Refugees worry about future as North York shelter set to shut down in the spring

Isaac Tumuramye has called the Willowdale Welcome Centre home since he came to Toronto from Uganda two years ago.

But the shelter, which serves refugees experiencing homelessness in Toronto, is closing at the end of May. Tumuramye says he's scared about what the future holds — and others staying at the shelter feel the same.

"We're not ready yet, we're still trying to make life happen," he said.

There are more than 200 refugees currently staying at the shelter. The city said it will not be renewing the lease at the Nork York site, as part of a planned transition away from higher-cost temporary sites to a financially sustainable, long-term refugee shelter system. But advocates, especially those who were on the front lines during the 2023 refugee crisis, remain concerned about the residents finding a safe place to live.

Tumuramye says one of the issues he keeps running into is landlords asking for a credit report. Despite working both a full-time and part-time job, that's not something Tumuramye can provide yet as a newcomer.

"The housing system is not easy," he said.

"It's too expensive, the requirements from the landlords are too high."

But back in 2023, many Black-led organizations, including churches, managed to do what no government did: move hundreds of asylum seekers off downtown Toronto streets.

A year later, an ombudsman report found that the city's decision to stop allowing refugees access to beds in its base shelter system amounted to anti-Black racism, a claim the city manager refuted at the time.

Eddie Jjumba, senior pastor at Milliken Church, says it's hard to not feel on edge about this closure after what he witnessed back then.

"We opened the church not because we had solutions or resources, but because we could not live with what we were seeing," Jjumba said.

"There would be 10 to 15 people wanting to come in, but I knew it was full to capacity, and I had to live with that with every night, knowing I went home and there were people outside freezing. I still suffer with that."

The pastor says he's been part of promising conversations with the city about ensuring the residents have an exit strategy, but many of the residents still don't know what's next.

"There's a good number of them who don't have that plan yet," he said.