The City of Toronto has a plan to open twenty new purpose-built shelters by 2033. This is great news, and will go a long way to solving the crisis of homelessness in our city!
We know that the only solution to homelessness is housing. Shelters provide a vital step in people’s journey towards permanent, safe, secure, and affordable housing.
However, not everyone is happy about the presence of homelessness or shelters in their neighbourhoods. Many people feel very real fear and anxiety at the prospect of shelters in their communities. These feelings are often rooted in misinformation, and it’s therefore important that we engage directly with these community members in combatting the stigma around homelessness.
That’s why Social Planning Toronto partnered with community activist Diana Chan McNally in creating a messaging guide to help organizations and individuals to develop strong, positive messaging when engaging and organizing with communities, groups, and individuals on homelessness and shelters.
This guide can be applied to help you to develop presentations, workshops, media, social media, and stakeholder communications. It can also be used one-on-one, and in developing internal communications to combat misconceptions around homelessness among staff and volunteers. The guide includes some first steps for organizing your own local group in support of shelters.
This guide is a living document. It will be regularly updated with best practices and new insights from our community partners. The latest version was published on October 2, 2025. We invite our community partners to share feedback using the form provided.
Access the Google Doc version.
Access the PDF version.
Watch Recordings of Our Events
In November 2025, SPT and Diana Chan McNally hosted two workshops based around this guide. Partial recordings of these events are available to watch on our blog.