NIMBY Scorecard: Oakwood residents versus a homeless shelter

When someone or something draws a neighbourhood’s ire, just how legitimate are the locals’ concerns? Here, we quantify the outcry.

The former Town Talk Restaurant and Bar, near Vaughan Road and Oakwood Avenue.

Cornerstone Baptist Tabernacle, a church that wants to buy the vacant building and turn it into a men’s homeless shelter.

“I’m not against shelters in our community,” says a guy who is being interviewed by the Star precisely because he opposes a homeless shelter in his community. +20 NIMBY points

A different resident almost actually says “not in my backyard,” except not quite in those words: “I don’t oppose the notion of a shelter,” she tells the Star. “I think the location of the shelter is a disaster.” +25 points

From another Star piece: “Residents want the city to hold off until there’s more information on what kind of impact the shelter would have.” (Meaning, presumably, forever.) +20 points

Bonus awarded for opposing social services for the homeless, maybe the most classic form of NIMBYism: +5 points

70/100 points

Expert