Encampments, shelter outcomes, and Streets to Homes program performance
Receipt . Last reviewed 2026-05-07 . Next review 2026-06-07
“Yesterday, I moved a reasonable and common-sense motion designed to give playgrounds back to our kids by clearing encampments near schools, parks and daycares. Rather than listening to parents like Rakshitha and Jennifer, Mayor Chow and her allies on council watered down the motion to address only 5% of encampments across the entire city.”
Brad Bradford, City Councillor (Beaches-East York), declared 2026 mayoral candidate, X post reproduced 2025-11-14.source.retrieved 2026-05-04
“On a daily basis, people see the folks in encampments using crack pipes, using needles, increased garbage, screaming at three in the morning, human waste left in residents' backyards, and the illicit sale of drugs to minors, porch package theft, and assaults. That happens on a weekly basis in that park.”
Brad Bradford, council debate, 2025-11-14.source.retrieved 2026-05-04
“We are already clearing encampments. Since I've been mayor, there've been 4,000 people moved inside.”
Olivia Chow, Mayor, press conference responding to Bradford's motion, 2025-11-07.source.retrieved 2026-05-04
The receipt
Bradford frames Toronto's encampment response as a failure of leadership leaving children exposed to needles and drug use; Chow points to thousands moved indoors under her tenure. Both claims sit on top of a measurable, time-bounded record. Toronto Shelter and Support Services (TSSS), Toronto Public Health, the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario, and the 2024 Street Needs Assessment supply data on counted encampments, unsheltered population, shelter occupancy, deaths in shelter, and overdose deaths. The receipt below maps the campaign rhetoric to those data series.
Exhibit 1.Counted encampments are down sharply year over year, while unsheltered headcount has more than doubled since 2021.
The City of Toronto's 2024 Street Needs Assessment, conducted in October 2024 and released July 7, 2025, estimated 15,400 people experiencing homelessness in Toronto, with 1,615 sleeping outdoors. The 2021 baseline was approximately 7,300 total, with 742 outdoors. Separately, on January 8, 2026, 48 of more than 1,500 city parks had "some level of an encampment," compared with 107 parks on January 8, 2024 (a 55 percent decrease in parks affected). Toronto's Chief Financial Officer Stephen Conforti, quoted January 14, 2026, said the system is "better today, Jan. 8, than we were on Jan. 8, 2025, when it comes to encampments." The two trends are not contradictory: encampments concentrated in parks have shrunk, but the count of people sleeping outdoors at the 2024 point-in-time was higher than 2021.
2024 SNA: 15,400 people experiencing homelessness, 1,615 sleeping outdoors. 2021 baseline: ~7,300 total, 742 outdoors. Parks with encampments: 48 (Jan 8, 2026) vs 107 (Jan 8, 2024), a 55 percent decrease.
T1City of Toronto, 2024 Street Needs Assessment release and full report; corroborating TorontoToday.ca, 2026-01-14 reporting on park encampment counts (link)
Caveat."Counted encampments" (city tally of tent sites in parks and on city property) is not the same as "unsheltered population" (point-in-time individuals sleeping outdoors). A drop in counted encampments can coexist with a higher unsheltered count if displaced people relocate to less visible locations.
As of 2026-01-14
Exhibit 2.Streets to Homes outreach activity in the year preceding the 2024 Street Needs Assessment.
The City reported, in the 2024 Street Needs Assessment release, that in the year prior to the count Streets to Homes and partner outreach made approximately 25,000 outreach visits, referred 1,078 people from streets into shelter, and that more than 4,300 people were housed across the system. The City also stated shelter capacity has expanded by approximately 60 percent since 2021. These are program-reported outputs; the report does not publish per-year placement breakdowns for 2019 through 2024 as a single time series.
~25,000 outreach visits in the year prior to the 2024 SNA. 1,078 people referred from streets into shelter. 4,300+ people housed across the system. Shelter capacity up ~60 percent since 2021.
T1City of Toronto press release on 2024 SNA findings (link)
Caveat.These are program-reported outputs, not externally audited counts. The report does not publish per-year placement breakdowns for 2019 through 2024 as a single comparable time series.
As of 2025-07-07
Exhibit 3.Shelter system flow: more entering than housed, and nightly turn-aways persist.
The City's Shelter System Flow Data and 2024 Toronto Shelter and Support Services (TSSS) annual reporting indicate 7,071 newly identified people entered the shelter system in 2024, while 4,344 people moved from shelter into permanent housing. As of October 2024, average shelter occupancy was 9,640 (up from 5,801 in April 2021). City data cited in November 2025 reporting put nightly Central Intake unmatched callers at roughly 148 to 150 in late 2025, and at an average of 216 per day as of November 17, 2024.
2024 newly identified entries: 7,071. 2024 shelter-to-permanent-housing moves: 4,344. October 2024 average occupancy: 9,640 (up from 5,801 in April 2021). Unmatched Central Intake callers: ~148 to 150 nightly (late 2025), 216 daily average (2024-11-17).
T1City of Toronto, Daily Shelter and Overnight Service Usage; Shelter System Flow Data; 2024 TSSS Annual Report (link)
Caveat.Inflows exceed permanent-housing exits, so absolute occupancy is rising even as housing placements grow. Central Intake unmatched-caller counts are a flow metric and do not equal the count of people sleeping outdoors.
As of 2025-05-31
Exhibit 4.Deaths of shelter residents fell in 2024.
The 2024 Annual Review of Statistics on Deaths of Shelter Residents (TSSS, published February 2025) recorded 59 deaths of shelter residents in 2024, a 35 percent decrease from 2023. Of those, 26 (44 percent) occurred within shelter; 73 percent of decedents were male, with an average age at death of 51.0 years. Proportional rates of death (adjusted for the larger shelter system size) decreased in shelters, shelter hotels, and 24-hour respites between 2023 and 2024.
2024 shelter resident deaths: 59 (35 percent decrease from 2023). 26 (44 percent) occurred within shelter. Decedents: 73 percent male, average age 51.0.
T1City of Toronto, 2024 Annual Review of Statistics on Deaths of Shelter Residents (link)
Caveat.Shelter death rates are one measure; broader homelessness mortality (including outdoor deaths and deaths shortly after exit) is tracked separately by Toronto Public Health.
As of 2025-02-28
Exhibit 5.Deaths of people experiencing homelessness (broader population) and overdose mortality.
Toronto Public Health reported 135 deaths of people experiencing homelessness from January through June 2024 (averaging more than five per week), with drug toxicity as the leading cause at 54 percent. Toronto-wide opioid toxicity deaths in 2024 numbered 461 confirmed and 3 probable as of September 2025, with 442 (96 percent) deemed accidental. In the shelter system specifically, opioid toxicity / suspected drug-related deaths totaled 27 in 2024, a 36 percent decrease from 2023.
TPH H1 2024 deaths of people experiencing homelessness: 135 (drug toxicity 54 percent). 2024 Toronto opioid toxicity deaths: 461 confirmed, 3 probable; 96 percent accidental. Shelter system opioid / suspected drug deaths 2024: 27 (down 36 percent from 2023).
T1Toronto Public Health, Deaths of People Experiencing Homelessness; Toronto Overdose Information System (link)
Caveat.TPH counts include outdoor deaths and deaths shortly after shelter exit, which the TSSS shelter-resident series does not capture. Drug toxicity remains the leading cause of death in the broader homeless population even as shelter-system death rates decline.
As of 2025-09-30
Exhibit 6.Encampments near schools, daycares, and playgrounds: post-motion implementation.
After Toronto Council passed the November 13 to 14, 2025 amended motion (50-metre buffer, three-offer outreach requirement), city staff cleared 46 of 47 encampments within 50 metres of schools, daycares, or playgrounds by mid-January 2026. Bradford, post-implementation, said: "I'm pleased our playgrounds and our parks are safer for families. They're safer for kids and that was absolutely the right direction." General Manager Gordon Tanner attributed the reduction to 2025 budget investments in outreach and to fewer refugee claimants entering the system.
46 of 47 encampments within 50 metres of schools, daycares, or playgrounds cleared by mid-January 2026. Council-approved motion: 50-metre buffer, three-offer outreach requirement, passed 2025-11-14.
T2TorontoToday.ca, 2026-01-14, with corroborating CBC News January 2026 coverage of encampment clearings near children's areas (link)
Caveat.The 50-metre buffer addresses a defined sub-set of encampments. People displaced from cleared sites may relocate to less visible locations not captured in the post-motion count.
As of 2026-01-14
What the data cannot settle
Definitions are load-bearing. "Counted encampments" (city tally of tent sites in parks and on city property) is not the same as "unsheltered population" (point-in-time individuals sleeping outdoors), and neither is the same as "shelter system census" (people in city-run beds on a given night). A drop in counted encampments can coexist with a higher unsheltered count if displaced people relocate to less visible locations, as community workers cited in CBC and TorontoToday coverage have argued. The 2024 Street Needs Assessment is point-in-time (October 2024). Shelter death rates declined in 2024 by TSSS measure, but Toronto Public Health's broader homelessness mortality data shows drug toxicity remains the leading cause of death and outdoor deaths represented 30 percent of homeless deaths in the first half of 2024. No single number captures whether outcomes are "better" or "worse"; the receipt presents the series each side cites.