A housing benefit meant to help Toronto’s shelter residents afford the city’s soaring rents and climb out of homelessness is set to run out of money after only two months.
The benefit is meant to help bridge the gap between what a person can afford and market rents. But at the current rate of uptake, Toronto expects all available funding for this year to be spent within weeks — meaning it will stop accepting referrals until money starts flowing again. City data shows Toronto’s homeless population swelled to 10,811 people in March from 9,933 people a year before. In March of this year, the latest month included in public reporting, an average of 119.8 people each day were turned away after calling for shelter space.