City crews clearing a New Toronto encampment of the homeless some who have been there for more than a year. Photos by Suzie Basheir.
Some New Toronto and area residents are breathing a sigh of relief.
A homeless encampment that had bunkered down in the parking lot of LAMP Community Health Centre has been moved indoors by City crews as the temperature dips.
This was going to be the second winter in the Fifth Street facility for some of the encampment, who had been on a waiting list for shelter beds to open up.
City crews on November 15 with trucks and equipment moved into the encampment and removed mountains of items as old tents, cooking and other equipment and garbage.
It took crews more than an hour to fill a truck with all the possessions of the encampment.
It took City staff several hours to pack the items in a truck and it was driven away. Some of the items will be returned to the owners.
There was a smell in the air as the piles of garbage were removed from the former encampment, which has racked up dozens of complaints from residents in regards to rats and unsanitary conditions.
A City official said beds were found for five people living in tents and another in a car.
The official said members of the encampment agreed to being moved to shelter beds in the area.
Some of the encampment before they were provided with shelter beds. This would have been the second winter outdoors for some of them.
At one time there were as many as 12 homeless people, including a pregnant woman, living in the encampment.
Those being moved indoors included one man with bone cancer, another with one lung, one whose wife had recently died and another who had lost his job and couldn’t afford rent.
Mayor Olivia Chow has said there are 1,200 people in City shelters, and about 200 others are turned away nightly due to a lack of beds.
Chow said the City is raising funds for new shelters but that can take years.
Community social workers said local out-of-the-cold overnight programs have been chopped and people are sleeping in parks, bus stops and staircases.
Currently there are about 12 homeless sleeping in area parks including Col. Samuel Smith, Marie Curtis and Coronation park.