COVID-19 has deepened inequality in London, pushing more people into grinding poverty

Tents have become a familiar sight in London, Ont., along its parkways, woodlots, former industrial areas, even on the banks of the Thames River just a few feet from the water's edge. 

These makeshift shanties made of ripped tarps, rope and discarded wood offer their owners some modicum of shelter against the encroaching winter, but they also offer a contrast to what, by nearly all accounts, is a proudly prosperous city, growing at a feverish pace with gleaming new apartment towers and ever-expanding suburbs where homes are quickly swept up in record-setting sales. 

The coronavirus pandemic seems to have exposed a widening economic inequality in the city, while deepening the consequences for those on the losing end, pushing more and more of them to the edge of an overburdened shelter system.

"We've never been homeless like this before," said Jamie Danis and Nicole Lalonde, both 35. The couple never thought they'd be living out of a tent in the winter. 

The lifelong friends grew up together in Timmins and hoped to start over after a three year stint living in Ottawa, only to find this city more of a challenge than they ever imagined.

Couple has been living in a tent for 7 months

"We came here with a little bit of money to relocate, get an apartment and maybe get married, but when we came here the hardships of the city were really bad and our money didn't last long."

"When we ran out of money, I thought 'Okay, at least we can go to a shelter,'" he said. "'Well you guys are going to get me help to get to the next shelter right?' And they were like 'No you have to go to the next shelter and figure it out.'" 

Except figuring it out is sometimes easier said than done. Lalonde said finding a shelter that will take in a couple has proven exceptionally difficult. She doesn't want to be separated for security reasons. 

"Being alone at night time on streets by myself, especially in London here, it's a scary thing," she said. "Admittedly, I'll walk around armed. I'll make sure I have something I can defend myself with just in case."

The couple has been sleeping rough near the site of a former factory for the last seven months. This will be their first winter without a roof over their head. Danis said, in other cities, it was never this hard to find a place. 

"Where we're from, the shelters don't say no. Where we're from, if you're at a shelter and they're full, they try to find a place for you to go."

Relief workers report more tents since pandemic began

Relief workers with 519Pursuit, an organization that delivers meals and winter clothing to the homeless who sleep rough in the city, report seeing more tents set up along parkways, abandoned lots and flood plains since the pandemic started. 

The epidemic is not only making it more difficult for relief workers to interact with the people who need their help, it's also creating more need and a larger burden for a system already stretched to its limits. 

It means more people are being left behind by the growing economic inequality that has only become wider with an epidemic that research suggests is more likely to affect those in the city's lower economic strata.

"It makes you understand that people who are homeless and people who use drugs just aren't as valued as people who are housed," said Chuck Lazenby, the executive director of the Unity Project, one of the city's homeless shelters. 

While she was quick to point out the growing gap between rich and poor, she was less inclined to say whether the system that helps the most vulnerable was worse off now than when the pandemic began. 

'[The system] is still shit. It never hasn't been'

"That's my most hated question because it's been so bad for so long," she said. "It's still shit. It never hasn't been." 

Lazenby said despite the millions spent by the province, the city and relief organizations working to help support the city's most vulnerable, there are still people sleeping rough, making them vulnerable to the elements and potential violence. 

If anything, she said, the pandemic has given poverty relief organizations more resources than ever before. Her own shelter, the Unity Project, has expanded from 37 beds at a shelter to 45 rooms at a hotel, giving Unity Project more flexibility in terms of taking couples, families and even pets. 

Donations have also increased during the pandemic, in the form of clothing and food.

"London has really pushed itself in this time but we really never have enough resources," she said, noting her staff is struggling under the burden and unable to even take volunteers. 

Still, the response to the pandemic from government officials and the public gives her hope that homelessness, like the coronavirus, might one day be solved. 

"Homelessness and poverty is a health crisis and if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that when we know something needs to be done we do it." 

"I want to see those same tactics applied to homelessness and the opioid crisis."