South Etobicoke residents asking judge to halt work on city’s Third St. shelter
· Toronto Sun
A group of residents called the New Toronto Initiative (NTI), opposed to the city’s plans to convert a small parking lot near Lake Shore Blvd. into a homeless shelter, is asking a judge to hit the brakes on the project.
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Michael Nemanic, a lawyer who represents the group, says he will file an injunction Monday and seek an urgent hearing in the hopes of keeping the City of Toronto from developing the site at 66 Third St., east of Islington Ave., in south Etobicoke.
“The city has decided to go full steam ahead on site works and other preliminary work required to redevelop the parking lot into a municipal shelter,” Nemanic said.
“What we’re saying is, we served you with a comprehensive statement of claim six months ago, never got one response, nothing … and so we realized that the only way that we’re going to get a fair shake … is to ask for an urgent injunction, and to ask for the city to essentially do the right thing.”
“We recognize that there is a housing crisis, and that there is a need for more affordable housing including supportive housing, and shelters and transitional housing,” he added. “The issue here is there’s a right way to do it and there’s a wrong way, and we believe the city’s doing it the wrong way.”
Reached on Friday afternoon, the City of Toronto said it would be unable to provide a comment on the matter before next week.
The allegations in the NTI lawsuit have not been proven in court.
The city says the 66 Third St. shelter would support roughly 50 homeless seniors, but it isn’t expected to open before 2028.
‘Fair process’ needed
While the NTI has been fighting the city’s shelter plans for months, there’s some urgency now since operations at the parking lot recently closed, Nemanic said. Modular construction could allow the shelter to go up fast – potentially even before the NTI gets its day in court.
“When they make their building permit application, that could mean that in less than three months from now, they would be authorized to start formal construction at the site – not just getting it ready, but formal construction,” he said.
The NTI, represented by Nemanic, is suing the City of Toronto , local councillor Amber Morley and consultant Bruce Davis. The suit claims the selection of the 66 Third St. site was “arbitrary, subjective and improper,” and was “tainted” by the “bad faith desires” of Morley and Davis to enrich their own interests. (Morley and Davis have previously defended their records when asked by the Sun about the lawsuit.)
City Council agreed in December 2025 to backstop consultants such as Davis to the tune of $50,000 for costs related to “nuisance legal proceedings.” The NTI in turn questioned the city’s relationship with Davis, who at that same council meeting was appointed to CreateTO, which manages the municipal government’s real estate holdings.
While the injunction is related to the NTI lawsuit, it’s “directed against the city” and Morley or Davis “are not party” to it, Nemanic said.
Included with the injunction are two affidavits, one by a member of the community and the other by a planning expert. The latter argues the site doesn’t comply with the zoning rules, as it’s expressly restricted to use as a parking lot.
“We’re in an election year and this isn’t a popular issue. No councillor wants to touch it. That’s the reality,” Nemanic said.
“It is a contentious issue, but if you establish a fair process with rules, and then you decide to ignore those rules – and after you’ve been told you’re ignoring those rules, don’t make a peep for six months – then I think taking the next step, which is filing this injunction, is pretty reasonable.”