Chow seeks aid from province, Ottawa

City’s rent-subsidy freeze nears the six-month mark

- VICTORIA GIBSON

As Toronto’s homeless shelters burst at the seams — with hundreds turned away daily, overflowing into parks, ravines and overpasses — city hall officials say they’ve now gone nearly six months without funding for a sorely needed rental subsidy that helps put a stable roof over people’s heads.

The program, jointly funded by the provincial and federal governments, is seen as a lifeline in cities facing an expanding homelessness crisis. Called the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit, it offers recipients an allowance to bring down the cost of a private rental, instead of waiting on public, rent-geared-to-income housing — with Toronto’s wait-list now nearly 90,000 households long.

It’s a program that has helped free up emergency shelter beds as demand has soared. According to city statistics, 3,297 households were enrolled in the benefit program in 2023-24, out of 6,418 enrolled since its launch in 2020.

However, the program has been on hold since March, when funds meant to last until April ran dry.