[URBAN NOTE] "Scarborough hotel could become shelter for homeless men"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Laurie Monsebraaten reports on a plan to convert one of the motels on the declining Kingston Road strip into a homeless shelter.

A two-star hotel in Scarborough may soon be converted to a homeless shelter for some of the city’s most vulnerable men.

The city of Toronto is buying the hotel on the Kingston Rd. motel strip as part of its five-year plan to open as many as 15 new temporary and permanent hostels to ease overcrowding, replace shelters closing due to redevelopment and expand service to the inner suburbs.

If approved by council, the Comfort Inn East on Kingston Rd. near Bellamy Rd., would be renovated to serve about 120 homeless seniors, including 60 men from the nearby Birchmount Residence, said area Councillor Gary Crawford.

The Birchmount Residence, a former nursing home which the city has been leasing since 1999 as a homeless shelter for men over age 55, is in poor condition and no longer suitable, he said. A newly renovated, city-owned shelter would provide more privacy and better living conditions for the men who are referred from the city’s downtown Seaton House shelter, he added.

“The Birch Cliff community has always been very supportive of the residence,” Crawford said in an interview. “I am hoping the new neighbours will be equally welcoming.”