Accepting Tent City

In June 2020, the City of Toronto made efforts to move residents from two encampments in parks across the city, and to re-locate residents of the community to other housing accommodations.

When asked about the encampments during an interview with CBC, Mayor Tory shared that he does not find the situation to be satisfactory, and that he met with representatives of residents and some businesses in the area who were overwhelmed by the situation and have experienced threats and insults, witnessed drug use, and seen needles and vandalism around the area. Others, like community organizations, have provided tents to residents of these encampments, believing that a tent is better than no tent.

As Toronto’s homeless population continues to increase to due to factors like shelters reducing bedding capacity to abide by social distancing regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, long wait-times for subsidized housing, and limited rent-geared-to-income housing, homelessness seems to be more apparent than before the pandemic — especially marked by the establishment of encampments in public spaces.

To address residents’ and businesses owners’ complaints regarding tent cities — and out of concern for the safety of encampment residents — officials at the City of Toronto have been working to re-locate residents of these encampments to temporary housing at places like hotels.

This makes me consider the following: had homelessness not become so visible and begin to threaten home and businesses owners, would policymakers and politicians have taken a more active role in finding adequate housing solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness?

Living in Toronto for a chunk of my childhood, I strongly remember pedestrians and drivers navigating around individuals experiencing homelessness, possibly giving a few dollars, but driving/walking away as soon as they could — acknowledging homelessness as part of the city’s architecture.

In my opinion, the establishment of these tent cities challenged some Ontarians view of homelessness as part of “city life”. It challenged everyone to re-imagine homelessness as more than people sleeping on benches at night and collecting change during the day — but as people who live in public spaces because they don’t have other options. While seeing encampments in public spaces causes some residents to worry about thier saftey, others are forced to question why they even exist. In a way, the appearance of tent cities across Toronto has allowed the public to realize governments’ shortfalls in terms of providing adequate living arrangements for all, and has led governments to take a more active role in addressing homelessness in the city — maybe because the problem is more visible than before.