TDRC Reports

From sleeping bags… to tents… to houses. At last.
By Cathy Crowe, RN, TDRC

In 1998 the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee declared homelessness a national disaster. The rest is history.

We have fought and won on many fronts. The federal government is now returning to their responsibility by introducing a national housing programme. Ontario will soon be the third province to sign on to this commitment. But it’s not enough money and it will take far too long. 

That’s why we’re here. Today, we will make history but I’ll come to that in a minute.

Yesterday, over 130 people attended the Homeless Advisory Committee at City Hall. The only item on the agenda was the shelter crisis: shelters close to 100% capacity, unhealthy conditions inside including a TB outbreak. In the Out of the Cold volunteer program we learned that people are turned away nightly, that some people in line-ups give up their space so older or infirm people might get a space – a mat on the floor for one night. We learned that at some churches the lineups begin at 2 pm. No longer can we say these people are guests. They are economic refugees in need of both proper shelter and support and ultimately housing and we should provide both just as we would in a natural disaster that left people homeless.

But yesterday at City Hall we were simply begging for 200 spaces in one of the federal armouries. We were begging for 200 spaces knowing that in reality, thousands are needed.  We did not get very far. I have now sent TDRC’s 20^th request for a meeting, since our 1998 Declaration of Disaster, to Mayor Lastman to brief him on this emergency and plead for help.

We have all tried hard in desperate times to soften the experience of homelessness.

We responded with the desperate collection and distribution of sleeping bags that were not gore-tex or waterproof, that were not meant for –10 or –20 degree temperatures.  Bags that have a street life of 3 or 4 days because they become wet, soiled or are stolen.  We normalized bright red, green or blue, lumps of people sleeping on grates and sidewalks in this city.

Thousands of volunteers responded by developing and working in Out of the Cold - programmes that provide an indoor floor space for people to sleep – one night per church. We now fear the Trojan Horse of Tb in part due to the geography of this programme.

We created outreach van programs to deliver curbside health care, along with soup and sandwiches. We now expect poorly funded and I should say, primarily first nations programmes to function as salvage collectors, picking people up and driving for hours to find a single shelter space to deliver them to.

The situation is such now that we must experiment, we must be daring and we must show in any way we can that people want housing, they can go into housing, and it can be done cheaply. We must do this for 2 reasons. One as a political act to call for real gov’t money. Two, because people deserve it.

For a long time my friend and colleague Beric German had been pushing 3, what I thought to be crazy ideas. 1) We should bring in trailers for homeless people – especially families to live in 2) we should bring Rita McNeil here for a concert for homeless people and 3) more recently - we should use something called pre-fab houses to house homeless people with AIDS.  I now see he was years ahead of his time. The current TB outbreak in the shelter system is a death sentence to someone with HIV infection. The damage to families and children stuck in hotel rooms for months is tortuous. 

Trailers and small houses are all over the place if we open our eyes.  I saw them in the finger lakes region recently while on vacation, in small town Saskatchewan, even in some of our Toronto neighbourhoods.

But I still wasn’t convinced though. Especially in Toronto, we’ve been so resistant to try these models.

Then along came Tent City. When this encampment of homeless people dug in their heels and refused to budge when forced with eviction, some very historic things occurred.  Articulate and strong homeless men and women began to demand their right to housing and to insist they would rather stay on contaminated land and face the elements then go back into a shelter.

So TDRC got involved – and to see the whole story – you can buy the movie – Shelter from the Storm. To summarize though - we dropped a Durakit house – out of the sky onto Tent City.

And then we dropped two more Durakits that were duplexes. People moved in them and some young boys said they were warm and could return to work.

Then we brought in a donated trailer from a construction site and people moved into it.

Then we got help from some volunteers including Barry Burnett from Buttcom construction, and some money from unions, churches and other supporters and suddenly a world of opportunities opened up to us. Generators, fuel, portable toilets.

Then we connected with Architects Alliance and John Sewell and began to plan to relocate this community and build up the community using little houses or “pre-fabs.”

When TDRC began to get tons of calls from people like you wondering how to help or do the same thing we just had to bring you together to workshop the idea.

We have likely turned away over 100 people requesting registration here today.

After 14 years of street nursing I can tell you that anyone can be housed if the place is the right place and the supports are there.  I’m not suggesting it is easy, or neat or tidy.

Today you can help make history, help create a new trend in housing. I want you to dream today of how you can put a little house or several little houses on your church or organization’s lot.

How you can sponsor a family with kids in the shelter system in Scarborough and bring them back to their own community on a piece of property you own or buy.

Can you house and support a refugee family that is homeless?

How you can develop partnerships – those of you with land and money – those of you with skills providing support services.

How you can adapt the Habitat for Humanity model of house building to include potential residents? We’re doing it at Tent City all the time.

I hope you’ll be inspired today and imagine how we can do this.

Thank you.

Cathy Crowe

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