'We thrived': Nova Scotians who wintered in RVs call for permanent setup
Some people said it could‐ n't be done. But after spending the winter warm and dry in her insulated RV, Carrie Steeves feels tri‐ umphant.
"It feels good that it was successful," Steeves said in a recent interview. "It feels good that so many people told me that we couldn't do it and that it was not doable to live in a camper for the win‐ ter, and I knew that it could be done.
"We survived it. Not only did we survive it, we thrived."
Steeves led the charge last year for the pilot project that allowed 12 people to spend the winter in their RVs at Shubie Campground, a pri‐ vate business on municipally owned land in Dartmouth, N.S.
With the pilot due to wrap up at the end of this month,
Steeves is looking ahead and calling for a larger, more per‐ manent setup for people who are turning to RVs for housing.
Though almost all the res‐ idents have found some‐ where to move their RVs when the winter setup at Shubie Campground closes, Steeves said many people who can't afford increasingly expensive traditional housing don't want to pack up and move every six months.
Relatively low monthly cost
Jeremy Van den Eynden wintered in a campsite across from Steeves. He spent most of the past year fighting a renoviction - when a landlord evicts a tenant for renovations and then hikes the rent - then struggled to find a new place to live that didn't eat up most of his salary as a metal fabricator.
The $250 site fees at Shu‐ bie Campground, which in‐ cluded power, sewage ser‐ vices, garbage collection and snow removal, were enticing to him. Residents of the campground were responsi‐ ble for buying their own wa‐ ter and propane, bringing the total monthly operating costs to around $500 each.
"It's just gotten so expen‐ sive to live in the Halifax area now," Van den Eynden said. "It's unacceptable for me, and this is much, much more affordable for myself, so I've chosen to go with the RV life."
Van den Eynden is joining Steeves in calling for a per‐ manent space to set up.
"There's a lot of people liv‐ ing in these right now. I hear there's a couple of RVs at the [homeless encampments]. There's people living in over‐ passes. They're going from Walmart parking lot to Wal‐ mart parking lot because there's nowhere else to go," he said.
"I think if we start giving people a place to go with these, it's going to become more popular."
Steeves said there was a waitlist of people who wan‐ ted a spot at the camp‐ ground this year, so she's hoping for more spaces and infrastructure to support winter camping going for‐ ward.
As the pilot project winds down in the coming weeks, Steeves plans to move a 45minute drive away from Hali‐ fax to Renfrew Campground in Nine Mile River, where she works in the summers.
Since Shubie Campground is the only fully serviced campground within city lim‐ its, Steeves said it's been con‐ venient for the RV residents, most of whom have jobs and need to be close to transit and services. Steeves sug‐ gested municipally owned land could be used to build a new, winterized campground.
Could be possible with the province's help, says councillor
Tony Mancini, the regional councillor for HarbourviewBurnside-Dartmouth East, has been involved in the pilot project since the start. He said it was "a huge success" that he would support again next winter.
"Is there a demand? I think there is, unfortunately," Mancini said in a recent inter‐ view. "If this could help, by all means ... let's do it again and expand it beyond the 12 sites."
When asked about a per‐ manent setup, however, he said larger provincial camp‐ grounds might be the way forward.
Last fall, the provincial De‐ partment of Community Ser‐ vices gave the Halifax Region‐ al Municipality $180,000 to keep the Shubie Camp‐ ground open through the winter. The department would not say whether it would support the creation of a year-round campground for people struggling to find housing, or if the province would renew the Shubie Campground funding.
"We're having regular con‐ versations with HRM and other municipal partners on how to support their initia‐ tives to support people expe‐ riencing homelessness," spokesperson Christina De‐ veau wrote in an email.
A spokesperson from the Halifax Regional Municipality said once the season ends, municipal staff will review the winter campground opera‐ tion with everyone involved, then discuss future opportu‐ nities with the province.
Regional council also re‐ cently requested a staff re‐ port looking into land-use zoning changes that would allow the use of RVs for resi‐ dential use.
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