Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is warning that property taxes could rise if Ottawa does not provide more funding to cover the city’s ballooning shelter costs for refugee claimants.Speaking at city hall on Monday ahead of a meeting of her executive committee, Chow said the city’s reserve funds have already been depleted to house asylum seekers.Without immediate federal support, she argued, the financial burden will fall on Toronto residents. “Because they haven’t been paying their bills, we’ve been taking money from the reserve funds in order to continue the services to shelter these refugee claimants,” Chow said..The mayor warned that if the city is forced to continue covering the costs, taxpayers would be looking at a property tax increase of “at least 2%.” She framed the decision as a choice between either leaving refugee claimants on the streets or passing the bill to local homeowners.A report before council’s executive committee projects a $105.4 million year-end operating deficit.The shortfall is largely due to lower-than-expected support from Ottawa’s Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP), which is intended to help municipalities absorb the costs of asylum seekers. Chow has written to council, asking members to formally demand $107 million from the federal government for 2025 and 2026 to stabilize the city’s shelter system..At the same time, the province has cut its contributions through the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB), a rent supplement program jointly funded with Ottawa. Toronto will receive just $7.95 million in 2026, a steep decline from $19.75 million in 2025 and $38 million the year before.Chow said the city will exhaust its current housing funding by October, just as colder weather sets in. That would prevent Toronto from moving people out of shelters and into permanent housing, further straining the system.Outside city hall, Progress Toronto held a demonstration backing Chow’s call for more money. The group described the situation as “a recipe for disaster,” pointing to the 2023 crisis when asylum seekers slept on city sidewalks after being denied shelter..“We call on all levels of government to work together to ensure no one is left outdoors. The Canadian government must acknowledge its responsibility to cities and take immediate action to address the growing crisis of homelessness, a national human rights issue,” the group said.Progress Toronto is demanding Ottawa cover 95 per cent of refugee-related shelter costs, lift the 90-day cap on stays, and launch a coordinated resettlement plan to prevent municipalities from being overwhelmed.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has previously noted it has provided municipalities with $1.5 billion in support since 2017, including nearly $670 million to Toronto. Ottawa has said it remains committed to working with provinces and cities “to support asylum claimants effectively.” The ministry has not yet responded to Chow’s latest request..Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
