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April 16, 2004

Hotels for the homeless

Toronto City Council estimates it costs $156 per person per night to porvide shelter spaces for the city's homeless. Councillor Rob Ford says that for that price, the city could put people up in downtown hotels.

The Toronto Sun did a quick check to see if Ford's numbers were right. Here's what they found out:

- Westin Prince Hotel, 900 York Mills Rd., four-star hotel, from $140. You get: Air conditioning, cable, refrigerator, speaker phone, voicemail, coffee maker, balcony, hair dryer, iron, alarm clock, tennis, pools, sauna.

- The Mariott Courtyard, 475 Yonge St., three-star hotel, from $125 a night. You get: Cable, sitting area, hair dryer, iron, in-room coffee/tea, newspaper, indoor pool and hot tub.

- Four Points Sheraton Lakeshore, 1926 Lake Shore Blvd. W., three-star hotel, from $109 a night. You get: Coffee maker, air conditioning, alarm clock, radio, cable, iron, fitness room, and whirlpool.

- Holiday Inn Express, 30 Norfinch Dr., two-star hotel from $100 a night. You get: Continental breakfast, comfortable, no-frills rooms, coffeemaker, telephone, hair dryer, iron.

The poverty industry will be outraged, but Ford has a point. Why does it cost so much to provide a shelter space in Toronto? Could it be that with the Province putting up 80% of the cost, there is no incentive to do this better?

Posted by maxthecat on April 16, 2004 at 06:03 PM | Printer-friendly version
Filed in: Politics / Ontario