Mayor Olivia Chow outlines next steps for housing asylum seekers in Toronto

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said Thursday that some refugee claimants who were previously camped outside a downtown shelter intake office have been moved to hotel rooms through a city program.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said Thursday that some refugee claimants who were previously camped outside a downtown shelter intake office have been moved to hotel rooms through a city program.

Chow told CBC Radio's Metro Morning that the process began Wednesday evening. A motion passed unanimously by city council earlier that day called on staff to find 150 hotel rooms for newcomers, primarily by renewing shelter hotel contracts, and to find 100 more spaces in the coming days.

More than 200 refugees and asylum seekers have been living at two churches in North York for several days. A policy put in place last month under the tenure of Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie denied access to asylum claimants to the city's overwhelmed shelter system, which is already operating at capacity. The policy led a coalition of advocates to call for the resignation of Gord Tanner, the general manager of Shelter Support and Housing Administration.

Chow said she would officially end the policy but defended Tanner. "That was a council decision, so blame the politicians. Not the people who implement what the politicians decide," Chow said.