Overcrowded Peel shelters 'a warehouse for people': social worker

After losing his job, Brampton resident Gagandeep Singh found himself scrambling for work and struggling to keep up with rent and other bills. 

He says he ran out of money and became homeless in November, and he's been living in tents in Brampton parks since then. 

"When you get homeless, you lose everything," Singh said. "You miss home."

Singh, who moved to Brampton from India in March 2023, says he waited to get a shelter bed for five months and lost his bed within days since the shelter was "overflowed."

That's the case for hundreds of people in Peel who are vying to get a spot in the shelter system, which is running "drastically" over capacity at 350 per cent, according to the region's March news release, which is the latest data publicly available. A regional spokesperson did not respond to a request for more recent data.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown told CBC Toronto the region does not have the dollars to expand its shelter system and has had to dip into its reserves until money from other levels of governments arrives. 

"We are underfunded based on population," Brown said. 

The overflow in shelters has led to a growing number of encampments across Peel, including in parks across a floodplain alongside Etobicoke Creek Trail. 

Brampton cleared that in June and moved all 52 people living in that encampment into a motel shelter. The mayor said the encampment was cleared due to the high-risk location, however a councillor who represents the area said this month the evictions followed a number of complaints from residents in the area.

Moving homeless people into motels where there's security and access to social workers is part of a new initiative by Peel Region. However, the region says it will cost over $8 million this year alone, and right now it doesn't know where the money will come from.

Singh was not one of those who moved into a motel. Instead, he either sleeps in a tent or at a Brampton church, relying on the non-profit Regeneration Outreach Community for meals. 

Ted Brown, the CEO of that organization, said removing people from encampments amid a shortage of shelter space will worsen the situation for people already in precarious circumstances. 

His organization feeds 4,000 people weekly — a 70 per cent increase compared to last year, it says — something it's struggling to keep up with. 

"It's bad out there," Brown said. "We don't anticipate that in the next year it will get any better. Only worse."