Toronto Voters Say Youth Homelessness Must Be a Priority

Toronto voters want the next city council to treat youth homelessness as a priority, and many say they will vote on it. In a new Ipsos survey, 88 percent of residents said they are concerned about youth homelessness in their communities, and 66 percent said they would vote for candidates who prioritize addressing the issue. The survey was commissioned by Covenant House Toronto and a coalition of youth service providers across the city, and released October 13, 2026.

The findings land as Toronto heads toward a municipal election, with voting day set for Monday, October 26, 2026, according to city election officials. For young people facing housing instability, the timing matters: advocates say the next council will decide whether the city builds a coordinated youth strategy or keeps responding to the crisis one shelter bed at a time.

The scale of the problem is large. More than 1,500 youth experience homelessness on any given night in Toronto, according to Covenant House Toronto. About a quarter of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Ontario are under the age of 24, and youth homelessness across the province has risen 26 percent since 2022, according to the charity, citing a Financial Accountability Office of Ontario report. More than 2,000 youth turned to Covenant House Toronto for support in the past year alone.

What voters actually want

The survey shows support that goes beyond general concern. Voters want the next mayor and council to prioritize addressing the root causes of youth homelessness, backed by 84 percent of respondents, and to help young people secure housing with the supports they need to remain housed, backed by 85 percent. More than four in five said youth homelessness can be prevented through targeted policies and supports, while close to nine in ten agreed the issue requires dedicated attention and solutions tailored to young people's unique needs.

Support also extends to specific policies. More than nine in ten residents said they back a youth homelessness strategy for Toronto, alongside investments in supportive housing, employment and job training opportunities, mental health services, family supports, and school-based prevention initiatives. And 79 percent said initiatives should include an equal mix of helping young people currently experiencing homelessness and preventing others from entering homelessness in the first place.

Why young people need their own playbook

Youth homelessness looks different from adult homelessness, and the survey's sponsors argue it needs different responses. Young people often lose housing because of family conflict, unsafe homes, or aging out of care, rather than the job loss or eviction patterns more common among adults. School, mental health, and first jobs are all still in motion, which means early help can change a whole trajectory, while a missed intervention can harden into years of instability.

The city's own shelter numbers underline the gap. The most recent Street Needs Assessment estimates that over 1,500 young people aged 16 to 24 experience homelessness on any given night, more than double the up to 740 shelter beds currently available, according to a sector report released by the youth homelessness coalition. Indigenous, Black, newcomer, and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth remain disproportionately affected. One-third of chronically homeless adults in the city say they first experienced homelessness as youth, a reminder that today's youth crisis becomes tomorrow's adult one without early intervention.

The people running front-line services frame the issue as hopeful rather than hopeless. Mark Aston, the charity's chief executive, said the findings show Torontonians believe youth homelessness is both preventable and solvable. Aisha Francis, executive director of Eva's Initiatives for Homeless Youth, said young people need more than a safe place to stay: they need a pathway to a secure future, with stable housing, well-being support, and opportunities for education and meaningful employment.

The election timing gives the issue leverage

The survey was designed to land before voters make their choice. Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,000 Toronto residents aged 18 and older online between August 27 and September 1, 2026, weighted to match the city's population by age, gender, and region. Results are accurate to within plus or minus 3.8 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.

Advance voting already showed strong engagement. The city reported that 222,550 eligible voters cast ballots during six days of advance voting, up from 115,911 in the 2022 municipal election. Election day voting runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and voters must cast ballots at their assigned voting place. For advocates, the combination of high early turnout and broad survey support creates a window to press every candidate on where youth housing ranks in their platform.

What to watch after the votes are counted

Poll support is not the same as policy, and the survey itself comes from organizations with a clear stake in the outcome. Covenant House Toronto and its coalition partners advocate for youth services funding, so their framing favors investment. The counterweight is the city's budget reality: the next council will face competing demands on housing, transit, policing, and services, and a youth strategy will have to compete for dollars against all of them.

Still, the numbers give voters a concrete way to judge what comes next. The test will be whether the winning candidates turn broad agreement into specific commitments: a funded youth strategy, enough supportive housing to close the gap with nightly need, school-based prevention, and job and mental health supports that keep young people housed once they get there. As one service provider put it, the sector is ready to do the work. The question the survey puts to the next council is whether City Hall will match that readiness with money and coordination.

According to the survey's sponsors, the message from residents is that prevention and housing support are not optional extras but the core of the job. For young Torontonians watching the election, the stakes are immediate: the council chosen this month will shape the services available to them for the next four years. Browse more Canadian coverage on our Canada topic page and Social Justice coverage.

Read the full survey release from Covenant House Toronto | See the city's advance voting turnout figures