Our Emperors Have No Clothes.

In March the Toronto Star's Jacob Lorinc reported that Mayor John Tory said the way to address dangerous homeless encampments is not with more law enforcement, but by building more affordable housing to reduce the need for the makeshift camp in the first place. 

Well that's not happening and he knows it. To date, the Mayor has shown an inability to even purchase one hotel for conversion into single-room occupancy social housing. Instead, we're supposed to be excited that 100 modular units will be dropped on two properties this September.

In today's Toronto Star, Queen's Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie shows us a perfect example of 'The Emperor Has No Clothes'.  In the article Ontario Premier Doug Ford urges 'the homeless' to break up their campsites and return to city shelters. “And you can’t be doing it (camping) underneath the Gardiner. It looks terrible. We have tourists from around the world, not now, but when we did before (the COVID-19 pandemic). You know, you just can’t do that.” 

FACTS:

Estimated number of Toronto encampments: 50

Estimated number of people in them: 1500-2500

Number of shelter beds (of all types): >6,000

Number of shelter beds available for women in last three days: ZERO

Social housing wait list: >10,000 households

Number of COVID-19 outbreaks in encampments: ZERO

Length of time John Tory has been Mayor: 5.5 years

Length of time Doug Ford has been in politics: 6 years