Unignorable. That's the name of an imaginary super tower that could house all of Toronto's homeless and of the United Ways' new campaign bringing awareness to the 116,317 people struggling to keep a roof over their heads in the GTA.
"This tower isn't real. The problem it represents is," reads the website. "The #UNIGNORABLE Tower was imagined to represent the scale of the problem, and bring attention to this big and complicated issue." Standing at a height two-and-a-half times higher than the CN Tower, this rendering forces people to directly acknowledge a major city issue.
READ: Toronto’s Homelessness Crisis: Years In The Making
A pop-up will be held at Brookfield Place until November 8th to raise awareness and funds for a network of 270 community agencies on the front lines fighting poverty. While Toronto's skyline appears to be thriving and prosperous to onlookers, the city is actually the poverty capital of Canada. One in seven residents are currently struggling to make ends meet.
People are taking to social media to share images of the tower. You can also download an augmented reality app, which allows you to look at the Toronto skyline on your phone and see what would be the world's tallest building. Witness firsthand the immeasurable prevalence of poverty and homelessness in the city.
Sadly, you'd need several towers to account for the 850,000 people in Peel, Toronto and York struggling to survive on low-incomes. In the city, more than a quarter of all children are living in poverty.
