Ex-Ontario MPP who became homeless says it's 'humbling' politicians rallying to move him out of shelter
CBC
When former Toronto city councillor and MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti found himself in a homeless shelter last year, it was a circumstance he never imagined he would face.
"What am I doing here?" he remembered thinking on his first night there. "I never thought this would have happened to me, but it happened."
Berardinetti, whose political career spanned 30 years in Toronto's east end, has been living out of the Ajax, Ont., shelter since August 2023 following a bout of unemployment and a series of medical issues.
He says he wasn't the only person there who came from a professional background, and the experience highlighted to him how precarious life in the Toronto area is for so many.
"A lot of people come up to me and say, 'You're homeless?'" Berardinetti told CBC Toronto on Friday.
"They're concerned they may become homeless as well one day. And a lot of people are afraid of that."
After the Toronto Star first reported last month that Berardinetti had fallen on hard times, Ontario politicians rallied to help.
Justin Van Dette, a former political staffer at Toronto City Hall and Queen's Park, was the first to jump into action.
First, he contacted the shelter in Ajax to leave a message for Berardinetti, who called back and gave his permission for Van Dette to start an online fundraising campaign to help get him rehoused. Then, he reached out to former colleagues at the city and province.
"Everybody who responded [said], 'How can we help? We've lost track of him,'" Van Dette told CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Friday.
"Seeing somebody who was very passionate about our city, who stood up for his constituents and residents, and to see that, where he has gone since then, was shocking and very troubling," Van Dette said.
Berardinetti served 15 years as a Liberal MPP for Scarborough Southwest, before he was defeated in the 2018 provincial election. Before that he served as a Toronto city councillor and, before amalgamation, a Scarborough city councillor.
But since his time at Queen's Park, he says times have been tough.
A former practising lawyer, Berardinetti says he took some time off after his 2018 loss to think about what he wanted to do after politics.
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