The City of Toronto is turning the downtown Novotel Toronto Centre hotel into a temporary homeless shelter in an effort to provide more space for physical distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Located on 45 The Esplanade, the hotel will start functioning as a homeless shelter starting February 22, 2021.
The hotel has been leased until December, and will be operated by a housing agency called the Homes First Society, according to a statement on the City of Toronto’s website.
There are a total of 262 rooms in the hotel, spanning across 9 floors.
The hotel is located at 45 The Esplanade.
Photo via all.accor.com
The new shelter will have a minimum of 12 staff available on-site 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and all meals will be provided at the shelter.
The decision comes as part of the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which it outlines that over 40 temporary facilities have been opened so far in order to achieve physical distancing in the shelter system.
The City dealt with outbreaks of COVID-19 at 10 different shelters earlier this year which left 66 individuals infected with the virus, according to a report by CBC.
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