10,000 homeless people on any given night in Toronto? But isn't it freaking cold there?

10,000 homeless people on any given night in Toronto? But isn't it freaking cold there?

Works Thoughts About

Current Situation

As of October 14, 2020, 75 shelters/respites house around 7000 people every night [1]. Considering that there are over 10000 people in Toronto who are homeless on any given night [2], this capacity of temporary homes is just not enough. Moreover, a recent study found that homeless people are 20x more likely to be hospitalized for Covid-19 [3].

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Why does people become homeless?

Common struggles of homeless people

Ideas

Links to help

  • Unemployment
  • Family breakup or domestic violence
  • Poor mental or physical health
  • Substance use
  • Abuse
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  • Without support, they don't have a place to sleep or fulfil their basic need
  • Without support, they feel emotionally vulnerable due to not having a company in their life (in the case of people without ties to their family or friends)
  • Without help, their health conditions would worsen due to low hygiene
  • Due to the gap in employment history, they might have a hard time getting hired again
  • Real-time kiosks for shelter information
    • partnerships with shelters and religious organizations
    • helpful to homeless people who often don't have access to the internet
  • Utilizing government buildings as temporary shelters after their work hours
    • multimedia rooms that offer tutorials for employment skills
    • help fulfil their basic needs at night, when they are the most vulnerable due to the cold
  • Partial suites of condos that have vacancies
    • many condos in Toronto have a lot of vacancies
    • city of Toronto could strike a deal by giving condo developers tax benefits
  • Free wearable device given to homeless people to track their health conditions to prevent from the worst situations, including transmission of Covid-19
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