Toronto settles with homeless advocates, will ensure physical distancing in shelters

Men gather outside of a shelter in downtown Toronto on Saturday, March 28, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

TORONTO — A drop-in centre and other human rights organizations say they've settled a lawsuit with the City of Toronto over physical distancing standards in shelters during the pandemic.

The group says the city has agreed that beds must be two metres apart and to end of the use of bunk beds in the shelter system.

READ MORE: City of Toronto sued by homeless advocates arguing shelter spacing violates Charter

In exchange, the group says it has adjourned its injunction motion.The group filed the legal action in late April, arguing the city violated shelter residents' Charter of Rights and Freedoms and breached the Ontario Human Rights Code.

The suit alleged the city's standards of placing beds 0.75 metres apart, rather than the two-metre distance health officials have mandated, was unconstitutional during the pandemic.

The city says 352 people in the shelter system have tested positive for COVID-19 with two deaths and 306 active cases.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 19, 2020.