Water for Unhoused People Stranded in the Summer Heat

Toronto and Peel Region are about to get hot. Across both municipalities, tens of thousands of people are without homes — which means they are at risk in the summer heat. With a heat wave on the horizon this week and the ongoing crisis of climate change, people's health and wellbeing are at stake: while the focus is usually on people's exposure to the cold while living unsheltered, more unhoused people die from complications due to extreme heat during the summer.

Access to hydration — clean drinking water — is key.

Yet, most people living outdoors do not have access to running water. In Toronto, water fountains and public washrooms have been consistently broken or unavailable in recent years, which has left unhoused people reliant on bottled water. Toronto does not have a strategy to ensure that people who are homeless do not dehydrate. In fact, Toronto barely has any plan for homeless people in the summer heat, having eliminated Emergency Cooling Centres in 2021. Instead, the city expects people to go to places like the mall, a public pool, or a splash pad — all spaces where unhoused people are clearly unwelcome.

In the absence of accessible running water, bottled water is an emergency health care need. People need water to drink, but also for wound care and hygiene. Sadly, reusable bottles are not a viable option without fresh running water and the ability to clean them. The inequities of being forced to live outdoors in an increasingly volatile climate go hand-in-hand with the environmental inequity of needing to rely on single-use plastic resources.

But right now, there is no other choice. Water is life, and it's up to us to keep people hydrated, however we can.

My name is Diana Chan McNally, and I am a front-line worker who sees daily how a lack of access to water impacts people in the summer heat. I am raising funds for Project FoodChain's SOS Initiative, who I have worked with since 2020 to distribute bottled water to those who most need it. Since 2020, Project FoodChain has helped front-line workers like me distribute 1,000,000 bottles of water across Toronto and Peel Region, and they aim to distribute 236,160 this summer through a network of 72 agencies.

I work in one of these agencies. Without Project FoodChain, the people I work with would suffer. Please help us to keep unhoused people healthy this summer by donating to cover the cost of distribution of this necessary, life-saving resource. Without your donations, we cannot get water directly into people's hands.

Thank you so much for your time and care!

Diana Chan McNally (@Diana_C_McNally)