Tent city residents appeal for supplies

The residents of a tent city near LeBreton Flats have appealed to the public for donations to help ease some of the struggles that homelessness entails.

On its website, Overdose Prevention Ottawa published the following statement from the residents: “Local health and social services are doing what they can to support us to secure housing, however this is a bleak time and a process fraught with multiple barriers.

“As residents of tent city, we are currently in need of your support to increase our daily well-being and living situation, and require essential food, water, equipment and supplies.”

A visit by the Citizen last weekend found a dozen or so people living in a wooded area just north of Bayview Station.

Some had been displaced in a rooming house fire on Lebreton Street North in the spring, while others joined the encampment after a four-unit house fire on Bronson Avenue last month.

Their new homes are tents and tarps, or have been fashioned from the scraps of whatever materials they could find.

Their situation, increasingly grim as temperatures drop, has been raised by advocates and publicized in the media.

In their statement, the tent city residents said their current situation is a result of rising rents, low vacancy rates, mass evictions and discrimination.

“Facing this, some of us have organized ourselves in a tent city, a gathering place for safety from violence, overdose, harassment and the other dangers facing us when we are homeless,” the statement reads.

“We are active members of the community and have provided many hours of volunteer labour and community service to the community and the neighbourhood we live in.”

Their list of helpful items includes blankets, winterized sleeping bags, fire extinguishers, oil lamps and kerosene oil (#1 Canadian Tire), dry firewood, bundles of hay, first aid kits, tents, tarps, camping chairs, inflatable mats or beds, water bottles and kegs, food, coffee, tea and juice, utensils, paper plates and cups, hot-water containers, hygiene supplies, zip ties, batteries, a bike rack, and a barbecue.

Donations can be dropped off with staff at St. Luke’s Table on Somerset Street West, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The residents asked that items be labelled: “Tent City.”

“Thank you in advance for your contributions. The donated supplies will be greatly appreciated,” their statement reads.

With files from Gary Dimmock. tblewett@postmedia.com