Following the Toronto Ombudsman recommendations, the City of Toronto is updating its approach to responding to encampments as captured in the City’s Interdepartmental Service Protocol for Homeless People Camping in Public Spaces (IDP).

An essential part of this work is consultation with people with lived knowledge and experience in encampments; community partners and service providers; as well as business, resident, and community groups. There will be separate consultations with Indigenous people with lived experience, community partners and service providers. These focused consultations will help the City gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and impact of the City’s current approach to responding to encampments and focus on finding opportunities for improvement that align with the City’s mandate, values, and available resources. The feedback received through this consultation process will help inform the update to the IDP. 

These consultations will be led by an independent facilitation team — Third Party Public and Nbisiing Consulting — retained by the City to support this work. All finalized consultation summaries, as well as the final engagement report, will be publicly accessible on the City’s encampment webpage.