Welcome to TUHUnion.ca
The Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union
What we adress
As people who experience homelessness and insecure housing, we know what we need to improve our lives and end homelessness, but we are rarely listened to and our opinions are not valued.
TUHU members works together to amplify our stories, as our stories are the catalyst for change. We provide opportunities to capacity build and educate with people often overlooked and underestimated. We never organize against each other. Building unity is key to the revolution we need!
TUHU as a solution
The Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union helps us go from feeling powerless in the system to finding our power and collective voice.
We are people living in shelters, encampments, insecure rentals, and social housing. And together we are building leadership in our communities, and organize around issues that matter to us.
Our union builds unity, support, and community for homeless and housing insecure people. We come together, learn from one another, and build our capacity to make change.
We are Unique
We are Union
We are a growing union with over 300 members from diverse communities, created and led by people who have experienced homelessness and insecure housing, and their allies in solidarity.
We refuse to be divided by those in power.
We are Unique
We are not a social service.
TUHU is not a social service organization. Hundreds of millions are spent by the City’s Shelter and Housing Administration, charities, and outreach organizations, and concerned groups of citizens to provide meals, temporary emergency shelters, food banks, and other services to homeless people and precariously housed people.
TUHU does not need to replicate what is already being done.
We need to focus on what is NOT being done enough: organizing and empowering homeless and underhoused people to lead systemic change and end homelessness and the dehumanization of the unhoused.
What Our Union Does
Our union supports an array of activities that align with our primary mission. Some examples of our work so far:
We organize as chapters in shelters and drop-ins, asking the question - What do we need - right here and now? - and work towards tangible wins - both big and small. This can be as simple as getting shower curtains installed in group showers in a mens shelter. With each win, together we build capacity within the community, unity, and strength. Small wins that matter to people in day to day life build our power for bigger wins.
We support people in an encampment to build a community bulletin board, post a schedule of services provided by government and non-profit organizations, and then lobby those service providers to tailor their services to better meet the encampment’s needs.
We survey unhoused people in specific areas to gather information regarding their experiences, and to raise awareness about their rights. We take concerns from our fellow community members seriously. We create public reports to expose violence and human rights violations that unhoused people experience.
We organize protests and rallies
We organize self-defense classes for gender-oppressed people living in encampments so that they can protect themselves against the physical and sexual violence that inevitably results from deep inequality and systemic marginalization.
We are working towards: collective power building through strikes, expanding community education and capacity building, rapid housing direct action, and transformation of the shelter system.
Origin
Our union was founded in May 23, 2023, after a visit from a lead organizer of the National Union of the Homeless (NUH) in the United States. The NUH currently has over 20 union Locals in cities across the US fighting to uplift homeless voices and end homelessness. The Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union was inspired by NUH’s organizing model, as we honour Toronto’s unique history and context.
Structure
TUHU is made up of members across Toronto and has an Executive Board. As of May, 2026, we have over 300 members and counting. All Union Members sign a membership pledge agreeing to support and contribute to the union’s efforts and uphold certain standards of conduct. Members identify issues that matter to people experiencing homelessness and precarious housing in Toronto. Members also help organize and support union actions and discuss and vote on issues in all-members meetings, which are held twice per month in Regent Park.
TUHU Local
Once you became a member of TUHU, everyone is a member of TUHU Local.
How do you commit?
Monthly meeting and meal for all members
Vote on issues together
Bring forward concerns that matter to you
Network with other members with shared interests
Work on projects and or campaigns
Join a chapter specific to your personal situation
TUHU Executive Committee
・Composed of members voted in by TUHU Local
・Additional monthly meeting
At present, the Executive Board is comprised of elected board members serving 6-month term positions. The role of the Executive Board is to execute the will of the membership. The Executive Board may meet either with the union as a whole, or independently to strategize and plan actions. All Union Members can put themselves forward for election to positions on the board, which goes to a vote. However, we insist the majority of board members are people who have or are experiencing homelessness or who are underhoused living under threat of homelessness.
What are Chapters?
Our union also accommodates the creation of smaller organizing units called Chapters. Chapters may form within a particular encampment, shelter, or neighbourhood. Chapter organizing committees work to recruit and organize members within their respective communities around issues that matter to them. Chapters report regularly on their activities to the broader union and to the Executive Board. The Executive Board and the broader union in turn support and fosters Chapter activities.
Achievements
Created chapter in a large Toronto shelter. Successfully organized for private shower spaces, monthly meetings, and more
Created chapter in local encampment. Organized for successful communication with local services, and self-defense trainings
Created chapters in 2 large drop-ins in the city, where we host workshops and foster collaborative action
Organized the Housing For Whom? Campaign
Organized Refugee Chapter around accommodating special religious dietary needs in the local shelter hotel
Meet regularly with MPP & City Councillor offices on issues that matter to us
...and so much more!
How to be involved?
If would like to be part of our movement, send us an email at torontohomelessorganize@gmail.com for more information, come to our meeting every first Tuesday of the month.
(Food provided!)
Meeting
Every 1st Tuesday of the month
6pm
Location
40 Oak Street (♿ Wheelchair Accessible)
Contact
torontohomelessorganize@gmail.com
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