The City gave notice that they would be evicting the members of the encampment at Berczy Park on Friday, despite already knowing (and being reminded by many lawyers and organizations) that such an eviction would be considered illegal. Ryan's Hope volunteers tented in the park, and other protesters joined them Friday morning to stand in solidarity and bear witness to the eviction that never came to be, apparently upsetting some other members of the public.
Posted by Christine Nayler, Contributing Member
Someone reached out to me after reading an article in Barrie Today yesterday.
This is my response to those upset about the halting of an ILLEGAL eviction of the Berczy Park encampment residents.
Thank you for reaching out. I did speak with Barrie Today on Friday and shared my thoughts and concerns.
The people residing in tents at Berczy Park don't want to be residing there, they want what you and I are blessed to have, housing. That is the only answer that is going to solve this government made crisis. Housing!
We are where we are at due to decades of multi-level government failure. A failure to provide accessible, safe, affordable housing. We started heading for this crisis in the 80's when governments stopped building social housing and started handing incentives to developers to build 'affordable housing'. This term in itself is part of the reason we are here. 'Affordable' housing is defined as housing that is 30% of the median family income for a region. For Simcoe County that means any housing under $30,000.00 is classified as affordable. For who? People on OW receive $390 as a single and $642 for a family shelter allowance per month. Those on ODSP it's $552 for a single and $964 for a couple with 2 children. Seniors on a pension and people making minimum wage cannot afford housing at the current rates.
I have been supporting people experiencing homelessness in our community for four years now. In that time the demographic is changing and we are seeing more people coming into homelessness every month. People who have worked their whole lives and lost their homes due to 'renoviction' or an illness/disability. We know people who are working two jobs and are living in storage lockers or in their cars because they cannot find housing. There are also people who are homeless who are living with complex mental illness and substance use issues and they are not getting the supports and services they need.
I visit the encampments all the time and I always enjoy spending time there. The way that people care for each other and watch over each other is beautiful to witness. They keep each other safe and provide community and connection.
There is a lot of hate directed at people who are homeless and they all seemed to be lumped into a stereotype of drug addicted dangerous criminals who steal and want to hurt people. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are a few in the group that may steal and disrespect people's property but they are the exception to the rule, and those people don't last long in encampments before being asked to leave. They have rules and they try to be quiet, low key, and respectful to draw the least amount of attention to themselves.
There is a difference between people being uncomfortable and people being unsafe.
I hear all the comments about people being unable to walk through Berzcy Park and the playground being unusable. From what I have experienced and witnessed this is mostly a case of the first, being uncomfortable. I have talked to many residents of the area and they say they walk through the park no problem, and they have developed rapport and relationship with the encampment residents. The residents of the encampment also inform me they have a strict rule of the playground being off limits. They are not trying to take over the park, they are trying to survive with the least destruction to others as possible. I camped out at the park the other night. It was very quiet and calm and peaceful.
I am sorry if you or other area residents have had the experiences you have spoke of, but they all may not be attributed to the residents of the encampment.
We have 137 shelter beds in Barrie and more than 500+ people experiencing homelessness. This is a government failure. Our collective anger needs to be directed at those elected to care for all citizens.
We need to be working together on proactive solutions which includes housing. Many smaller communities are so much further ahead than we are in solving this issue and caring for our most vulnerable. These solutions include tiny home villages. In the meantime the city could provide porta potties, or 24/7 access to public washrooms, elimination is a human biological function. And garbage pick up, something advocates have been advocating for years.
We are in September already and our City/County does not yet have a plan in place for either a daytime or overnight warming centre and the temporary winter shelter beds we had available the past two years will not be offered this year. This means this winter, less beds for an even larger homeless population.
Where do you think the fault lies, with those experiencing homelessness, with advocates such as myself, or with our government who has failed all of us?
Criminalizing and traumatizing already vulnerable people is not the answer. Shifting the homeless from park to park throughout our city is costly, and ILLEGAL and does nothing to solve the problem. It just pits neighbour against neighbour causing a greater divide in our community.
The Mayor has not once visited an encampment nor talked to any encampment residents. We have invited him to join us on outreach to visit one and he has yet to take us up on our offer. The only way we are going to solve this issue is through a compassion proactive approach.
FYI it costs a lot less to house people than it does to keep them in homelessness.
Neighbours caring for neighbours is how we build community!
Reverend Christine Nayler
Co-founder and Director of Ryan's Hope
Engage Barrie Organization encourages our members and guests to contribute blog posts on a variety of topics that fall under our "equitable, empowered, engaged" umbrella, in the hopes of sharing a variety of perspectives and experiences.
Please be aware that the views and opinions expressed by our blog contributors do not necessarily reflect any official position of Engage Barrie Organization.
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