New Report Issues Urgent Call for Youth-Specific Solutions to Address Toronto's Homelessness Crisis

Toronto Youth Cabinet, Covenant House Toronto, EVAs, Youth Without Shelter, A Way Home, ENAGB and YMCA of Greater Toronto Logos (CNW Group/Covenant House Toronto)

TORONTO, Dec. 15, 2025 /CNW/ - The Toronto youth homelessness sector is issuing an urgent call for youth-specific interventions and prevention efforts to address the growing youth homelessness crisis in the city. This follows Toronto's first-ever Youth Homelessness Summit held earlier this year, with sector recommendations informed by youth experiences detailed in a new report being released today.

Since the City of Toronto declared homelessness an emergency in 2023, more young people have shown up at the doors of shelters seeking help. The most recent Street Needs Assessment estimates that over 1,500 16-to-24-year-olds experience homelessness on any given night in Toronto, more than double the up to 740 shelter beds currently available. Indigenous, Black, newcomer, and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth remain disproportionately affected.

Equally concerning is the rise of chronic homelessness - people who have experienced homelessness for six months or longer in a year. Nearly a decade ago, this group represented just over 20 per cent of the homeless population in Ontario; today, it is over half. Approximately 25 per cent of those experiencing chronic homelessness in Ontario are under the age of 24.

The new report released today, "A Call to End Youth Homelessness in Toronto: The 2025 Youth Homelessness Summit Summary Report," includes the voices of youth focused service providers, policymakers, and young people with lived experience of homelessness. Together, they identified the key gaps in prevention, safety, and housing supports, and shaped a roadmap for coordinated action to respond to this issue affecting too many people.

Key Findings:

• Youth homelessness is distinct from adult homelessness and requires tailored support across housing, mental health, education, and employment.
• System gaps perpetuate homelessness, including age-based service cut-offs and discharges from child welfare and justice systems into housing instability.
• Research shows that the most effective way to prevent youth homelessness is by helping youth stay in school, remain in their community and build or repair bridges to family and caring adults in their lives.
• Evidence also shows that supporting youth with much needed access to health care, mental health resources, education and employment services also helps make experiences with youth homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring.
• The cost of inaction is unsustainable. Youth homelessness perpetuates trauma, worsens health and wellbeing, overwhelms shelters, and drives up public costs.

Key Recommendations:

• Establish a youth-specific homelessness strategy for Toronto that prioritizes prevention, expands housing options, and embeds youth in decision-making across the system.
• Build on existing efforts to strengthen tenant protections and expand rent control, with a focus on at-risk youth renters.
• Dedicate 10 per cent of all new affordable housing to youth-focused units.
• Scale up shelter diversion and family and natural support programs at shelters across Toronto.
• Reform age-based provincial eligibility cut-offs so youth do not lose access to critical supports to housing programs, mental health services, and employment services at 24.

The full report is available at www.CovenantHouseToronto.ca

Quotes:

"Street homelessness is a profoundly difficult life experience for anyone, especially when it starts early in life," said Mark Aston, CEO of Covenant House Toronto. "This report provides evidence-based recommendations that demonstrate that the cycle of youth homelessness can be broken when young people receive the right supports at the right time. By working together, we can help prevent today's youth experiencing homelessness from becoming tomorrow's chronically homeless adults."

"Youth homelessness in Toronto has reached a critical point, and the findings of this report make that unmistakably clear," said Aisha Francis, Interim Executive Director, Eva's Initiatives for Homeless Youth. Young people deserve a system that recognizes their developmental needs, their potential, and their right to safety and stability. This report amplifies what youth have been telling us for years: they need solutions that see them, honour their experiences, and give them a real chance at a future. We must redesign our approach--ending age-based cutoffs, expanding youth-focused housing, and ensuring that every young person has access to the supports that allow them to thrive. The cost of inaction is too high. Our city has both the opportunity and the responsibility to act with urgency and intention."

"As a teenager, I left a very difficult situation at home to seek a better future for myself," said Michael, a former Covenant House youth. "Having a caring place to stay where I received developmentally appropriate support opened up a world of opportunities for me and put me on the path I'm currently on. Today, I'm in medical school with an exciting medical career ahead of me; but this journey began thanks to a phone call I made to Covenant House Toronto many years ago. Their team helped me to stay focused in school, build structure and consistency, and most importantly, they gave me a sense of hope for my future. The next generation of young people deserve the same chance to break the cycle of homelessness in their lives, which becomes more possible with the systemic change young people are calling for today."

SOURCE Covenant House Toronto

Media Contact: Sarah Boesveld, Manager, Public Relations & Advocacy, Cell: 647-678-4372, [email protected]