OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). OrilliaMatters received the following letter about the homeless and how they will find shelter with winter on the doorstep.
Now that it’s already been Thanksgiving, I’m struck with the urgency again around housing and emergency shelter with winter coming.
It will be two years since this city council has been in power, halfway through their term, and although there have been strides; the (modular housing for homeless youth on West Street), community outreach through Lighthouse, talk about a community hub ... a lot of it is still talk.
Things move quickly though when it comes to a certain population, namely cars and boats. Parking lots get leased, land graded, concrete poured, parking machines installed, hydro hooked up, shuttle buses planned and budgeted for; even porta-potties and garbage pick-up for the humans that use the vehicles.
I have long thought that we treat cars better than humans; cars get priority in planning, get to live in garages and can usually find/rent a spot to park/exist 24/7.
The reason I say this is that in Orillia, there is nowhere for people to exist, legally, for about a third of the day.
There is no sleeping or remaining stationary overnight on private land, on city-owned or leased land; the crime then would be trespassing. Nor are you permitted to erect a structure overhead to shelter yourself from the rain, snow, sun. Sleeping out in the open, on a public sidewalk is also illegal; you’d need to be moving along at least every 15-20 minutes otherwise you would be ticketed/charged with loitering.
I had been asking about how good cars and boaters have it in Orillia, especially around the time when city council stated they wanted input about budgets. I pointed out that boaters get a porta-toilet and garbage pick-up at Collins Boat launch but when the same was asked for humans living in encampments, it’s a no.
I have been also asking legislative services about the cost to lease parking lot #15, near the waterfront and near loads of free parking, and the cost to get it ready because it needed some grading, signage, hydro hook-up (solar panels for lighting), pathways built, etc. but got no for an answer.
If I wanted to know it would cost me; it would mean an official Freedom of Information request form and a minimum of $5 but possibly more for the time it would take an already paid civil servant to look it up.
I also asked how much it costs to lease parking Lot #6, a lot to the south of City Centre parking lot. It’s usually empty and even with students from Lakehead, it’s never full. The answer again was no, I can’t know how much of the city budget goes to this without it also costing me money. It has lighting and parking machines, fencing and grading.
Without paying for an answer, my guess is that the answer for the cost for those two parking is too much, especially since the first parking lot wants $3 an hour and is steps away from free waterfront parking.
So without knowing the amount these two lots cost us, here is my modest proposal; there is room on these properties for a couple of supervised, inexpensive encampments since some services are lined up already.
Those living in their cars could move there and, with fire department approval, connect to hydro, a plug-in to an oil-filled radiator, battery chargers and even a communal tent for cooking.
If the city really wants to splurge on something they think is essential for boaters and construction workers; a porta-toilet or composting toilet could be added. Tiny homes would take more effort, but with a call to the community for supplies and labour it would be quick work to make something that is safe and decent.
Either of these sites would be close to toilets and showers at the Lighthouse or the Orillia Recreation Centre or city hall because that is what is expected of the homeless now anyway; to find their way to limited services during the day and to essentially disappear overnight.
Out of sight, out of mind should never have been acceptable; it puts people at the mercy of misuse and abuse of power. Like the removal of people from city property behind Giant Tiger in June of 2023. There was and still is a piece of city property that is ideal for living rough that people in the area could have been moved or directed to if they weren’t already on it. It also has garbage pick-up off of Cedar Island Road for the Millenium Trail and is close to the Lighthouse.
People living there since have also been checked in on by bylaw and police and Lighthouse Community Outreach and left to be lawbreakers. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving or National Truth and Reconciliation Day, let’s do something tangible and meaningful.
Allowing people to exist legally on some land would most assuredly be higher up on the list of 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission than a paid day off.
It is far more expensive to jail someone for failure to pay their tickets and fines than it would be to let them take up some space already paid for and reserved for cars. People could even pay part of their benefits towards a tiny home or all of the cost of the hydro for car living.
And if the thought crosses anyone’s mind that it's impossible, remember that it was possible for a few winter weeks in Ottawa, supervised by both police and bylaw, at a huge financial cost.
Please sign my petition urging the city to act.
Ellen Wolper
Orillia
