The City of Toronto’s New Encampment Strategy? Dufferin Grove Park Pilot Project ‘Carrot and Stick’

01 June 2023

The Carrot:

Following this summer’s militarized encampment evictions, the City of Toronto pivoted to a “human rights” approach to deal with the growing Dufferin Grove Park (DGP) encampment, which mushroomed after the mass clearings of Lamport Stadium, Trinity Bellwoods, and Alexandra Park.

The new approach took the form of a pilot project. The City has set up tax, ID, and ODSP/OW clinics, and blanketed the park with outreach workers to get people into permanent housing over the course of a few weeks. This isn't something we've seen them offer before.

Many people who were living in shelters, respites or other parks caught word of the pilot and started coming to Dufferin Grove to get housing (or at least a shelter hotel spot). The City’s encampment team said that as of Oct 15th, they’ve secured housing for 16 people from Dufferin Grove since the pilot began, and moved 50+ people into shelter hotels.

That’s a good thing. But as usual, it’s complicated...

The Stick:

The metric used to measure the pilot project’s success is the number of tents in the park—not the number of people who get housed. Because of this, the City’s encampments team has been determined to reduce the tent count.

Some residents’ tents and belongings have been trashed without consent, with the rationale that they already had a tent or indoor space elsewhere. When new or returning park residents try to put up a tent, they're immediately threatened by the increased bylaw and private security officers patrolling the park.

This ‘carrot and stick’ approach confuses and re-traumatizes unhoused residents. If people are coerced indoors, the pilot’s more likely to be a momentary PR victory than a lasting success.

Does the City’s Pilot Project work? Perspectives of Current & Former DGP Residents

“I love my apartment. It took many years to get but being in a tent at DGP worked out...”

“My honest opinion about DGP Toronto housing is it does work. It takes time, everyone’s file is different. I love my apartment. It took many years to get but being in a tent at DGP worked out within 5-ish months to be honest, which is amazing... I wish everyone else at DGP gets housing ASAP.”

— Anonymous, former DGP encampment resident

“It’s safer in this park than it is in any one of those hotels they’re putting us in”

“I was in this park for over three months. And then they put me in the Alexandra hotel and that's infested with bugs, cockroaches. You clean it up and they come back right away. Oh it's—it almost seems like it's overnight. And then I come back to the park and sit at my tent, and I feel safe here. It's cleaner in the park than it is in The Alexander and their hotels they're putting us in. Why are they doing this to us? I want my own place...like, y'know and I feel safer in this park around my friends. I put up a tent yesterday in the cold. And today they're trying to kick me out.”

— Anonymous, DGP encampment resident

"House these people without limitations..."

“All of these new members of our homeless community who have adapted to the 'COVID way' of homelessness—in parks, taking care of each other, with resources, with outreach, with harm reduction—will not be ready or capable of the old way of homelessness, which will be the reality if these camps are shut down completely. They won't know that you need to wake up every other hour to check for frostbite, so you don't lose your fucking feet. And when you fucking think about it, the city and what they're doing here in this park, with their pilot project and also with their policing and their fucking manipulating, they absolutely have made themselves the face of fixing the homeless issue. So if these camps are fucking eradicated and people start fucking dying, it's going to fall on the city, like absolutely.”

— Anonymous, DGP encampment resident

Does the City’s Pilot Project work? ESN Parkdale’s Perspective

ESN Parkdale supports elements of the City’s pilot project, specifically the expedited connection to permanent housing and resource clinics they’ve brought to the park. It’s been incredible to see some of our friends in encampments move into their own places.

And while this is promising, it’s important that we emphasize that this pilot project, at its core, is actually just the City doing what they were supposed to be doing this whole time.

That said, the “number of tents” metric for measuring the pilot’s success seems motivated primarily by a desire to render homelessness invisible, instead of meaningfully tackling the housing crisis and finding creative ways to support peoples’ survival. This metric means we will continue to see violent and coercive means of pushing people into options that don’t meet their needs, or into more isolated, often less safe outdoor spaces.

While the City has been able to house a handful of encampment residents, the tactics of displacement cannot be reframed as success. Quietly pushing people out of parks because there are no suitable alternatives may not draw news crews, but any forced displacement—whether done by a couple of bylaw officers or 200 militarized police—is violent.

Displacement cannot stand in for effective, just solutions. We won’t let it happen.

It's unclear whether the pilot has now ended in Dufferin Grove Park, and whether they've now brought it to another park. We have heard that the City will be issuing a statement on the program in the coming days. We'll be ready to respond.