Trial by Shelter: Speaking back to the war on the unhoused

Voices Collective
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A podcast by Voices for Unhoused Liberation featuring folx with current or past lived experience of poverty and being insecurely and/or unhoused, speaking to the harms of the shelter system and and the City of Toronto's maltreatment of the unhoused community.

Episodes

  1. 12/16/2025

    Park Bench, Subway, or Union Station

    In this part 2 of episode 3 we delve deeper into who are most vulnerable to service restrictions, the consequences people face, the lack of accountability for the unjust harms of service restrictions, or a harm reduction approach to preventing them. Former shelter worker, activist and artist, Noora Mahmood joins us again with her inside view of the shelter system. And the many community members who have done the labour of sharing their testimonials so that the public can come to understand how carceral and punitive the Toronto shelter system is. This episode was funded by the Ontario Arts Council. This is the last of our funding so if you can, donate through the Voices 4 Unhoused Liberation website: https://www.unhousedliberation.ca/support

    1h 14m

  2. 05/19/2025

    You're Restricted, Get Out!!

    The shelter system in Toronto (as elsewhere) is very carceral. It operates on a system of punishment where a person can be kicked out of the shelter, or 'service restricted,' often for no real reason. In this episode we talk to people about their various experiences being 'service restricted.' It is an egregious practice that harms unhoused people.

    50 min

  3. 06/30/2024

    Welcome to Satan House

    In episode 2, former shelter worker, tattoo artist and activist, Noora Mahmoud describes her time working at the most infamous shelter in Toronto: Seaton House. Noora describes how Seaton House is an example of how carceral the shelter system is.  Narrated by Sid Jackson

    52 min

  4. 12/05/2023

    It's egregious, it's appalling, it's abysmal

    This inaugural episode introduces the listeners to the Delta shelter hotel community in north Scarborough, Ontario. Shelter residents speak to a variety of harms they experience in the shelter system.

    47 min
  • 4 Episodes

About

A podcast by Voices for Unhoused Liberation featuring folx with current or past lived experience of poverty and being insecurely and/or unhoused, speaking to the harms of the shelter system and and the City of Toronto's maltreatment of the unhoused community.

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