COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on some of Toronto’s most vulnerable communities, but for two residents of a new housing project in the city’s midtown area, the pandemic has been an unexpected blessing.Just a few months ago, Jason Greig and Rob Dods were each sleeping in tents.
Now, the two men are among 149 previously homeless residents living in a pair of apartment buildings leased by the city at the height of the pandemic.The deal was struck between Toronto’s Shelter, Support and Housing Administration and the buildings’ developer, the Times Group Corporation, not long after a number of outbreaks in the shelter system led to a wave of outdoor encampments cropping up across the downtown core.