(Toronto, ON) — A dozen community-led organizations condemned a new TTC policy to forcibly remove unhoused people from public transit, and challenged mayoral candidates to invest in approaches to safety based on evidence and care.
Groups slam TTC’s “Move Along” policy, challenge mayoral candidates to fund care-based transit safety solutions
Groups slam TTC’s “Move Along” policy, challenge mayoral candidates to fund care-based transit safety solutions
Groups say TTC plan hides homelessness instead of meaningfully tackling safety for all
(Toronto, ON) – A dozen community-led organizations condemned a new TTC policy to forcibly remove unhoused people from public transit, and challenged mayoral candidates to invest in approaches to safety based on evidence and care.
“The TTC’s “Move Along” initiative is a disturbing plan to hide homelessness, not end it, and it won’t make transit any safer,” said TTCriders spokesperson Chloe Tangpongprush. “Connect the dots: Systems and governments outside of the TTC are failing to take care of people. To create a safer city and transit system, Toronto’s next mayor must invest in housing supports so people do not need to take shelter on the TTC, a resourced TTC with reliable service and supportive staff, and non-police responses to crisis and violence.”
A new TTC staff report has revealed the agency’s “Getting Back to Transit (Move Along) Initiative,” which aims to “discourage individuals from sheltering in the TTC network.” The effort involves “encouraging individuals to move to Union station and access Streets to Homes resources,” and deploying Special Constables “if the individual is not interested in a referral or refuses to leave the station.” The same report noted that in 2022, only 18 out of 138 Streets to Homes service referrals on transit resulted in long-term housing solutions.
“People take shelter on the TTC because they have nowhere else to go,” said Fatima Hussain of Encampment Support Network - Parkdale. “Instead of violently displacing unhoused people, Toronto’s next mayor must keep shelter hotels open, expand non-congregate shelter spaces, pass a moratorium on encampment evictions, and collaborate with all levels of government to increase funding for affordable and safe Rent-Geared-to-Income housing.”
“Expanding police presence on the TTC will make transit users feel unsafe and continue to build a culture of fear within communities especially for Black, Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, unhoused people, and people experiencing mental health crises,” said Rebeena Subadar of Jane Finch Action Against Poverty. “The “Move Along” initiative brought forth by the TTC is not a safety solution; instead, it is a form of quiet eviction targeting unhoused people. Toronto’s next mayor needs to end fare enforcement and invest in peer-led or peer-involved staff who are trained in de-escalation for users to feel that their city and their transit system are supported for all.”
Link to TTC staff report with “Move Along” initiative details: https://ttc-cdn.azureedge.net/-/media/Project/TTC/DevProto/Documents/Home/Public-Meetings/Board/2023/June-12/3_Community_Safety_and_Security_Update.pdf
Link to community coalition report, titled “Whose Safety?” Investing in a Safer TTC for All: www.ttcriders.ca/safetyreport
Report highlights from “Whose Safety?” Investing in a Safer TTC for All:
- TTC data shows that the number of “offences against customers” began trending downwards between December 2022 and January 2023, before the introduction of overtime police officers on the TTC.
- The report presents a comprehensive timeline of TTC and City Council decisions about transit safety between January 2023 and March 2023, and lists all new staff roles. The majority of new staff added to the TTC were either enforcement roles (TTC Special Constables and temporarily deployed Toronto Police Services) or roles with a focus on outreach to unhoused people (Streets to Homes, Multi-Disciplinary Outreach Teams, and Community Safety Ambassadors), which means that many of the staff are involved in the TTC’s “Move Along” initiative.
- Cities including Calgary, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston have created new, non-enforcement transit staff roles to help with wayfinding, accessibility, and safety concerns.
- Numerous policy announcements about transit safety between January 2023 and March 2023 were haphazard, and not based on any publicly-presented evidence.
- TTC CEO Rick Leary was given unprecedented discretion to spend $15 million on emergency measures, which represents roughly twice the amount that City Councillors were able to amend democratically during the 2023 budget process.
- The report recommends that Toronto form a Safety Roundtable to create a long-term safety plan, with the following people and perspectives at the table: Transit users, transit workers, people with disabilities, unhoused people, youth, Black people, Indigenous people, racialized people, women, non-binary people, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and drug users. A long-term safety plan must also implement harm reduction, trauma-informed, and place-making approaches.
- The report challenges Toronto’s next mayor to invest in three areas:
- Non-police responses to crisis and violence. The TTC needs a plan to tackle mental health crises with staff who are peer-led or peer-involved, trained in de-escalation, rather than relying on an enforcement approach that puts people experiencing mental health crises and Black, Indigenous, and unhoused people at risk of being harmed.
- Housing supports so people do not need to take shelter on the TTC, including: keeping shelter hotels open, expanding non-congregate shelter spaces, a moratorium on encampment evictions, and collaborating with all levels of government to increase funding for affordable and safe Rent- Geared-to-Income housing.
- A resourced TTC with reliable service and supportive staff.
- The report recommends the following TTC policy changes to make transit safer for everyone:
- Reverse TTC service cuts.
- Expand cellular and internet access on the TTC.
- End fare enforcement.
- Create supportive, welcoming staff roles that are unionized.
- Install platform edge doors.
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QUOTES:
“57% of transit users in Toronto are women. Women are at greater risk of sexual harassment and unwanted attention while using public transit. Women share that they are often on high alert and use their phones to avoid unwanted attention, travel with others, and some forgo transit altogether to avoid harassment and feeling unsafe. As we know, public transit is critical to people’s mobility and livelihood. We must work together to create transit systems that are safe and gender-responsive.”
- Devika Parsaud, Woman Abuse Council of Toronto
“Youth voices and perspectives must be part of the conversation in addressing the unique issues facing our present and our future. The Toronto Youth Cabinet has been clear that there must be long term and sustainable investments to avoid worsening the cycle of violence that plagues our transit system, schools and entire City. It is why we have been calling for the creation of a Summer Youth Employment Program, as well as ensuring every Neighborhood Improvement Area has an active Youth Hub. Youth in Toronto should be able to live and grow in healthy and safe communities; communities with a bounty of opportunity rather than overwhelming poverty and violence.”
- Stephen Mensah, Executive Director, Toronto Youth Cabinet
“We are united with community organizations like TTCriders who continue to call for a community-first approach to safety on the TTC. As an organization that has served low-income, racialized, newcomer, and immigrant Chinese Canadian community members in the Greater Toronto Area for nearly 40 years, we are against TTC service cuts, fare increases, and policing. These approaches do not ensure safety for all.
Throughout the pandemic, CCNCTO worked to document instances of anti-Asian hate, racism, violence, discrimination, and harassment in Canada. We found that 71% of folks experiencing anti-Asian racism did not report incidents to institutions, such as the police, in part because of mistrust and inadequate support provided by these institutions (CCNCTO & Project 1907, Another Year: Anti-Asian Racism Across Canada Two Years into the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2022). Against carceral approaches, it is vital that conversations about safety on the TTC center the needs and perspectives of those most marginalized among us, including those without immigration status, unhoused folks, those in precarious employment, seniors, (im)migrants with language barriers, and people working in over-policed sectors.”
- Chinese Canadian National Council - Toronto Chapter
“People take shelter on the TTC because they have nowhere else to go. Instead of violently displacing unhoused people, Toronto’s next mayor must keep shelter hotels open, expand non-congregate shelter spaces, pass a moratorium on encampment evictions, and collaborate with all levels of government to increase funding for affordable and safe Rent-Geared-to-Income housing.”
- Fatima Hussain, Encampment Support Network - Parkdale
“Expanding police presence on the TTC will make transit users feel unsafe and continue to build a culture of fear within communities especially for Black, Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, unhoused people, and people experiencing mental health crises. The “Move Along” initiative brought forth by the TTC is not a safety solution; instead, it is a form of quiet eviction targeting unhoused people. Toronto’s next mayor needs to end fare enforcement and invest in peer-led or peer-involved staff who are trained in de-escalation for users to feel that their city and their transit system are supported for all.”
- Rebeena Subadar, Jane Finch Action Against Poverty
“The TTC’s “Move Along” initiative is a disturbing plan to hide homelessness, not end it, and it won’t make transit any safer. Connect the dots: Systems and governments outside of the TTC are failing to take care of people. To create a safer city and transit system, Toronto’s next mayor must invest in housing supports so people do not need to take shelter on the TTC, a resourced TTC with reliable service and supportive staff, and non-police responses to crisis and violence.”
- Chloe Tangpongprush, TTCriders