Camp eviction win for Toronto’s working class

On Tuesday, the City of Toronto evicted a major homeless encampment in Alexandra Park, a low-income neighbourhood in the downtown core. Pro-encampment voices have mobilized to spin the eviction as an attack on Toronto’s poor, but the opposite is true — this eviction will benefit low-income residents in the neighbourhood who, owing to the behaviour of predatory encampment dwellers, have been denied access to green space and social services.

Scadding Court Community Centre (SCCC) is located adjacent to Alexandra Park and provides crucial social services to the neighbourhood’s low-income residents. “There’s violence associated with the encampment — 100 per cent. We see it every day,” says Herman Ellis Jr., SCCC’S executive director.

In an interview with me, Ellis detailed how encampment-related issues — such as drug dealing, physical fights, sexual assaults, nudity, public defecation and gun threats — have kept the park off-limits to other residents. As a result, Ellis states that it is “very clear” that nearby residents, who disproportionately live in poverty, no longer have local green space that they can safely enjoy. The problem is particularly bad for families as well as residents with mobility issues, such as the elderly and disabled.

“There are a lot of folks living in poverty who don’t have a place to cool off,” Ellis says, noting that parks are a respite for low-income residents who find their own homes uncomfortable.

The encampment, which had approximately 30 residents, was the main reason why the community centre had to cancel its in-person summer children’s programming, which primarily services low-income families, for a second year in a row. The park is no longer safe for children. Its play structure and splash pad have not been used all year due to fear of children coming into contact with needles.

SCCC considered running outdoor programming in Ryerson field, which is adjacent to Alexandra Park. This was nixed owing to several gun calls within the encampment over recent months. The standard practice during a gun call is to shepherd children to the community centre for safety. However, as Alexandra Park is between the field and SCCC, children would have had to run towards gun violence, rather than away, to reach refuge.

Consequently, local children will have only virtual programming this summer while children in wealthier neighbourhoods enjoy the outdoors. Studies have shown that virtual programming is far less effective for low-income households, owing to technology deficits and limited home space.

Meanwhile, the neighbourhood has become infested with rats that have feasted on the encampment’s waste. Combating the rats is difficult as they hide in the park’s overgrown grass, which, owing to safety concerns, is no longer safe for workers to cut.

According to Ellis, neighbours consistently complain about the rat problem to SCCC. The community garden, which many low-income citizens previously relied on for food support, is now closed as a result of the infestation. SCCC is investigating whether high volumes of rat droppings have made the garden’s produce unfit for human consumption.

When asked about the social justice dimension of encampments, Ellis says, “we need to recognize that there are other individuals who need the park who are also disadvantaged.” He adds, “There are two sides to this.”

These types of problems are not specific to Alexandra Park. Robert Rotenberg, a criminal lawyer and author whose work has called attention to violence against the homeless, is a resident of Moss Park — another low-income neighbourhood hosting a large encampment.

Rotenberg says, “Moss Park is the only real green space in the downtown core for the thousands of poor and working class people who live nearby — and it is empty except for tents. The playground is empty. The farm lots are abandoned and overgrown. The baseball field is unused. I have not seen a child in this park for 18 months.”

Rotenberg contrasts this with parks in wealthier neighbourhoods, which are safely enjoyed by all residents.

Toronto’s largest homeless encampments each host, at most, a couple dozen people — yet thousands of low-income citizens have been deprived of access to public space, as well as associated services, while being subject to threats and harassment.

The eviction of these encampments is not a war against the poor — it is a victory for them. It is not about gentrification and bourgeois fragility, but rather about vulnerable citizens having the right to safely exist within their own neighbourhoods.

Of course, you’ll never hear about that from pro-encampment voices, who often inhabit neighbourhoods where crime is rarely anything more than an abstraction. Blinded by their privilege, activists instead romanticize and enable encampment dwellers — it’s easy when other, often poorer people pay the price.

The notion that encampment evictions are a war on the poor is also patronizing — as if all poor people are synonymous with encampment dwellers; as if the working poor, just trying to get on with life with some peace, don’t exist. Apparently, only the rich have the right or desire to enjoy public spaces.

Obviously, the root causes of poverty need to be addressed. No one contests that. Solving homelessness is not easy, though. Expecting communities, especially vulnerable low-income ones, to indefinitely bear the brunt of increased crime is not acceptable. Even less vulnerable communities, such as those impacted by Wednesday’s Lamport Stadium Park eviction (also in downtown Toronto), deserve peace.

The City of Toronto has been offering free hotel rooms, food, showers, harm reduction and social services to evicted dwellers. Smaller, nonviolent encampments have mostly been left at peace (and rightfully so).

The city has done this despite vilification from journalists who, with bleeding hearts and great naivete, cry for the rights of criminals while erasing low-income folks who simply want to live their lives without worrying about guns, needles, feces, verbal harassment and physical assault.

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