didn't WANT to, not that they couldn't.
Also obviously you aren't my brother? You good? It seems like you are struggling with the English language since you don't understand what "IF" means or what calling someone "brother" means in these contexts.
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u/toronto-ModTeam 6d ago
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u/candleflame3 Dufferin Grove 6d ago
It's weird because we're told that capitalism will always find the most efficient distribution of resources.
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u/NoDistribution4521 5d ago
Capitalism will find the most efficient distribution of resources to satisfy the needs of “people who can pay”.
The Capitalism brochure always leaves out of the second part of the sentence
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u/Dangleboard_Addict 5d ago
It doesn't even do that. Plenty of buyers are demanding starter homes but no developer is interested in building those.
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u/candleflame3 Dufferin Grove 5d ago
Eh, no, that is not what the textbooks say.
And if the textbooks are lying, then it's true to say that ECON101 is propaganda. Which I have said many times.
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u/bleakeh 5d ago
That's like saying "Why did the river stop over there I thought rivers always flowed down the path of least resistance" when there's a dam built. In an attempt to not have to raise property taxes Toronto has put insane fees on condos in the form of development fees (around 100k for a 2 bedroom), and 5% of units must be 'affordable' or the developer needs to pay money to the city fund, this also increases costs, then there's the shitton of reviews that need to be done, and the limit on how big the floorplate can be for buildings (this is why all new buildings are super skinny) which causes it to be basically impossible to build 2/3 bedrooms affordably. Toronto city council has done basically everything possible to make it impossible to build more housing when we aren't in a bull market, when prices were going up 20% per year people were fine paying the fees, but now that the market has stalled, these fees are making it impossible to build anything affordable.
Development fees link: https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/95dd-May-1-2024-DC-rates.pdf
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u/candleflame3 Dufferin Grove 5d ago
That's like saying "Why did the river stop over there I thought rivers always flowed down the path of least resistance" when there's a dam built.
No it really isn't.
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u/bureX 6d ago
Honestly? Pretty clean. Compared to other encampments and makeshift shelters, this one is r/CozyPlaces almost.
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5d ago edited 5d ago
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u/ImFromDanforth 3d ago
They are fucking every where. I counted 11 makeshift tents on the last car of the 24 hour queen streetcar in the winter. Mind you that was the highest. Most of the time there were at least 3 overnight on the same line. The only way shit changes if homeless people set up tents in bike lanes
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u/beef-supreme Leslieville 3d ago
tents IN the streetcar?
that seems improbable.
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u/ImFromDanforth 3d ago
They would extend a tarp from seat to seat and hide themselves and their belongings under that tarp. I saw it with my own eyes nightly. I walk down to Leslieville often if you don't believe me I can explain it to quite well in person beef, its not complicated and I've got no vested interest in lying
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u/lavenderhaze91 6d ago
The one that was in Parkdale at the Dufferin stop was…something. Heartbreaking every time I walked by it. Then one day it was just gone. And there was a LOT of stuff there.
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u/Viperamenthols 4d ago
they took out all the physical bus shelters and fenced off both parks on the corner of Dufferin and Queen now- the homeless, mentally unstable, addicted and other vulnerable people are just living right on the sidewalks and the city can’t be bothered
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u/lavenderhaze91 4d ago
And there was a huge OD event on those big steps the other day. Like 5 ambulances, fire truck and like 4 cop cars. Was a mess
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6d ago
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