Homelessness continues to be the major crisis facing the city of Toronto. On any given night 100’s of homeless men, women and even children find no residence inside a shelter.

Every week the death rate rises, the lack of housing, and the need for affordable housing grows. Many homeless individuals live on the streets in Toronto because options are limited. The rising cost of apartments, food, clothing and even owning a phone for safety and personal need has become near impossible for those living on a fixed income.

Below are some of the most recent stats regarding homelessness in Toronto this year – Stat’s cover a period ending September 2019.

Since 2007- 311 has reported 28.8 deaths on the streets in Toronto per year.

213 or 78.8% deaths have been outside the shelter system.

Since 2015 there were 45 deaths with the average age of 58.3 years. The majority of the deaths were male at 81% years.

98 deaths have occurred within a shelter.

150 deaths of the 213 or 70.4% outside the shelter occurred in some type of health care facility or hospice care.

In 2018 the majority of homeless deaths were male (88.4%.) the average age was 56.6 years.

Shelter usage per night has increased almost 25% in two years. Currently the occupancy rate is 98%, with 6886 in shelters per night.

2350 beds were added to our shelter system since 2016 to meet the increasing needs.

Last winter we had 27 extreme cold alerts nights. Many extra beds were needed as the shelter system operated to above capacity.