Group sues City of Toronto, claims law broken in picking shelter spots
· Toronto Sun
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Concerned citizens from across Toronto are suing city hall and three of its leaders, alleging they broke the law and acted in bad faith in choosing where homeless shelters will go.
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Safe Neighbourhoods Toronto, a non-profit incorporated last month, is seeking an injunction against the City of Toronto to stop it from setting up shelters that don’t “comply with the criteria approved by city council.” It also seeks $1 million from Mayor Olivia Chow, Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik and Gord Tanner, the city’s head of shelter services.
Mustafa Bendago, an executive director with Safe Neighbourhoods Toronto, said his involvement in the group grew out of his concerns about plans for a shelter at 68 Sheppard Ave. W. He told the Toronto Sun the city didn’t adequately inform or consult the public on its plans for the site — a common refrain from critics of Chow’s shelter policies.
He said while a lawsuit might seem like an “extreme measure” compared with casting a ballot this October and voting for change, it might be “what it’s going to take.”
“I think that a lot of people across the city of Toronto feel tired, they feel like they have no voice — even if they go to the polls,” Bendago said.
The lawsuit argues that the siting of shelters and “drug-paraphernalia distribution programs” in nine Toronto communities is unlawful.
It alleges that the defendants acted beyond their authority and in bad faith in approving shelters, specifically those at 1615 Dufferin St., 2204-2212 Eglinton Ave. W, 66 Third St., 3838 Bloor St. W, 720 Bathurst St. and 1220-1222 Wilson Ave.
It further alleges that the acquisition of 720 Bathurst, as well as sites at 2 Buttonwood Ave., 4674 Kingston Rd. and 108 Harrison Ave., exceeded a $10-million threshold and thus required council’s sign-off. It also seeks a suspension of the St. Felix Centre’s deal with the city to operate a shelter at 629 Adelaide St. W.
The allegations in the lawsuit have not been proven.
‘At cost of a neighbourhood’
The City of Toronto said in a statement it received the statement of claim “and will respond in due course,” but won’t comment further with the matter before the courts.
Representatives for Chow and Malik did not respond to requests for comment.
Torontonians hoping to join Safe Neighbourhoods Toronto’s cause can email the group at [email protected] .
Diane Chester, another member of Safe Neighbourhoods Toronto, lives near 629 Adelaide and told the Sun about a recent incident in which a stranger entered her property armed with a knife.
She also complained about persistent noise and light from the shelter, which is close to homes and a school. Fighting and open drug use are common in the neighbourhood these days, she said.
“We want people to be able to have access, and get the dignity and meaningful support,” Chester said, “but it can’t be at the cost of a neighbourhood.”
Bendago said he loves the city, but the fact is he keeps hearing that others in the community don’t feel safe.
He’s not alone. A poll released by Mainstreet Research on Friday found that 70% of Torontonians are worried about crime and safety, and nearly as many believe crime is worse than it was a couple of years ago.
“When you talk to a lot of people in Toronto,” Bendago said, “the No. 1 thing that they’ll say: doesn’t feel safe anymore – not like it used to. That’s all I hear from people whenever I speak to them.
“(In the) city of Toronto, the new dream for people is to leave.”
Legal wrangling
Safe Neighbourhoods Toronto may be facing an uphill battle.
Chester was previously part of a lawsuit against the city and the St. Felix Centre over the use of 629 Adelaide as a shelter. Her side lost, and in 2024 was ordered to pay a five-figure sum. (Eric Gillespie represented her group in that suit, Niagara Neighbours for Community Safety, and is likewise listed as the lawyer for Safe Neighbourhoods Toronto.)
Chester said this litigation differs in many ways — notably in that 629 Adelaide has operated as a shelter for a year now, so its effect on the neighbourhood is no longer a hypothetical.
Another notable change is that Toronto city council came out hard against what it called “nuisance legal proceedings” since then, in December 2025.
During that month’s council meeting, pointed language was unleashed against those who would use the law against city hall’s shelters rollout, which Councillor Gord Perks called a “hateful campaign against the most vulnerable.”
Councillor Paula Fletcher called upon Tanner in that meeting and made a point to tell the council chambers that it was he, not city council, who decides where shelters go.
“So, I think there’s a number of places in the province where these groups have decided in order — that hate shelters and hate the homeless, let’s be really clear – they have decided to take everybody to court, including in Peterborough and other places, in London,” Fletcher said. (Neither Perks nor Fletcher are seeking re-election this October.)
Asked if those remarks about hatred were fair, Chester said “absolutely not.”
“We 1,000% know that there is a health-care crisis,” she said, “and that is the big concern. We don’t believe that these shelters are going to help solve that problem.”