Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre

Meet Tyde, the Parkdale artist who makes beauty out of what the neighbourhood throws away. Almost nothing in Tyde's work is bought new. "I like making art and I like using the stuff that would otherwise go in the garbage.” Scrap metal, salvaged leather, donated paper, roof slate, beads, wire, found objects picked up off the sidewalk. She has been working this way for over two decades.

Recycled materials inspire Tyde. A bookbinder friend gave her leather. A carpenter friend gave her wood offcuts. A piece of roof slate was combined with beads and wire. Out of recycled materials she created ten-foot-tall flowers. "My drill and I are very close." Free is what let her start, and donations from her community keep her creating.

Tyde first lived in Parkdale in the 1990s and it was the first neighbourhood where she felt at home. She still has friends she met her first week here. It is where she found good housing, and where she gave herself room to heal.

She describes Parkdale as "her place."

Read Tyde's full story: https://parc.on.ca/parc-story-tyde/

Thank you to the Robert Kerr Foundation for backing the launch of our Member Employee Supported Homes (MESH) pilot.

Many specialized cleaning and de-hoarding services in Ontario require an N5 eviction notice before a tenant can access them. Support arrives only after the eviction process has started, which is the most expensive, most re-traumatizing, least likely moment for anything to work.

Thanks to support from the Robert Kerr Foundation - MESH intervenes before that. A PARC Member Employee, working alongside Housing Support Workers, goes into units at the tenant's pace, on the tenant's terms. Sorting a corner. Clearing a counter. Building the skills and the trust that keep a unit liveable long after the visit ends.

Thank you to our partners at RKF.

From 2017-2025, Toronto’s supervised consumption sites managed 4,334 overdose cases with ZERO deaths on site. Every one of those people lived to continue their journey thanks to harm reduction.

When Toronto’s largest supervised consumption site closed in March 2025 nearly half of former clients reported higher overdose risk. The people who relied on it still need a safe place to go.

The province's current model for addiction recovery and supportive housing includes an estimated 540 new supportive housing units across 27 sites province-wide. Toronto's own MHA supportive housing wait list is at 28,936 people, and growing. That list has more than doubled since 2018.

The average wait time is over 8 years in Toronto, while only 2-3% of people on Ontario wait lists get placed each year.

Harm reduction keeps people alive and connected to essential services. For many, it may be the first step toward recovery. But we need accessible pathways to the next stage of care. When treatment beds, housing, or support services are unavailable, the failure lies in the system, not in the harm reduction approach itself.

PARC provides safety today and a path toward stability tomorrow.

Sources:
Toronto Public Health, Toronto Overdose Information System dashboard; Ontario CRISM/CAMH, TPH Supervised Consumption Site Closure Evaluation (2025); Addictions and Mental Health Ontario, Unlocking Solutions (2025).

This Saturday PARC member artists are setting up right outside our drop-in at 1499 Queen St W. From 2 to 5 PM, come browse original paintings, crafts, and handmade goods, all made by our members. Every sale goes directly to the artist who made the piece.

We're tabling as part of the Parkdale Music Crawl & Street Festival, running 11 AM to 9 PM along Queen St W from Dufferin to Roncesvalles. Live bands, food vendors, buskers, and neighbourhood sidewalk sales fill the strip all day. Stop by our table and explore!

Two things: housing need, and a need for support to keep that housing.

The people waiting to access supportive housing don't look the way most Torontonians picture them. Between 13 and 33 per cent of people on Ontario's mental health and addictions supportive housing wait lists are over the age of 65 (AMHO, 2025). Nationally, 38 per cent of people with disabilities say they don't get the help they need to live independently, including help with bathing, cooking, cleaning, and shopping (Canadian Human Rights Commission and Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, 2024). That's the gap supportive housing fills, and why it should be invested in.

Seniors. People with disabilities. Newcomers. Youth leaving care. People discharged from hospitals, jails, and long-term care. The model works across all of them, because what it provides is housing plus the supports that make housing hold.

The problem is how few homes exist. At least 28,936 people are on the wait list for mental health and addictions supportive housing in Toronto, and the average wait is 8.1 years (AMHO, 2025).

Building more supportive housing means shorter waits and healthier homes for everyone on that list.

Sources
Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (2025). Unlocking Solutions: Understanding and Addressing Ontario's Mental Health and Addictions Supportive Housing Needs.

Canadian Human Rights Commission & Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (2024). New data highlights troubling housing inequalities for people with disabilities.

Last month PARC partnered with The Dale Ministries to host a memorial BBQ for community members we have lost. Our community loses people too often and too early. Making space to grieve collectively is part of the care our members extend to one another, and it belongs alongside our daily work.

The gathering brought together stories of the people we have lost and music from the neighbourhood, shared over a meal with our neighbours. It's such a gift when the Parkdale community has the opportunity to gather.

We are grateful to Breakaway Community Services for leading grief activities and to the Parkdale Musicians Collective for sharing their music. Our thanks to the Indigenous Elders who welcomed the community and offered comfort throughout the day.

We would also like to thank the Arthur and Audrey Cutten Foundation whose funding made this day of remembrance possible.

PARC's August Activities Calendar is live!

Our annual PARCabana celebration will take place Friday August 28th (12:30pm-4:30pm)!

Drop-in hours:
Monday-Thursday: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Friday: 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday & holidays: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

To support PARC's programs and activities: https://parc.on.ca/donate/

$17,677 RAISED! Thank you to everyone who made this a massive success - every ticket purchased, every poster and t-shirt sold, every donation will help PARC continue providing affordable supportive housing and the wraparound supports that help people rebuild their lives.

To the bands, DJ Meg, the volunteers, vendors, raffle prize donors, , and every single person who came out - thank you. An extra special shout out to , and for all the work to bring the bands together, spreading the word and making the show a reality!

We are so grateful to our community for making this such a great night.

Musicians:
and.remy

h.i.t.p.o.s.t.ing




Vendors:

sang





Raffle donors:




parkdale
tonic