Daily Shelter & Overnight Service Usage

This page reports data on the daily occupancy and capacity of Toronto’s shelter system. It is a daily snapshot of the occupancy and capacity of the system, updated every day except weekends and holidays; data for weekends and holidays are posted on the next business day.

Service location and program-level details are available for 2021 in the Daily Shelter & Overnight Service Occupancy & Capacity data set on the City’s Open Data portal. Historic data from 2017 to 2020 for pre-COVID base shelter system programs remain available on the portal in the Daily Shelter Occupancy data set.

Additional information about people experiencing homelessness who are entering and leaving the shelter system each month is available on the Shelter System Flow Dashboard.

To request access to available emergency shelter space, call Central Intake at 416-338-4766 or 1-877-338-3398.

August 16, 2021

Occupancy Summary Individuals
All Programs, Total 6,449
Shelter Programs, Family Sector, Total 1,223
Singles Sector Programs, Total 5,221
   Shelter Programs, Singles, Total 2,179
   Allied Services, Total 256
   COVID-19 Programs, Total 2,786
COVID-19 Isolation/Recovery Programs 5
Shelter Programs, Families Individuals Occupied Rooms Unoccupied Rooms Actual Room Capacity Occupancy Rate
Family Sector, Total 1,223 459 42 501 91.6%
   Families, Emergency Shelter Programs 637 205 28 233 88.0%
   Families, Transitional Shelter Programs 57 19 8 27 70.4%
   Families, Motel/Hotel Programs 529 186 5 191 97.4%
Shelter Programs, Singles Individuals Occupied Beds Unoccupied Beds Actual Bed Capacity Occupancy Rate
Singles Sectors, Total 2,179 2,179 154 2,333 93.4%
   Emergency Shelter Programs, Total 1,601 1,601 85 1,686 95.0%
      Mixed Adult, Emergency 295 295 43 338 87.3%
      Men, Emergency 772 772 10 782 98.7%
      Women, Emergency 332 332 11 343 96.8%
      Youth, Emergency 202 202 21 223 90.6%
   Transitional Shelter Programs, Total 578 578 69 647 89.3%
      Mixed Adult, Transitional 174 174 20 194 89.7%
      Men, Transitional 166 166 13 179 92.7%
      Women, Transitional 93 93 8 101 92.1%
      Youth, Transitional 145 145 28 173 83.8%
Allied Services Individuals Occupied Beds/Spaces Unoccupied Beds/Spaces Actual Bed/Space Capacity Occupancy Rate
Allied Services, Total 256 256 15 271 94.5%
   24-Hour Respites 210 210 1 211 99.5%
   24-Hour Women’s Drop-ins 46 46 14 60 76.7%
COVID-19 Programs, Bed/space-based Individuals Occupied Beds/Spaces Unoccupied Beds/Spaces Actual Bed/Space Capacity Occupancy Rate
24-Hour Temporary Response Sites 222 222 2 224 99.1%
COVID-19 Programs, Room/unit based Individuals Occupied Rooms Unoccupied Rooms Actual Room Capacity Occupancy Rate
Hotels 2,564 2,356 68 2,424 97.2%
COVID-19 Isolation/Recovery Programs Individuals Occupied Rooms Unoccupied Rooms Actual Room Capacity Occupancy Rate
COVID-19 Isolation/Recovery Programs Combined Total 5 5 57 62 8.1%

About the Data

  • Daily reporting includes occupancy, vacancy, and capacity data for the shelter and overnight services system. It is based on a snapshot of the system at 4 a.m.
  • Individuals includes a count of all people served in a service area, sector, or program.
  • Reporting of occupancy and capacity is based on the capacity type of programs being reported. Capacity type refers to whether the capacity for a program is measured in rooms or beds.
    • Bed Based Capacity: A program where occupancy is measured at the bed level. Typically applicable for programs with common sleeping areas.
    • Room Based Capacity: A program where occupancy is measured at the room level. Typically applicable to family programs or hotel-based programs where sleeping rooms are not shared between households.
  • Occupancy is reported according to the capacity type of a program, and refers to the number of rooms or beds showing as occupied.
  • Unoccupied rooms or beds is also reported according to capacity type, and refers to the number of rooms or beds that were showing as available for occupancy that were not occupied.
  • Actual capacity provides the total count of available beds or rooms available in the system. It is equal to the occupied capacity plus the unoccupied capacity of a program.
  • The number of total individuals served is greater than the occupancy or capacity in room-based programs, as more than one individual may stay in room based programs where there are couples or family households.
  • Occupancy rate is calculated as occupancy divided by actual capacity. For room-based programs, the occupancy rate is calculated as the number of occupied rooms as a percentage of actual room capacity. For bed-based programs, the occupancy rate is calculated as the number of occupied beds or spaces divided by the actual bed capacity.
  • We will continue to update and improve these data and reporting processes on an ongoing basis, and based on further feedback, in the spirit of continuous improvement.
  • Further definitions about housing & homelessness services can be found in the Housing & Homelessness Services Glossary, which you can find on the Housing Stability Service System Overview web page.