As Toronto’s homeless shelters burst at the seams — with hundreds turned away daily, overflowing into parks, ravines and overpasses — city hall officials say they’ve now gone nearly six months without funding for a sorely-needed rental subsidy that helps put a stable roof over people’s heads.
The program, jointly funded by the provincial and federal governments, is seen as a lifeline in cities facing an expanding homelessness crisis. Called the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit, it offers recipients an allowance to bring down the cost of a private rental, instead of waiting on public, rent-geared-to-income housing — with Toronto’s wait-list now nearly 90,000 households long.