Tent cities. Sobering symbols of reality pitched over shaky ground. Tent cities often harbor social contradictions. They are beautiful and ugly, dangerous and safe havens. They represent both unity and societal isolation for homeless people living unsheltered.
Behind each wavering tent lies at least one formidable truth. These tents hold truths we wish not face. The beauty lies in the fact that they put these truths in plain sight. The ugliness exists in the fact that many still choose not to see them.
A lawyer representing homeless Canadians in Vancouver stated “tent cities are not the ultimate solution to a housing crisis but play an extremely important role.” That statement rings true for the many Canadian tent city occupants who simply seek shelter from our national economic decline. As homelessness grows, we, as a nation, are becoming increasingly aware of why tent cities exist.
But does anyone know the truth about how tent cities are born? How do they develop in the first place? Read on to learn more about exactly how tent cities come to be, as we delve head-first into a newly forming tent city in Peterborough and watch the heartbreaking process unfold.
Step 1: The Warming Room Loses the Battle of Trying to Fight Poverty with Love
Peterborough, and many places like it, struggles with homelessness. In response to the needs of its people, members and leaders of the Murray Street Baptist Church began a campaign designed to “fight poverty with love”. As part of that conjoined effort, Murray Street became a gathering place for homeless people to seek shelter from the cold.
Throughout a five-year time-frame, the church’s basement played host to approximately 40 people each and every night. Despite cramped quarters, a loving atmosphere promoting warm vibes and positive attitudes became known as the Warming Room.
Founders of the Warming Room admit this was never meant to be a permanent fix for homeless people in the area, suggesting that they deserve a larger dwelling space with necessary hygiene facilities, like showers, at their disposal. Church representative Peters claims the Warming Room was, at best, “a Band-Aid solution” to a bigger problem.
Once the costs of leasing, plumbing, and maintenance became too much for the church and staff to take on, the Band-Aid solution was swiftly removed and the gaping wound of homelessness in Peterborough was publicly exposed.
Step 2: Evacuation
At the close of their five-year lease agreement, Warming Room staff and church leaders had no choice. They had to turn the 40 or so occupants residing in their basement away. With only 20 open beds available at nearby shelters, and with shelter codes and conditions hindering some displaced people from entering, dozens of people were left completely stranded.
Step 3: Building Makeshift Shelter
As a direct result of said displacement, dozens of former Warming Room occupants set up tents in Victoria Park. These makeshift shelters are a testament to a system failure. They show the pain of poverty that many passersby do not wish to see. So, naturally, the city is making strides to tear the new tent city down and remove all those dwelling inside.
Step 4: This Tent City Grows Even as Officials Threaten Inhabitants with More Displacement
One of the most dehumanizing aspects of homelessness is the constant relocation, the ever-shifting geographic change.
Homeless people are systematically shuffled from city to city, corner to corner, as if they are not human beings. Instead, they are treated as baggage to be handed off in a vicious political game of hot potato.
Now that a tent city has risen out of Peterborough, there is already an orchestrated effort to remove it. By the end of the first week, county officials claimed tent dwellers would be forced to evacuate. If not, action would be taken against them.
Yet even in the wake of such threats, more tents were pitched across the lawns. By week four, a grand total of 37 tents sprawled across the property. If you’re wondering how the county plans to evacuate the camp, here is a shocking video of county hired construction workers cutting down trees right over the tents.
This move is likely the first in what will become a series of attacks on twice displaced homeless people. One city official has already cited heinous anti-camping laws as a go-to for his campaign to rid the city of the encampment. Other, more compassionate officials want to usher tent-dwellers into temporary beds positioned in the public library. Amid this tug-of-war are protesters rallying for the rights of encampment dwellers to remain in the park.
It’s important to note the people residing inside the tents don’t really want any of the above.
They want what everyone else wants: to live in houses. Not tents or libraries, not shelters or church basements, but houses, like every member of humanity deserves.
When questioned about their dire circumstances, many tent-dwellers did not cite the closure of the Warming Room as the main cause of their new displacement. Most of them said that their problem was simply the lack of affordable housing.
Affordable, Safe Housing is the Only Real Solution
While it is a travesty to see a local church lose its inner-war on poverty, the bigger issue isn’t loss of shelter but lack of housing.
“Finding another location for the Warming Room is not a solution to homelessness,” proclaimed the head director of the Warming Room, Christian Harvey.
Harvey couldn’t have said it better. Canada is in the middle of a fight for housing for all. Stand with your fellow citizens and advocate for the construction of safe, affordable homes. If officials sincerely want to get rid of tent cities, they must strive to get rid of homelessness.
