A ‘brutal’ daily lottery decides who gets in, who gets left out at London shelter

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The lottery begins every morning at 11.

About 60 people show up regularly for the 30 beds open each night at Ark Aid Street Mission on Dundas Street.

The names are drawn and the lucky 30 have a warm place to stay the night. The rest, well, who knows for sure?

“We have a very imperfect system,” Sarah Campbell, executive director of Ark Aid Street Mission, said. “It has been really really brutal. How do you choose who gets the warmth?”

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Welcome to this year’s winter response to homelessness in London, where a lottery can mean the difference between life or death.

As temperatures dropped during the weekend, it appears another person without shelter or a home died, found at the entrance to the Central library on Dundas Street. London police and outreach workers confirmed the death Monday but had few other details.

That brings to 67 the number of homeless Londoners of whom outreach worker Dan Oudshoorn is aware who died in 2024.

“What is it like this winter? It’s appalling, it’s awful, it’s cruel the way that people are abandoned with less supports than ever,” he said. “Past winters, we had additional warming centres. Those aren’t running. Past winters we had more extra beds. Those aren’t running.”

London has 396 shelter beds that generally operate at 97 to 98 per cent capacity, a city official said. The most recent count from city hall said 335 people were living without shelter, though officials added the reality is probably higher.

Each winter since 2020, city hall and organizations have worked together to add more beds to help those living outside.

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Last year, the winter response added 120 places for people to stay warm overnight, in shelter beds and in some places on chairs where they could sit, have a coffee and get warm.

This year there are officially 90, though they come with some catches.

The 60 beds at Ark Aid Mission’s Cronyn-Warner Centre are for long-term use for people gaining stability, and generally aren’t available for drop-ins.

They were created last winter and funded by city council through the year, but have remained full all year, Campbell said.

The 30 drop-in beds at Ark Aid’s main building Dundas Street can’t remain there past Dec. 31, thanks to a new council rule that bans resting spaces on main streets in business improvement areas.

It’s been difficult to find a new place for the 30 beds, partly because landlords don’t want the gathering of people outside that a drop-in centre naturally attracts, Campbell said.

“No matter how big of a space we find, there will be more people who need the space than the space will provide,” she said.

In the meantime, the organization has tried to find a way to allocate fairly the limited number of beds in its Dundas Street location, Campbell said.

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“With first come, first serve, which is how we have done it before, people were threatening each other to get in the building first, to be on the list first. It was causing violence,” she said.

Having staff decide who needed a bed most put them at risk of threats and violence, and seemed just as arbitrary, Campbell said.

Now, people come in during the morning and put their name on a list.

“Then, we do, like, a draw system. We have the community members themselves pull the names because we don’t want to be preferential,” she said.

There’s often 60 people on the list, and after that, the phone calls come in from other agencies seeking beds, Campbell said.

“We get people who have acute problems, or coming with a health issue and have to get back to the hospital tomorrow for the next step of treatment and we have to keep them warm and keep track of them so they get care,” she said.

Staff will hold a bed or two back for the acute cases, or simply crowd people in when things grow even more dire, Campbell said.

“We try all kinds of things to make it work,” she said.

The effort will have to be more robust in January, Campbell said.

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In December, people on social assistance get their cheques earlier and the spirit of Christmas prompts donations to non-profits, she said.

But come January, both the temperatures and attention drop, Campbell said.

Ark Aid is open throughout Christmas and can accept donations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 696 Dundas St. she said.

“But I would suggest people also consider the long-term ways they can help. Is it sponsoring a monthly spot for people inside? Is it making a commitment to volunteer or bring in supplies regularly?” Campbell said.

“But the No. 1 thing is to really listen to the policies put forward and ask, ‘Will this really help solve the problem?’ Because we need housing. What is going to have an impact so people can access affordable housing?”

Everybody points fingers about the homeless crisis, Oudshoorn said.

“But the fact of the matter is, if there was a political will to address this more adequately, or in a way that was, like, genuinely honouring of the sacredness of each human life, that way could be found,” he said.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

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