City Hall (Bay and Queen), Wednesday, May 23, 9:30 AM
Free pancake breakfast served from 8:30 AM

The City is moving to close down the School House shelter on George St, a 55 bed facility that has provided shelter in this community for decades. It is one of the few 'wet' shelters in Toronto and those who stay there may have a drink. It has saved lives over the years.

OCAP, the Downtown East Committee of Stop the Cuts and others in the community are challenging this decision. We went to the last meeting of the Community Development and Recreation Committee of City Council and hostel services staff were instructed to bring back a full report on the closing of the School House. On May 23, that report will be presented and we will be there to demand that this shelter be kept open.

Contact Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam today and request that she publicly support the School House shelter open and operating in the Downtown East!
Phone: 416-392-7903,
Email: councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca

OCAP's response, including Kristyn Wong-Tam's original email, can be downloaded here: http://ocap.ca/files/Response to Wong-Tam March 21,2012.pdf

To: Kristyn Wong-Tam, City of Toronto Councillor for Ward 27
Re: Your letter on the School House shelter closure, dated Monday, March 19, 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Dear Kristyn Wong-Tam,

We must take issue with your response to our communication on the closing of the School House both because of the inaccuracies it contains and because it remains silent on key issues that we sought to put before you.

We asked that you put this matter on the agenda of the Community Development and Recreation Committee meeting of March 27, so that members of the community would be able to speak to it. We also asked that you take a stand in support of keeping the School House open. Your response that you will merely call for City staff to provide an "update" falls far short of what we asked of you and you have not spelt out your intentions.

We have never stated, as you suggest, that the School House comes out of the 1990s Coroner's inquest. It had already been operating for years by that time and was looked to by those of us who pressed, in the wake of a series of freezing deaths, for an expansion of harm reduction and shelter spaces in the downtown east. Today, we find ourselves again calling for such an expansion but we do so while the City seems determined to go in the other direction and shut vital facilities.

To: Ms.Longair, Director, Hostel Services, City of Toronto
CC: Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam

We have come today to Metro Hall as a delegation to present this letter to the City and, in doing so, reinforce our total opposition to the closing of the School House shelter and our determination to prevent this from happening.

We are here today to demand that Hostel Services and the City of Toronto keep the School House shelter open by ensuring adequate funding is provided to continue this vital service as it currently exists.

We are well familiar with the practice of precariously housing shelter residents displaced by redevelopment, often in ill serviced and distant suburban locations, and presenting this a 'success'. However, even if we were to accept that the existing residents of the School House are to be found lasting and decent housing, the need for this facility is still just as great for countless other homeless people and those who are about to fall into homelessness.

The removal of this vital service is being justified on the grounds that it is better for people to have housing than to be put in shelters. As a general proposition no one can disagree but, raised in this context, it is a cynical diversion from the real issues by a municipal government that knows very well the scale of the housing crisis even as it sells off its own public housing stock. It is no secret to any of us that the removal of services for the homeless is a key element of the agenda of upscale redevelopment in the downtown east. This factor underlies the measure we are confronting as it is behind much else that is regressive and unjust in our community.

To: Ms.Longair, Director, Hostel Services, City of Toronto
CC: Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam

We have come today to Metro Hall as a delegation to present this letter to the City and, in doing so, reinforce our total opposition to the closing of the School House shelter and our determination to prevent this from happening.

We are here today to demand that Hostel Services and the City of Toronto keep the School House shelter open by ensuring adequate funding is provided to continue this vital service as it currently exists.

We are well familiar with the practice of precariously housing shelter residents displaced by redevelopment, often in ill serviced and distant suburban locations, and presenting this a 'success'. However, even if we were to accept that the existing residents of the School House are to be found lasting and decent housing, the need for this facility is still just as great for countless other homeless people and those who are about to fall into homelessness.

The removal of this vital service is being justified on the grounds that it is better for people to have housing than to be put in shelters. As a general proposition no one can disagree but, raised in this context, it is a cynical diversion from the real issues by a municipal government that knows very well the scale of the housing crisis even as it sells off its own public housing stock. It is no secret to any of us that the removal of services for the homeless is a key element of the agenda of upscale redevelopment in the downtown east. This factor underlies the measure we are confronting as it is behind much else that is regressive and unjust in our community.

To: Ms.Longair, Director, Hostel Services, City of Toronto
CC: Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam

We have come today to Metro Hall as a delegation to present this letter to the City and, in doing so, reinforce our total opposition to the closing of the School House shelter and our determination to prevent this from happening.

We are here today to demand that Hostel Services and the City of Toronto keep the School House shelter open by ensuring adequate funding is provided to continue this vital service as it currently exists.

We are well familiar with the practice of precariously housing shelter residents displaced by redevelopment, often in ill serviced and distant suburban locations, and presenting this a 'success'. However, even if we were to accept that the existing residents of the School House are to be found lasting and decent housing, the need for this facility is still just as great for countless other homeless people and those who are about to fall into homelessness.

The removal of this vital service is being justified on the grounds that it is better for people to have housing than to be put in shelters. As a general proposition no one can disagree but, raised in this context, it is a cynical diversion from the real issues by a municipal government that knows very well the scale of the housing crisis even as it sells off its own public housing stock. It is no secret to any of us that the removal of services for the homeless is a key element of the agenda of upscale redevelopment in the downtown east. This factor underlies the measure we are confronting as it is behind much else that is regressive and unjust in our community.