City councillors exploring micro-shelters as homelessness crisis in Toronto soars

With Toronto's homeless population doubling in the last three years and shelters overflowing, city councillors have voted to explore whether Toronto could operate micro shelters in underutilized Toronto Transit Commission parking lots.

At a meeting of the city's economic and community development committee this week, Coun. Chris Moise put forward a successful motion, asking city staff to report back early next year on the feasibility of such a plan.

The idea came about after a TTC report found seven of its commuter parking lots were being underutilized, meaning they were on average less than half full during peak hours.

Coun. Moise's chief of staff Tyler Johnson said several lots were only using 17 to 50 per cent of their capacity.

"Creating and sheltering people in micro-shelters is a better alternative to them camping in our parks," he said. "They aren't the [whole] solution, but they can be part of the action we take. We have to exhaust all of our options before we can say we're doing everything we can to address the crisis."'

The crisis he refers to is increasingly real. According to the highlights of the 2024 Street Needs Assessment survey, Toronto's unhoused population reached an estimated 15,400 last fall — up from 7,000 in 2021 — with 301 encampments citywide. 

Micro-shelters range in style from cabin communities to tiny homes and tents — all of which are meant to temporarily shelter people while more long-term solutions are sought.

Homelessness advocates are confident this temporary shelter method would help fill current gaps in the system.

Two Steps Home, Inc., an interim supportive housing group that spoke at the meeting, has designed its own version of micro-shelters: cabin communities with shared space for cooking, cleaning and community meetings. 

"The intention is that this is an interim step between the shelter systems and encampments and long-term and supportive housing," said Robert Raynor, communications director for Two Steps Home, Inc.

"We see that there are opportunities across the city to build small communities on small pieces of land," he said. 

But the city has not been able to identify a site suitable for cabin communities, Two Steps Home, Inc. architect Aaron Budd said. One communal facility consisting of 50 cabins and shared facilities would take up just over 3,000 square metres of land, he said. 

Other options include small modular homes, like those built by Ryan Donais's non-profit, Tiny Tiny Homes. Last summer, he started building the micro-shelters in the city, though he was almost ordered to stop by the city for violating municipal code, until Mayor Olivia Chow intervened.

"Each of these [micro-shelters] provided the resident with dignity and a safe space that they needed to start working on their life," Donais said.