What a City-Wide Shelter Safety Study Found

Most shelter safety advice is based on experience and good intentions. Toronto's Shelter Safety Study, published by the city in April 2024, is one of the few efforts to look at the question with a decade of data and the voices of both residents and staff. Its findings are worth reading for anyone running a shelter, wherever they are.

Incidents rose sharply

Recorded critical incidents in the city's shelter system rose from 1,914 in 2011 to 9,982 in 2019, then increased further in 2020 and 2021 even as the number of people served fell. The increase held up after the researchers controlled for the number of daily service users. Every type of violence the study examined increased significantly from 2011 to 2021.

Incidents were also concentrated. In 2021, 24 service users accounted for 6.6 percent of all critical incidents, which suggests that early, individual support for a small number of people can change the picture for everyone.

What staff reported

In a 2022 survey of 157 shelter staff:

• 36.2 percent felt very or somewhat unsafe at work.
• 41.6 percent reported daily verbal abuse or threats to their physical safety.
• 43.2 percent of Black and Indigenous staff reported daily racist verbal abuse or threats.

What the study recommends

• Reduce crowding. The study links crowding to higher rates of violence, and residents felt safer in smaller shelters with private space.
• Invest in de-escalation. It recommends stronger training in de-escalation and person-centered safety, adapted from the Safewards model.
• Make staff visible and available. Relationships between staff and residents are part of the safety plan, not separate from it.
• Support staff after incidents. People who are exposed to violence need follow-up, or they leave.
• Respond to conflict without taking away a bed where possible, using shorter restrictions and restorative approaches.

What it found about guards and cameras

Residents had mixed views on security guards and cameras. Some saw them as useful for catching incidents; others saw them as invasive or ineffective. The study found guards less beneficial for preventing violence than the relational measures above.

Putting it to work

The study's message is that safety comes from people, space and early intervention. ElectricEye is built to support the early-intervention part: on cameras a program already has, it alerts staff to escalating aggression in lobbies and intake areas and to after-hours activity at entrances and storage areas, so a trained person can respond before things turn physical. For guidance on placing cameras respectfully, read cameras in shelters, done the trauma-informed way, or see ElectricEye for non-profits.