Eva's Satellite - North York, Ontario

Shamsi A.

A horrible place to be at. Some staff will treat you like family, others will treat you like dirty dogs. I do not recommend this shelter to anyone who Is in need of a safe place to stay. You would be at the emotional whims of the staff who treat you with no respect and act as if they are above you. Find another place and stay safe. Peace and love.

M B.

Of years of being in and out of the shelter system, Eva's Satellite is by far the worst shelter of staff members I've ever come across. And that's saying something! The staff members are rude, unhelpful and abuse their power.

If you value finding an apartment and getting any sort of help from Shelter support don't come here. They won't help you in any capacity.

If you value being spoken to with respect, do not come here. They will treat you like garbage and get away with it.

Wenyang M.

During my week at Eva’s satellite I can say that overall, this is place does fairly well for what a shelter needs to do. Most staff are nice, supportive but assertive when they need to be. They provide you with food and a place to sleep. If you want to talk to them, they will be there to support you and let you speak. Every staff is a youth worker, which to my understanding means that they are social workers (people you can talk to about your problems and they’ll listen). Every staff also has a different approach in which they’ll help you when speaking to them individually. For instance one staff was more blunt than others as she wanted her patients to know what they might not be aware of, while another was more listening and kind, providing the nurturing and supportive environment for you to grow.

Some of these staff include Kiran, Latifa, Claudia, Shawna and Marcel have been great in my experience (I may be spelling the names incorrectly and emphasis that this is just my experience, these staff members may have mistreated other residents here and there that I do not know of and vice versa).

There is however one staff that I had a bad experience with in particular. Her name is Kathy.

There was one incident when she started yelling at me for asking for a supervisor, and I asked her nicely if she can stop raising her voice. (She had already made a few demands previously that bugged me and so I wanted to speak to a supervisor). She then became defensive and said “I don’t have time for this” and couldn’t not save face. After a few back and forth exchanges, I could not take it anymore and said that if she perisisted, I would report her to her boss.

About an hour later, when shifts switched another staff spoke to me. I was told to stop “making threats to other staff” and “breaking the rules”.

There was another incident when I was transferred to another shelter. I came back to pick up my belongings and then asked to fill up my water bottle (shelters give food and water to the homeless for free). I was given one cup, and then requested another. The staff that I was speaking to said that “I’m sorry, I cannot. I am part time. Full time staff know what to do.” Since I knew what I knew, I was then inquisitive and suspected Kathy was bringing in her personal emotions into professional decisions. So I then asked if Kathy was the one behind this, then out of nowhere, Kathy opened the door and yelled “come back” towards the staff I was speaking to and then with full force and anger grabbed her back in, closing the door.

I’m certain I am not the only one who’s been treated like this by her and am concerned for the safety and future of other residents. I am a youth that is fortunate enough to speak about this. Other shelter residents may need serious forms of mental health support, that may have gone through traumatic experiences, abuse and may take such an experience more damagingly to their own self worth and psychological well being.

GEORGE M.

The staff are awesome. The residents suck. The facility is much cleaner than other shelters. If you stay here, keep in mind that, you'll most likely have a roommate that starts violent drama, does drugs or will try to steal your stuff. The staff do everything they can to get youth back on track with their lives though and most importantly, they're lenient and understanding. The selection of child youth workers here, are byfar, better than any other shelter staff in Toronto. This is coming from a year-long resident.

Nee

I have been coming to this location at least once a week for the past 3 years to get harm reduction supplies, and I am so thankful this place exsists. Not only can you quickly and discreetly drop by for supplies 24/7, the staff has always been extremely respectful. It's been a pleasure having a quick chat with the staff when I pop by as they are supportive and positive and always ready to help out when they can. Thank you for everything you guys do & just know you guys are appreciated!!

Roberto A. S.

Nice shelter to stay at. So far staff have helped me with getting my life together and is not as bad as it seems although some staff are sneaky and snotty besides that everything is cool.

Hailey H.

Staff are helpful, understanding, and some even have shared experiences with what the youth are going through which makes them that much more effective in helping us. Staff have went above and beyond to try to help someone like myself who is quite a hopeless case but they insist . Thanks

OMG V.

my first time going into a shelter I thought I would have problems with the residents but I was wrong its the staff who were the problem. when you ask them to do there job and actually help you with your needs they act entitled and bothered.