IN SEARCH OF A HOME
Housing worker Joshua Vannoppen helps homeless people move out of a makeshift encampment in Gil-O-Julien Park on Thursday. Some of the residents tell Bruce Deachman the prospect of moving to a shelter is `scarier' than living outside.
Following complaints by neighbours of increased break-and-enters and thefts, the city on Thursday moved in to dismantle a homeless encampment, or “tent city,” in Overbrook.
Ottawa Police Service confirmed that officers were called in to GilO-Julien Park, near the Vanier Parkway and Donald Street, shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday to support Ottawa bylaw's eviction of the group of people who have been living in tents there since early spring.
The encampment was one of the largest of about 10 such sites in Ottawa.
The city said it became aware of the encampment in late July. Around five to 15 people attended the site, while eight people were known to frequent it regularly.
Among those told to leave Thursday was a 28-year-old woman who identified herself only as Raquel. The encampment was home to about 18 people, who she says were told by bylaw officials almost two weeks ago that they'd have to leave.
“This happens a lot,” she said. “If we're alone in sleeping bags, like on Rideau Street, we're allowed to live, but not if we're in groups like this.
“This is the song that never ends. We pick up our belongings and move into a more discreet area until they show up again. And if we don't move, we're fined, which is just criminalizing the poor. Fining us for not having housing seems nonsensical.”
Being with others, Raquel added, increases individuals' standard of living by improving their safety and mental health.
“We watch out for each other. By busting up groups of people, people are more susceptible to dying from overdoses from using when they're alone.”
Raquel said she's coping with an alcohol use disorder.
COVID -19, meanwhile, has exacerbated the problem of homelessness and addiction, with needed services, whether they're official ones or simply things such as the availability of publicly accessible warmth or washrooms, becoming scarcer and stigmatization rising.
Raquel said that the Gil-O-Julien group she was a part of was told to seek accommodation in area shelters, but noted that there are only two in Ottawa for women — the Shepherds of Good Hope and Cornerstone Housing for Women — and that she's experienced safety issues at both, which makes her reluctant to return.
Instead, she said, the group will likely split into smaller groups and look for places to stay in the downtown core.
Addressing complaints from homeowners, Raquel points to a broad-brush “villainization of the poor.”
“I can only speak for myself, but not everyone who is an addict is a thief.”
Mathieu Fleury, councillor for Rideau-Vanier and chair of Ottawa Community Housing, said that Thursday's eviction, as well as other existing encampments in the city, are just the visible face of a larger housing crisis in Ottawa.
The city has about 12,000 people on the waiting list for affordable housing, about 2,000 of which are living in shelters or in temporary rooms in motels and hotels. “It's unfortunate all around,” Fleury said. “All governments are complicit here, in the sense that there's no housing vacancies.”
Fleury added that the city has been disjointed in its response to issues of housing, addiction and homelessness.
According to Paul Lavigne, the city's program manager of homelessness programs and residential services, the city, in collaboration with the Salvation Army, had been working for the past seven weeks to develop a plan to secure safe, affordable and permanent housing. As of Thursday, one resident had found safe housing, while two others were working with case managers, Lavigne said.
Others, however, expressed their intention not to participate, and stay in the park.
We watch out for each other. By busting up groups of people, people are more susceptible to dying from overdoses from using when they're alone.
Raquel, left