Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Toronto: The federal government will open the Moss Park Armoury to serve as a 24/7 winter respite site for the homeless in the next several hours, Liberal MP Adam Vaughan said.
Vaughan said the city would announce soon when the facility would open, but it would be a “matter of hours, not a matter of days.”
The facility is being made available to be run by the city for the next two weeks and will contain at least 100 beds.
After two weeks, Vaughan said the provincial government would be ready to open a more permanent shelter somewhere in the City of Toronto to accommodate the demand.
“The province has come up with an alternative that meets city’s needs. This arrangement allows us to keep Moss Park in our back pocket just in case,” Vaughan said.
Costs of running the facility will be shared between all three levels of government.
On Wednesday, the city sent a formal request for use of the armouries to the federal government.
In December, city council voted 25-17 against a motion calling on the staff to begin discussions with the feds regarding the use of the armouries.
But Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city continued to entertain the possibility of using the armouries, and also opened a shelter space at the Better Living Centre at Exhibition Grounds.
Warming centres were also established at Metro Hall and Regent Park Community Centre.
The city’s shelters have been under extreme strain due to the bone-chilling temperatures of recent weeks, regularly exceeding 95 per cent occupancy.
Temperatures fell to a low of – 22 C last night and are expected to fall to – 24 C without windchill tonight.
The City of Toronto remains under an extreme cold weather alert.
