TDRC Press Releases - House the Homeless

“People are bleeding into the streets and becoming homeless”, says Street Nurse Cathy Crowe, co-founder of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC). “The evidence of Tory cruelty is everywhere. This governments agenda must die out for our future’s sake.”

Press Conference: Wednesday May 28^th at 11:00am
in Queen’s Park Media Room

Speakers will include:

Jeffrey Brown (Pastor at South Peel Unitarian Congregation, member of Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition), Wayne Samuelson (President of the Ontario Federation of Labour), and Barb Craig (Registered Nurse working at Street Health and a member of the Shelter Inspection Team)

At 11:30am, participants will march to a nearby grate that is within sight of the Premier’s window, where a homeless man named “Al” died several years ago. Names of homeless men, women and children who have died on the streets since Al’s death will be read out at the grate. Flowers will be laid.

Homeless people, healthcare workers and a labour leader will speak out in response to the provincial Tory’s election platform which includes calls for “Shared Care Teams” with the legal authority to remove homeless people from the streets. They will call for safe, appropriate and affordable housing, along with support services to allow currently homeless people to live in dignity.

“Forcing homeless people into shelters against their will ignores the basic fact that homeless shelters are already overcrowded and conditions are appalling in many shelters,” says Michael Shapcott, Research Co-ordinator at TDRC. “The Tories should be funding more affordable social housing, including supportive housing, not demonizing the homeless by threatening to arrest them, possibly forcing homeless people to hide deeper into the urban landscape, making them harder to reach.”