City breaks up ‘hole in the fence’
Homeless people had been camping near Rehill parking lot downtown
Homeless and marginalized people are upset over police and city workers kicking them out of one of their last encampments in the city.
The hole in the fence, as it is called by the people who frequent the spot, has been a meeting place for homeless, marginalized and precariously housed people.
The hole in the fence is located at the southeast corner of the Rehill parking lot at the train tracks near the former train station on George Street downtown.
The people who use the spot in the middle of the city were removed Friday by police and city workers, who oversaw the removal of the people and their belongings.
Kym Pickens, a person experiencing homelessness, was using the location to camp at because it was close to downtown and the services there.
She said she would rather sleep outside in her tent than stay in the shelter system or rooming houses in the city that are generally bug, rat and druginfested.
“I literally have to take what I can carry and find another place to camp,” she said.
“I would rather stay outside in my tent. I do have two rooms I could stay in, in different places, but I refuse to stay in those places because they are rat, bedbug, cockroach, drug and prostitute-infested.”
Brendan Wedley, the city’s communication services manager, said that tenting is considered prohibited unless in a designated area that permits it.
“Tenting in public parks and open spaces is prohibited, except where specifically designated as a permitted activity,” Wedley said.
“When someone is found to be tenting in a public park or open space, if they are homeless, they are provided information to try to connect them with available services, including housing and shelter support.”
Joe Hermer, an associate professor of sociology at University of Toronto Scarborough campus, who is leading a study on police interactions with homeless people, said once encampments are established, the city should refrain from moving them because it is dangerous for the people.
“As a rule, encampments, once they are established, they should not be moved by the city, for example, and they should
not be subject to police action by police officers, bylaw officers,” Hermer said.
“One of our recommendations is there should be a moratorium put on enforcement of these types of bylaws, moving homeless populations is dangerous and does not make any sense.”
Dan Hennessey, an advocate for the homeless, said bylaw enforcement showed up the day before and left notices for people to vacate the site.
“Enforcement officers came down yesterday saying anyone who is camping here has to leave and he taped a notice to their tent,” Hennessey said.
During the summer, about seven people used the hole in the fence site as a place to sleep, Pickens said.
“I know several people that would sleep under the trees, too, and are not far from here, under the bridge, that come back to the hole first thing in the morning. They just sleep elsewhere because they want privacy,” Pickens said. She said they don’t have anywhere else to go that would be out of the way and where they wouldn’t be a nuisance to others.
“We’ve got nowhere else to go and the cops kick us out of everywhere, so we congregate down here,” Pickens said.
“We were told to come here so we can be safe and not be a nuisance to the general public.”
Hennessey said there have been no big issues within the population of people who use the hole in the fence as a gathering place. “There haven’t been any serious incidents here this year,” he said. “There is a lot of self-policing that goes on here, if somebody causes a problem they are asked to leave. Sometimes it takes a little persuasion to get them to leave, but they leave.”
The only issue, he said, he has is it seems like the police are targeting the homeless and marginalized people in the city without the engagement that was promised during the tent city issue last year.