Thousands go from jail to being homeless in Ontario every year, report finds

When Dan was released from the Toronto South Detention Centre last December after serving about 60 days, he was given a TTC token and sent on his way. He walked to a bus stop, but he had nowhere to go.

"There's no plan," Dan said. "I'm a criminal, right? Nobody wants me."

Dan, who was convicted of theft and failure to comply, wandered all night before going to an encampment. CBC Toronto isn't disclosing Dan's last name because he fears it could affect his chances of getting employment.

Since then, Dan has alternated between staying with friends and living outside. That means it is difficult to get his life organized, attend appointments and have a cell phone without it being stolen, he says. If he falls asleep while it is charging in a public place, it's gone when he wakes up.

"As soon as I caught a charge and was guilty, every sort of good thing going for me dried up," he said.

Dan, who was homeless before he went into jail, said supports such as provincial transitional housing similar to federal halfway houses, might have helped. He would have liked "just the stability of having somewhere to go" — a safe place to leave his belongings.

Not having a plan means "you are right back in the hole you started in," he said.

Dan is not alone. A new report released Thursday by the John Howard Society of Ontario says, in one year, thousands of people became homeless immediately upon release from Ontario jails. The society is a charity that works to build a safer Ontario.

The report, entitled From Incarceration to Encampment, found that provincial jails had 7,455 releases in 2023-2024 of people with no fixed address, meaning they had no housing. The number doesn't necessarily represent individual people because some people are admitted and released several times in one year, the report says.

The report calls on the Ontario government to set up a provincial transitional housing system for people released from its correctional facilities.

Safiyah Husein, the society's director of policy, said the report reveals a "deep link" between incarceration and homelessness in Ontario. She said it shows that people who spend time in jail need a "pathway" to help them reintegrate into society. And it puts a number on an urgent issue that requires a systemic government response, she said.

"A lot of people are flagged as having no fixed address or lacking stable housing upon admissions to correctional institutions. And then most of these people will be released straight onto the streets the day that they get out of jail. And with no supports, they might end up in shelters or encampments, but that's no place to rebuild a life," she said.

The report says people may be homeless upon release if they didn't have housing when they were admitted to jails, if they lost their housing while incarcerated, or if they were unable to return to their previous housing, sometimes due to release conditions. 

"Housing is crucial to reintegration. And so with the lack of supports, a lack of housing, that increases the risk of reoffending and winding up right back in jail."