On February 7, five homeless encampments in the Halifax Regional Municipality were served with eviction notices that are set to take effect on February 26.
Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably asking yourself, “Eviction notice? How can you evict someone from a tent in a public place?” Well, Halifax Council has found a way.
In the bitter cold of winter, city officials went to work taping eviction notices to tents. With the Juno Awards coming to town soon, it makes sense that the province and municipality want the streets in tip-top shape. Homeless people? In downtown Halifax? That won’t do!
But they provided better, safer alternatives, right? Think again.
If someone would rather sleep in a tent in sub-zero temperatures in the middle of winter than go to a shelter, there must be a reason. Both the province and municipality claim that they have provided options for people in the encampments—but as PADS Network stated, an eviction is not a choice nor an option, it is an enforcement.
Evictions driven by business
Cue the group “Friends of Downtown Halifax,” a group claiming they advocate for “the best interests of the downtown community, including residents, workers, visitors and businesses” who in reality are pushing business profits over and above the health and safety of unhoused community members.
The people living in the encampments are, in fact, downtown residents themselves. They are our neighbours, not our enemies. Despite the group claiming to care for residents and businesses, there is of course no consideration of the best interests of the residents of downtown who are homeless.
The group is trivializing the housing crisis, claiming that the livelihoods of business owners are “jeopardized by individuals who want to live in a tent.” Right. Because being renovicted and forced to live in a tent is like a fun camp-out for them?
The Friends of Downtown Halifax have made it abundantly clear from their statements on social media that they care about one thing—profit. They care about protecting business owners, putting profit above people.
New shelter more like a prison
While a new shelter option has been opened at the Halifax Forum, it is seen by many unhoused people as more of a prison than a shelter. That is why so many are choosing to stay where they are. The Halifax Forum shelter was created without any input from the community it is intended to help. Nothing should be planned or put into motion for a marginalized group without first actually asking what it is that they want and need. By ordering them to leave the encampments without giving them any choice or input, Halifax Council is taking away their agency and infantilizing them.
Being homeless should not be criminalized. These people are doing what they can to survive, and the last thing they need are NIMBY groups to kick them while they are down. These recent developments in the homelessness crisis show that the Houston government, Halifax Council, and the so-called Friends of Downtown Halifax don’t actually care about these people—they care about profits.
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