City of Toronto activates additional services, advises homeless people to seek shelter

City of Toronto Media Relations has issued the following:

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News Release:  January 6, 2015

City of Toronto activates additional services, advises homeless people to seek shelter

The City of Toronto is activating additional services in response to an Extreme Cold Weather Alert expected to be issued by Toronto Public Health tomorrow morning.

Additional homelessness services have been triggered. These include:

- Two 24-hour extreme cold weather alert drop-ins will be opened this evening.

- Shelters have been directed to relax any service restrictions they may have.

- Street outreach and transportation services are being increased, with the focus on informing clients about the  danger of weather conditions and transporting them to indoor locations.

- More than 100 organizations and agencies that work with homeless people are advised to prepare for increased service demands.

- Transit tokens are being made available in many drop-ins so people can reach shelters.

- Additional shelter spaces have been opened for men and women.

How to get an emergency shelter bed any day, any hour:

- Call 311, or directly contact the City of Toronto's Central Intake line at 416-338-4766. Within the Greater Toronto Area, it is toll-free at 1-877-338-3398.

- Go in person to the Streets to Homes Assessment and Referral Centre, located at 129 Peter St. (at Richmond Street).

The Streets to Homes Assessment and Referral Centre is always open and has 24-hour street respite for those who do not want a shelter bed, or for whom one is not immediately available. As well as walk-in access to shelter beds throughout the system, the facility provides housing workers Monday to Friday to assist street-involved people to find permanent housing and operates a 40-bed transition to housing shelter program.

If you see someone whom you think requires street outreach assistance, call 311. Note that 311 is not an emergency number. In an emergency, dial 911.

More information is available at http://www.toronto.ca/housing.

This news release is also available on the City's website: http://bit.ly/1ImCAs2

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

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Media contact: Sonia Zyvatkauskas, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, 416-392-1264, szyvatk@toronto.ca

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