The City of Toronto chose 'speed over people' when it cleared homeless encampments at three downtown parks in the summer of 2021, says the city’s ombudsman.
The City of Toronto chose “speed over people” when it cleared homeless encampments at three downtown parks in the summer of 2021, says the city’s ombudsman.released Friday morning, Ombudsman Kwame Addo said that the city “showed significant unfairness” in the way it handled the clearing of these sites at Alexandra and Trinity Bellwoods Parks, and Lamport Stadium.
“Encampments and supporting the people living in them are complex. But the City owes a particularly high duty of fairness to these residents,” he said. "Our investigation found the city displayed insufficient regard for the people it moved out of the parks. It failed to live up to its stated commitments to fairness and a human rights-based approach to housing."
He also said that the city knew that encampment residents had “complex mental health needs,” yet failed to put plans in place to support them. The ombudsman’s report provides 32 recommendations, including formalizing the creation of a group of city divisions with a diverse set of skills and expertise to lead its encampment response, prioritizing the needs of those living in the encampments if it is determined necessary to move them out, and creating a detailed plan outlining how it will support access to physical and mental health services for those living in encampments and engagement with residents that includes specific strategies...
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