Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province is adding $42 million in funding to a portable housing benefit, with more than half going to the city of Toronto, which is struggling to accommodate a rise in refugee and asylum claimants.
The premier says the money through the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit will help about 4,000 new households, going toward moving more people into housing and freeing up shelter space.
City officials in Toronto say the number of asylum seekers in Toronto's shelter system grew by 500 per cent in 20 months.