More nights, higher cost as London changes response to winter homelessness again

City staff recommends council takes a ‘blanket strategy’ to winter homeless response. CTV London’s Daryl Newcombe explains.

Less than a year after Council approved a ‘tiered approach’ to opening additional winter spaces for homeless Londoners based on the date and overnight temperature, city staff are recommending sweeping changes to the program.

A report to the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee recommends a significantly revised model that would see homeless shelters open a total of 235 overnight spaces every night between Dec. 1, 2026, and March 31, 2027, plus an additional 29 overnight spaces when temperatures drop below -15C or -20 windchill.

It would also shift from a City Hall and community-operated model to a model fully operated by frontline agencies.

The staff report reads, “Overall, the proposed model provides a more consistent, predictable, coordinated and effective winter response.”

The redesigned winter response would cost $5.8 million to operate for four months (December-March), about $2.2 million more than the previously approved budget for the tiered approach.

“The primary cost driver is the transition to the continuous operation of nightly beds and spaces which replaces intermittent activation with a more stable and predictable service model,” according to the staff report.

“It was $3.6 million, now it’s going to be $5.8 million, and it’s leading us to where?” asked Coun. Susan Stevenson, who is a mayoral candidate. “How many more people are going to be helped? Are we going to be able to meet the need? How are we going to address the issues around the area where shelters are?”

In a letter to the CAPS Committee, Old East Village BIA Executive Director Kevin Morrison writes, “What is largely absent is an examination of the cumulative impacts these decisions have on the neighbourhoods where many of these services are located.”

The staff report explains why the tiered approach isn’t being recommended for 2026/2027.

Regarding the specific temperature thresholds:

• minimum 12-hour lead time needed to activate sites
• forecasts could change
• didn’t account freezing rain, heavy snowfall

Opening the Boyle Memorial Community Centre only when temperatures warranted:

• created confusion among homeless Londoners, outreach workers, shelters, police, EMS
• frustrated individuals sometimes congregated overnight outside the closed Community Centre

“Community partners and emergency services relied on predictable, consistent access to warming spaces where individuals could be dropped off and be sheltered from winter conditions,” the staff report reads.

In February, several homeowners near the Boyle Memorial Community Centre expressed concerns to CTV News about drug use, problematic behaviour, and garbage that they attributed to the homeless individuals coming to the emergency shelter.

Stevenson believes Londoners are frustrated that City Hall hasn’t settled on an effective plan to address the annual arrival of winter, “They don’t want us to keep having more expensive patchwork pieces that really aren’t meeting the needs of any of the Londoners, not the ones unhoused, or those who live around the shelters.”

Stevenson also questions the plan’s inclusion of, “additional funding (up to three months to June 30, 2027) to Ark Aid Mission to maintain the 70 beds at Cronyn Warner beyond the current funded period (April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027) to allow for Council to consider a business case as part of the 2027 Budget Update.”

Staff also want to prepare a business case for the 2027 Annual Budget Update for winter response funding for the following winter (2027/2028) and beyond.

The CAPS Committee will consider the proposed winter response plan on July 13.