Poor air quality from wildfire smoke forces kids to play inside + the grandmother desperate for a Toronto apartment

Good morning. This is the Friday, June 9 edition of First Up, the Star’s daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier each day, in your inbox.

Here’s the latest on wildfire smoke, Toronto’s homeless encampments, and the lengths one woman is going to in order to afford a home.

DON’T MISS:

Kids forced to play indoors? This Star reporter has covered climate change and disaster — but something about this hit her

Last week, parents at a west-end Toronto daycare were told to send their children with a bathing suit and water shoes. But on Thursday, Toronto’s air quality index was forecast as “high risk,” forcing the one and two-year-olds and their educators to make-do inside. As a climate change reporter, Kate Allen is familiar with the numerous climate-linked catastrophes. But as the parent of a toddler, she writes about grappling with the emotional toll of the crisis — and reimagining her children’s future.

Homeless encampments are growing again in Toronto, as the city faces a surging crisis

This May, Toronto had twice as many encampments as it did one year prior, after the numbers dipped last year. The figure comes as more people in Toronto are homeless and an increasing number of them are turned away from shelters. All the while, the city is expecting to shut down two of its pandemic-era shelters by late summer and funding for new housing subsidies has run out, Victoria Gibson reports. These graphics illustrate the change in encampments in recent years.

This grandmother is so desperate for an apartment she’s postering hydro poles

Ingrid Burke, 59, would like a home that’s private and comfortable. The harm-reduction worker has been renting a room, but says friction with two male tenants has made staying unsustainable. “I just feel like I’m walking around on eggshells where it’s supposed to be my home,” she said. Her budget for a studio or junior one-bedroom is $1,500 — more than half of what she earns monthly — and she’s willing to caretake, paint, make small repairs and do yard work for a landlord who is willing to work with her budget. Tess Kalinowski reports on yet another sign of the housing crisis and the challenges this Torontonian has faced in finding a suitable home.

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CLOSE-UP:

THE BEACHES: Smoke from wildfires in Quebec and Ontario — engulfing much of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada — didn’t stop some young people from hitting the skate park at Lake Shore Blvd and Ashbridges Bay.

Thank you for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca

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