With the summer season only a couple of months away, residents of tent encampments throughout the city have seen an increase in population.
William Thompson has been a resident of the Geary Street encampment for a month but has been sleeping rough for the past year.
“In the past week, we’ve had at least three, maybe four people ask if they can come and stay,” Thompson said.
With the help of Thompson, other residents and donated materials, the Geary Street encampment has undergone significant cosmetic changes. He said their goal is to make the site look more presentable to the public, while fostering a greater sense of community.
“It’s hard to get out of bed when you live in chaos,” said Thompson. “We’ve taken it upon ourselves, to ask the town to bring in new garbage cans, some mulch – they’ve donated some wheelbarrows, some shovels some rakes. We will do the work if they’re willing to meet us halfway and bring us some materials.”
If members of the community want to pitch in or volunteer their time, Thompson said they’d be happy for the help.
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“There’s probably going to be another 10 to 12 tents pitched within the next two to three weeks,” Thompson said.
According to long-time advocate for the unhoused, Matthew Grant, tent encampments are a terrible place to be, but he reckons they aren’t going away any time soon.
A staircase has even been installed at the designated site along Barrington St., just down from the Macdonald bridge – in anticipation of the influx.
Something the Halifax Regional Municipality said was installed this week to ensure safe access.
But Grant feels this sends a bad message…
“I think the reason they’ve done that is that’s going to be your entry point for individuals sleeping rough in that encampment,”
Grant said. “You are going to have people tucked away and you won’t e
ven know they’re there.”
And across the bridge at the Green Rd. encampment, residents have also begun to see more tents pitched.
Shauna Allison moved to Green Rd. within the last week. She said residents would benefit from more resources that help with addiction recovery and finding jobs.
“I think the only way to break the cycle is to give people something to do,” Allison said.
She said this would foster long-term solutions to the housing crisis, so that people don’t end up back on the streets.
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