Riders share they feel unsafe, and that perception is real whether or not the statistics accurately show this. Dismissing it at the municipal level does not make it less real, and neither does responding only with enforcement.
The Toronto Community Crisis Service matches the response to the situation. A person in mental health crisis needs a trained crisis worker, and sending an officer instead serves neither them nor the riders around them.
On upstream solutions, I want to be direct about something I have watched closely in my own ward. Support for shelters and supportive housing is not the same as support for how sites get chosen. Residents here were, with justification, angry at a process that told them what was happening rather than asking. If we want these facilities built, and we should, the consultation has to be genuine. Bad process is how good policy gets defeated.