Lynn Walker, who spent two years living in Toronto encampments, is no stranger to loss.
Walker told CBC News that one friend she knew from her time outdoors was murdered, and another disappeared from the park without a coat one day and was later found frozen to death.
“We lost so many people from Allan Gardens,” she said, referring to the now-dismantled homeless camp downtown.
Walker also described dealing with frostbite and seizures in the park, and watching as city workers cleared away tents and mobility devices like walkers and canes that belonged to fellow residents.
“Reality is, you don’t know if you’re going to live one day to the next,” she said.
Walker was on hand on Tuesday to share her story at the unveiling of a new series of demands put out by the Shelter Housing Justice Network (SHJN) and the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union (TUHU,) of which she is a member.
Together, the groups compiled 29 steps for Toronto to “immediately intervene in the current housing emergency,” with a particular focus on the needs of disabled homeless people.
“This emergency is a direct result of reckless and murderous social policies,” the report says.
SHJN and TUHU’s asks range in scale, from keeping warming centres open 24 hours a day regardless of outdoor temperatures, to serious long-term investments in accessible rent-geared-to-income (RGI) housing.
Younger women dying while homeless: city data
The list of demands comes as the city reveals its latest data on the deaths of homeless people in Toronto.
Between January and June 2024, there were 135 deaths, with drug toxicity responsible for just over half. Those numbers are in keeping with data from the previous two years.
The city also revised its data from 2022 and 2023, revisions which bring the total number of deaths in 2022 to 331 and the total number of deaths in 2023 to 300.
Toronto Public Health has released new data on the alarming rise of deaths among the city’s unhoused population in 2024. CBC’s Clara Pasieka has the details.
Most notably, the median age of homeless women who died in the first half of 2024 is considerably younger than in previous years, sitting at 36.
“It is a serious, serious tragedy that a woman would die at the age of 36,” said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow on Tuesday.
Chow outlined the city’s priorities for helping homeless people, saying that building new supportive housing and shelters comes first, followed by working with the province to build new “homelessness and addiction recovery hubs,” the first of which she says will open in April.
‘Every last thing is a fight’
But advocates from SHJN and TUHU say the city’s not doing nearly enough to address the crisis — particularly for those with disabilities.
“The city reports are out of touch with what is actually happening in the shelters, in survival structures and in RGI housing in Toronto,” said outreach worker Greg Cook, representing SHJN.
Asil Lavoie, who uses mobility aids and is currently living in a west-end Toronto shelter, described the difficulty she faces getting something as simple as the heat lowered in her room or access to a shower with a removable shower head and safety bars.
“Simple tools to help us have more dignity and agency in our lives,” she said. “These are not often offered, and every last thing is a fight.”
Jennifer Jewell, a wheelchair user and TUHU member, is now living in an apartment — but says it’s too narrow to navigate.
The SHJN document asks for the Ontario Building Code to be updated so that its definition of “basic” accessibility is expanded.
The two groups are also requesting an in-person meeting with Chow to review their demands.