Toronto considering asking feds to use armouries to shelter unhoused people this winter

Toronto could soon ask the federal government to turn its armouries into makeshift shelters as it struggles to deal with the refugee housing crisis. On Tuesday, Mayor Olivia Chow's executive committee voted in favour of a motion to call on the Canadian government to both fund and make operational emergency accommodation at its sites, including armouries, as well as establish a regional refugee reception centre. There are currently two federal armouries in the city at Fort York and Moss Park. The latter was briefly opened as a shelter site in the winter of 2018. “The federal government needs to step up and actually take action, and we've been asking and we've been asking,” Chow said following the meeting, pointing to additional shelter spaces that the city has activated as well as funding made available for housing benefits, rent subsidies, and to support churches who opened their doors to help. “The city have stepped up. We go way beyond what we can possibly do. Even when we have a $1