Anti-poverty activists and CUPE members protested at Toronto’s city hall this week against the closure of Central Neighbourhood House.
The city closed the 50 bed homeless shelter this week because its lease on the Jarvis Street building expired.
CUPE 4308 president Kelly O’Sullivan said 250 people use the shelter each month. CUPE 4308 represents 18 staff at Central Neighbourhood House
City officials say they’ve found spaces for about 30 people, but said only that the others would be accomodated “elsewhere” in the shelter system.
“Where will they go?” she said. “They’ll be pushed out of the downtown core and we don’t know where they will end up.”
The city recently passed a bylaw preventing homeless people from sleeping in the square in front of city hall.
Anti-poverty activist John Clarke called the decision to close the downtown shelter part of a plan to “socially cleanse” the downtown area by sweeping away homeless people and making way for redevelopment.
