Homelessness charity hoaxes affluent Toronto neighbourhood
Raising the Roof published complaints over a homeless shelter they were only pretending to build
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A homelessness charity has published complaints they received over a shelter they pretended to build in an affluent Toronto neighbourhood.
Raising the Roof, an organisation that fights to end homelessness in Canada, set up a fake construction site in the Leaside area of Toronto.
Residents of the predominantly upper-middle-class neighbourhood were given a number to call to comment on the project, which the charity recorded for use in their video.
One resident left a message saying "Hi, I see that you're putting up a shelter in my neighbourhood; I'm quite distressed about this."
Come on, you know that these are all drug addicts and drunks
Another told the answering machine that the project was "an awful idea."
The final message played is left by a resident concerned over the behaviour of homeless people, saying "Come on, you know that these are all drug addicts and drunks; you ruining a perfectly good neighbourhood is absurd."
Just a day after signs appeared announcing the shelter, the charity replaced them with another that read:
"You told us you don't want a shelter here. Neither do we.
"Support us in creating long-term solutions. Let's end homelessness."
Accompanying the video, a statement from the charity said: "To reach our goal of ending homelessness we need everyone’s help to change government policy and the way the issue is addressed."
The messages were re-recorded and edited to protect people's privacy.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments