change/camp

I’m not quite sure when it happened, but some time over the past few months there’s been a noticeable change in the population of people around downtown. It used to be that there were a few regulars on the sidewalks around my office with the occasional new face. But now there’s fewer people I recognize, and more of them.

I’m not the only one to make this observation. Other people who work downtown have brought it up, independently, asking if I’ve noticed. City councillors have said they are getting more calls from business owners. According to bylaw services, they’ve recorded over 500 instances of people camping compared to 72 this time last year (partially because of proactive enforcement, but still).

Today I went out to talk to some of the people at a regular camp spot off the highway, and a nearby food bank. At the food bank I was told demand has been surging since August and again, lots of new faces. There were two men who wanted to talk to me. One was from Prince Rupert and had moved to Prince George to upgrade his trades. He’s renting a place for $450 a month, he told me, but relies on the foodbank. He said its very important for him to stay away from drugs, but not everyone makes the same choice. The other guy came from Dawson Creek just last week. He’s going through a divorce and wanted to start from square one, and is staying in a shelter while he figures out his next move.

Over at the camp, only one guy would talk to me, but we talked a while. He said he’s been living out of a tent he packs around in a shopping cart since August. He came to Prince George from Burns Lake a couple years ago, but only became homeless last month. He never thought it would happen to him. He said he’s looking for work but hasn’t had luck, and most of what he gets is short hours, low pay, under the table.

The city has an initiative where bylaw folks go out and clean up these camps, and make contact with the people living in them. It’s a way to keep downtown cleaned up, as well as be a point of contact. That’s from the city side. From this guy’s perspective, he has to pack all his belongings up every day and move around town before finding a place to sleep. There are shelters but they don’t work for him. He wants a place of his own.

None of this is an answer to anything. None of it is to say anyone is right or wrong. It’s just some conversations I had with three of the dozens of people that are part of our community that I think we should be thinking about, and that I know many people are– in a variety of ways.