TORONTO – COVID-19 has unleashed ruin on some of Toronto’s most weak communities, yet for two residents of another housing project in the city’s midtown area, the pandemic has been an unforeseen gift.
Only a couple of months back, Jason Greig and Rob Dods were each sleeping in tents. Presently, the two men are among 149 previously homeless residents living in a pair of apartment buildings rented by the city at the height of the pandemic.
The deal was struck between Toronto’s Shelter, Support and Housing Administration and the buildings’ developer, the Times Group Corporation, not long after various flare-ups in the shelter system led to a wave of outdoor encampments cropping up across the downtown core.
Residents moved in at the end of April and have since enjoyed amenities they were deprived of while in the street: a hot shower, a kitchen of their own, air conditioning and privacy.
But the agreement was never supposed to be permanent, and at the end of this month, all 149 residents will have to move out as the buildings are prepared for demolition.
Both Greig and Dods said they were grateful for the program – and would like to see the city pursue similar options in the future.
“COVID made my life better. It really did,” Greig said in a recent interview outside Sanctuary, a downtown Christian outreach centre.
Before the pandemic, Greig said, there were countless hoops to jump through in order to secure housing – but in the wake of the pandemic, the red tape seemed to disappear.
“Because of COVID, I’ve never seen them change a law in this country that fast,” he said.
Dods, who has been homeless for the last four years and struggles with alcoholism, said he was becoming disillusioned by the daily struggles of living on the street.
“I was living in a tent right over there,” Dods said, gesturing toward the courtyard beside Sanctuary.
Dods said the new housing program has had a hugely positive effect on his mental health, citing the profound difference made by things such as being able to have a hot shower, cook his own meals and lock his door at night.
While he’s confident he’ll be able to find a place before September, Dods said the main difficulty for homeless people finding housing often has more to do with prejudice from landlords than it does being able to pay rent.
Still, he’s hopeful the city will approach the issue of homelessness with more compassion in a post-COVID world: in his eyes, both politicians and residents alike are starting to wake up to the brutal reality for those living on the street
News source: The Canadian Press
