By CBC News |
New money comes as city scrambles to find place for asylum seekers staying in college dorms
The federal government is giving Toronto $11 million to help it deal with an influx of asylum seekers, hundreds of whom are temporarily housed in college dormitories.
In a news release, the government said it’s sending the money directly to the city in the coming weeks because the province “chose to withdraw” from its jurisdictional responsibilities around housing.
Toronto officials have been warning for months that more and more refugee claimants are relying on the city’s shelter system. Now there’s a pressing need to rehouse the some 800 asylum seekers living at two college dormitories before students return for classes at summer’s end.
“Toronto and Montreal, as major population centres, face the greatest challenges when it comes to housing asylum claimants, and we will continue to work with them to come up with long-term, workable solutions to those challenges,” said Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen in the news release about the new spending.
Currently, it’s unclear how the city will use the money.