What a new fence under the Adelaide overpass says about housing in London

The City of London says it plans to install a fence at the Adelaide Street overpass to prevent people from living and building shanties beneath the structure. 

In the last few years, flimsy cardboard structures have been spotted under the Adelaide Street bridge, erected by people to create some modicum of shelter against the harsh elements. 

The city said people sleeping there need to go, not only because they've caused damage to some of the stonework beneath the bridge, but for their own safety. 

"It's a pretty steep slope," said Craig Cooper, the city's manager of homeless prevention. "Those cement pads. as they get slippery and wet, they're pretty dangerous." 

City hall working with displaced people

Officials have been working to find temporary shelter and access to services for the people who have been displaced, Cooper said.  

"We've been working with individuals camping under there for a couple months," he said, noting the city only decided to remove the people camped under the bridge when inspectors noticed the damage a few weeks ago. 

While the city is trying its best to help people access services and find shelter, there seems to be little officials can do to stem the tide of people who end up on city streets, Cooper said. 

The fence will be installed sometime next week, according to city hall spokeswoman Monika Guzy. In the meantime, city inspectors will be monitoring the site to stop people from setting up camp.

'The housing crisis is absolutely out of control'

Tents, shanties and people sleeping on the street have become a familiar sight in London over the past few years, as the ranks of the city's homeless seem to be growing. This is driven in large part by high rents, the city's festering drug problems and years of government austerity when it comes to social housing. 

"People literally can't afford to live in this city," said Abe Oudshoorn, chair of the London Homeless Coalition, an agency that helps coordinate the city's response to so many people sleeping in the rough. 

Oudshoorn said he agrees with city officials' stance that the overpass isn't a good places to sleep. The fact city hall needs to erect a barrier to physically keep people out of a place that was never meant for human habitation speaks volumes about homelessness in London, he said. 

"What this really says is that the housing crisis is absolutely out of control," he said. "It's become so unaffordable." 

"It shows we're way behind on the right responses, which is providing people with affordable housing," said Oudshoom. 

'We need to do something now'

Oudshoorn said the evidence is visible in the city's emergency shelters, teeming with people who either can't afford, or aren't capable of, putting a roof over their head. 

"Our shelters are often at capacity and some of them are overcapacity," he said. "It's not the solution we want for people anyway." 

Oudshoorn said the preferred solution is to find people housing, but years of austerity from the federal and provincial governments have left cities like London to fend for themselves. 

"We've got to get serious. We need to build rent geared to income. It's a crisis, so we need to be responding like it's a crisis. We need to do something now," he said.