Food security in Toronto's shelters for the homeless: Policy alternatives

The Toronto Shelter Standards were introduced in 2002 as a policy document to aggregate the expectations of social services offered by City funded shelters. The Standards have not been revised in the last 12 years to accommodate the changes in service provisioning at Toronto Shelters. Moreover, the current edition does not provide sufficient details in their Food Safety and Nutrition section to address the delivery of food services and programming at shelters. Numerous Toronto based studies have uncovered hunger and nutritional deficiencies amongst homeless populations. This paper offers recommendations focused on the food and nutrition section of the Standards. Various agency employees at Hostel Services, Toronto Public Health and City-funded shelters were interviewed for insights into current processes, advantages, and concerns. An analysis of current literature and interview data lead to numerous findings. The Food Safety and Nutrition section requires the expansion of their mandatory food training, stronger interagency collaboration, meal and nutrition focused review system, more efficient and locally focused procurement process, and improved meal service structure. The paper offers potential policy amendments and solutions that can address the current hunger and malnutrition that is affecting homeless individuals in Toronto within the shelter system.