big issues:safety in public spaces

City Council's main plan for safety is SafeTO, a ten-year Community Safety and Well-Being Plan it adopted in 2021. The plan sets 26 priority actions across seven goals (Go to information source). It treats safety as more than crime and policing and addresses mental health, poverty, and supports for young people alongside enforcement. The City's Social Development division leads the work.

One part of SafeTO is the Toronto Community Crisis Service. This non-police service responds to mental-health crises and wellness checks for people 16 and older. A person reaches it by calling 211 or 911. It became a citywide service in September 2024 (Go to information source).

City Council also shapes safety through the budget it sets for building, lighting, and maintaining shared spaces. Several parts of the City do that work. Transportation Services runs road safety through Vision Zero, which targets deaths and serious injuries among all road users: people walking, cycling, driving, and riding motorcycles (Go to information source). Parks, Forestry and Recreation looks after park lighting, washrooms, and cleanliness. Toronto Hydro owns and maintains the street lights. The cycling and sidewalk network itself is covered in the Getting Around primer.

City design rules also shape safety in shared spaces, through sight lines, lighting and layout. This approach is called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED. City guidance notes both the potential benefits and limitations of CPTED approaches and advises that they be applied carefully and appropriately (Go to information source - PDF).

City Council controls some safety tools directly and supports others through funding provided to arm's-length agencies.

City Council controls directly: Municipal Licensing and Standards enforces by-laws in parks, streets, and public spaces. That covers noise, property standards, business licensing, and animal control, mainly through 311 (Go to information source). City Council also funds SafeTO's community safety programs. These include the Youth Violence Prevention Grant and the Violence Intervention & Support Unit, which connects people affected by violence to supports.

City Council approves the Toronto Police Service's budget and sets the property-tax level that pays for it, but it does not manage the service. That job belongs to the Toronto Police Service Board, a seven-member civilian body. The Mayor holds one seat, unless the Mayor chooses not to sit or is not eligible — then City Council names another City Council member. City Council appoints two more of its own members and one member of the public. The Province appoints the other three (Go to information source, Go to information source). The Board hires the Chief and sets police policy, though not for specific investigations or specific officers. It sends City Council its spending estimates; City Council sets the total but cannot approve or reject individual items (Go to information source).

The police budget funds 911 response and patrol, investigations and victim support, and crime prevention (Go to information source - PDF). Transit safety works the same way. TTC special constables patrol transit, but City Council appoints the TTC Board and funds the TTC without directing its day-to-day operations (Go to information source - PDF).

Public safety considerations can affect residents differently, particularly people experiencing homelessness, mental-health challenges, or other vulnerabilities. One of the City's primary responsibilities in this area is supporting and operating the shelter system.

Toronto Shelter and Support Services directly operates some emergency shelters, respite sites, and drop-ins, and funds community agencies to run many more. Every site, City-run or funded, must meet the City's shelter standards (Go to information source). The City also sets design rules for new shelters through its Shelter Design and Technical Guidelines.

The City funds outreach as well. Streets to Homes offers 24-hour street outreach, reached through 311 (Go to information source). The Toronto Community Crisis Service sends non-police teams to mental-health crises, reached at 211. City Council has funded more outreach and crisis workers on the TTC. Toronto Public Library also partners with community organizations to provide crisis-support services in some library locations (Go to information source).

In winter, the City runs a Winter Services Plan. Each year, from November 15 to April 15, it opens extra shelter and respite spaces, activates warming centres during extreme cold, and sends out more street-outreach teams (Go to information source).

Several of the largest programs or interventions are not municipal. Health care, mental-health and addiction treatment, supervised consumption services, and income supports such as the Ontario Disability Support Program are provincial (Go to information source).