But shelters offer more safety and resources than the streets. Especially ones that block abusive partners/pimps from entering.

Some (most?) offer meals, showers, leisure, connection to government resources, etc. I only have experience with the shelters in Durham Region, so maybe the ones in Toronto are different, but I can’t see them being worse than the streets.

There’s no silver bullet solution to the problem, unfortunately. There are only steps towards better than now.

I would personally love to see at least one abandoned mall converted into a shelter complex. With hundreds of units able to house dozens of people each, it would at least consolidate resources under one roof to make things safer and more manageable, vs dozens of separate shelters all needing their own overhead to be covered.