St. John's tent city isn't going anywhere. In fact, it's getting bigger
More than 20 residents currently living in encampment, says representative
Residents of the tent city in St. John's say the homelessness encampment is expanding — and that it isn't going away heading into the summer months.
The encampment sprung up at Colonial Building last fall, and persisted throughout the winter months. Laurel Huget, a representative of Tent City for Change — a group of volunteers supporting people living in the encampment — said the encampment had between four and eight stable tenants during the winter, but is now up to around 25 residents.
"As hard as it is to live at tent city, it's harder to live in many of the shelter options available," Huget told CBC News Monday.
"When someone chooses to live in tent city, it's because they recognize that that is the best possible option for them."
Encampment resident Jeff Gellner came to the province from Ontario and has lived in Bannerman Park for about 2 ½ months. He wishes the government would step up to help people living in tents.
"Just get us out of here. So I can wake up, I can get a job, so I'm not worried about people coming and bashing tents in. Yelling, honking horns, dragging people out of tents. And trying to keep warm and stay fed," Gellner said.
"Why can't [government] not just put us somewhere that we can get better? This is worse than jail times ten."
The province has tried to fill short-term gaps through shelters and accommodations by renting a St. John's hotel on a three-year lease, but Gellner said people are getting kicked out of shelters and other options have proven dangerous to him.
Propane fire partially destroys tent
The encampment lasted throughout the winter, with Huget saying extensive efforts were made to keep people warm in their tents.
That involved the use of propane, which caused a fire at the encampment over the weekend.
Greg Mcain lost half of his tent — and an estimated $1,200 of possessions, according to Huget. Mcain wasn't in the tent at the time, and no one was injured.
"It is what it is. Fire takes all. I might just put a tarp over it and do what I can to keep the elements out and the rain out," he said.
The St. John's Regional Fire Department told CBC News crews were on scene at Mcain's tent after 1 a.m. on Monday morning and removed a damaged propane tank and propane burner from the tent.
Mcain told CBC he did leave the tent unattended, but isn't sure how the fire started.
But despite only having half a tent, he doesn't see a better option for himself than to stay in the encampment. He's seen more people come in as well, and expects the number of residents to keep growing.
"There's always going to be people coming here," he said. "Because they knows that we're good people here and we'll take care of them and make sure that they gets the supports that they need."
Huget said Tent City for Change is preparing for the encampment to remain in Bannerman Park this summer, and will need to make preparations for things like cooling stations.
They've also asked the province to turn the Colonial Building's electricity — which Huget says have been off for months — back on to no success.
"When we chalk it up at its baseline, government, both municipal and provincial, have failed to meet the needs of people at Tent City," Huget said.
"This is still 100 per cent a protest. And sometimes it's a really obvious, in your face protest…. The long-term ideal is that there is adequate, supportive housing."
In a statement to CBC News, Department of Housing spokesperson Marc Budgell said the province remains committed to supporting residents of the encampment and encouraged residents to connect with housing support staff assigned to them.
The statement also reiterated the province has safer housing options available that residents are regularly informed of, and that Bannerman Park doesn't have the necessary supports for people to be living there.
"This has to be a balance of individual complex needs and public health and safety," Premier Andrew Furey said at a news conference Tuesday when asked about the encampment.
"We have taken extraordinary measures in opening up the hotel, for example … there's options in the housing continuum for these people right now."
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With files from Jessica Singer and Jeremy Eaton
