Blue Door’s Mosaic Interfaith Out of the Cold program has opened its seasonal housing services across faith-based sites in York Region in the face of a weakening economy and rising homelessness, all while winter looms closer. 

Out of the Cold programs in Toronto will also start in the coming days, offering basic physical needs — shelter, food and warm clothing, along with compassion, dignity and self-worth — to less fortunate members of society.

Strengthened by a 2021 amalgamation between Blue Door Support Services and the long-standing Mosaic Interfaith Out of the Cold program, the York Region offering is now leaning into its resources to assist upwards of 90 individuals a night in the region north of Toronto with emergency housing options in various faith spaces from now until June. 

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As with similar support services throughout the GTA and beyond, Mosaic is reporting a substantial rise in demand from those accessing the program. According to Karen Al Massaad, Blue Door’s director of programs for affordable and transitional housing, it’s the most she’s seen since she began overseeing the Mosaic Interfaith Out Of The Cold program during the amalgamation in 2021. 

“Since the amalgamation, and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, we were only serving around 30 clients nightly. Today we serve roughly 90 clients while operating nightly out of three different faith community partners' sites,” she said. 

“There has been a noticeable increase in the number of individuals who are accessing our services, both through Mosaic Interfaith and all of our other programs. This increase has primarily also been very much in line with younger individuals, more families and even more seniors as well.”  

It's a story that dates back to the late 1980s and the first Out of the Cold program founded by the late Sr. Susan Moran, an Our Lady's Missionaries nun in Toronto. Moran was a tireless advocate for the homeless and started the program with Basilian Father John Murphy and students from St. Michael's College School in Toronto. The novel initiative sees churches open their doors to feed and shelter the homeless, and from its Toronto origins it has spread across Ontario and Canada. Meant at first to be a temporary solution, it has only grown in the ensuing years.

Also growing is the number of people on Canadian streets. Housing affordability, mental health issues, poverty in general, all have led to a rise in homelessness nationwide.

Despite facing a stark 200-per-cent increase in its attendance, Mosaic Interfaith Out of the Cold — which provides sit-down meals, clean clothes, medical care, overnight accommodations and further housing support — is continuing as a beacon of interreligious support during a particularly challenging time of year for those in need. Food and housing insecurity are on the rise, in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond, and churches of multiple faiths are stepping in to help where they can.

Various sites throughout Richmond Hill, Markham and Thornhill, such as Holy Trinity Anglican Church, St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Ebenezer United Church, Bridge Markham Community Church and Wideman Mennonite Church, serve as partners housing the interfaith program. Additionally, East Gwillimbury’s Victory Baptist Church and Markham’s Rouge Valley Mennonite Church serve as the program’s year-round sites. St. Luke’s in Thornhill was a Catholic partner, but hasn't participated since 2021 when COVID adjustments shut down its Out of the Cold operations, with Al Massaad noting the value of its past partnership. 

Still, Rouge Valley Mennonite Church and Victory Baptist Church are managing to offer 30 beds apiece, with a third, rotating site welcoming the rest. As they support the immediate communities, Blue Door grapples with the reasoning behind the recent surge.

“We are always looking, always in conversation with individuals who are accessing our services, asking about why they might be experiencing an episode of homelessness, always looking to see how we can prevent that from happening,” Al Massaad said. “Of course, there isn't one sole reason, it varies a lot from one individual and one family and one youth to another, but we are always exploring root causes.” 

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It’s those comprehensive housing wraparound supports that are provided on-site, be it help with case management, housing search and retention, advocacy with landlords, legal assistance or employment supports, that Blue Door’s Out of the Cold prides itself on. A balancing act, as the director frames it, between providing a safe space for individuals to use during the year’s coldest months while focusing on the underlying causes behind the scenes. 

“We need to continue to be viewed as an organization looking at creating that long-term answer and solution. We talk a lot about how we can scale up that capacity and our resources so we're not just putting on a Band-Aid solution, but we're also able to address this at its origins,” she said.  

Still, the unique ecumenical and interfaith community aspects of Mosaic’s mission have made the process much easier through collaboration.  Working hand in hand with a wide range of faith communities, the program’s mission extends to a larger shared mission that all parties are working toward — support for the most vulnerable. 

Further south, Holy Rosary Parish in midtown Toronto is beginning its own Out of the Cold offering for this year. Starting on Nov. 8, the parish is expected to serve anywhere from 50 to 70 individuals a week for the next 20 weeks. 

Jackie Jensen, a coordinator of Holy Rosary’s Out of the Cold for the past two decades, said the program — like others in churches throughout the city — offers overnight shelter, a light breakfast, lunch and surplus food for two days, supported further by parishioner-provided canned goods. Additional offerings include haircuts, a clothing boutique and overall fellowship as key components of the long-time parish program. 

Half of the 20 weeks will see third-year nursing students from Humber College join Holy Rosary’s Out of the Cold team, with students assisting with meal services and preparing brochures for the site’s neighbours-in-need, complete with a collection of nearby services available to them.

“Our student volunteers and adults are known for the fellowship they offer as well. They become friends with our guests, and it’s become a real community,” Jensen said. 

“We have St. Mike's and De La Salle College near us that assist us in our good works while students get their volunteer hours. We are just a really tight group, which I love.”

Even as one of the main partner groups of Toronto’s Out of the Cold Foundation, Jensen told The Catholic Register that the parish hasn’t seen the same swell in numbers as other sites — something she sees as an exception more so than the rule. 

“ With everything that's been going on, we're shocked that our numbers haven't gone right through the roof,” she said. “ It’s weird because almost everywhere else, churches like St. Basil's, despite being solely supported by the parish, their numbers are higher at two days a week. They're quite the machine, and they do about 200 households for St. Vincent de Paul.” 

Whether a sole Catholic parish or a community of interfaith hubs, the spirit of Out of the Cold programs and their mission remain the same. In a time where evident influx is the norm, each program continues to offer warmth, dignity and hope, looking to ensure no one is left in the cold for years to come. 

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“ This is one of the things that I'm always hopeful for and one thing we are always exploring at Blue Door, to be able to look deeper and truly be able to see what it takes for us as a region to end homelessness and come together as partners, whether faith communities, funders or other nonprofits,” Al Massaad said.

“I think we all work really well together, and that’s an important thing, no matter the external factors.”