In the LML, you see a lot of these types of camps popping up.
https://www.coastreporter.net/local-...echelt-6756061
Quote:
Martin Schmidt is one of the five people (and one dog) residing in the structure he built, which he calls a “tarp mansion.” Inside the blue tarp, there is room for up to eight people to have their own private space. A 350-pound wood stove is used for heat instead of an open fire. Schmidt said they only use wood — never garbage — and they try to keep the area clean.
Schmidt came to the Coast to be close to family after his wife died of cancer, though the couple had been planning to move to Sechelt together. He works as a roofer.
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Not the same thing as the situation in the DTES, but it's a slippery slope for a lot of people in his situation and this is how it starts for a lot of people. The man who built this structure is employed as a roofer.
I work for a provincial agency that responds to environmental emergencies and have visited many camps like this, often related to sewage, fuel, and other hazardous materials releases. I've been to some that are filled with addicts, and others that are relatively high functioning people.
Here is another example:
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/large-homeless...ears-1.6355069
Quote:
On the edge of a waterway, next to a regional park, is an encampment known as “Island 22”. It’s a long-standing makeshift trailer park in Chilliwack that’s home to about 70 people, including 78-year-old Danny Holmes.
“All I get is old age pension and I can save a big chunk of that by being here,” said the career-musician, who has been without permanent housing for about five years and said living on Vancouver’s east end burned him out.
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But homeless people living at “Island 22”, said one of the problems they face is people from outside the camp dumping garbage there as well as old RV’s.
“People…drop their crap off,” said Ben Siemens, 60, who moved to the camp in February.
“Can’t find a place to rent in town,” he explained.
“I looked for a long time, looked for four years trying to find a place, so I have no choice,” Siemens said.
He said he is a former trucker who later worked in a bike shop until it shut down.
“Nobody wants to hire you because you’re getting too old, right?” he said.
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Linda Cobetto, 51, is one of the few women in the camp. She said she worked until just recently when the commute became too much.
“I was working as a flagger and I did that for about six months and I can’t handle it anymore,” she said.
“Some days I wish I was back in a house so I can get up and shower and do laundry, but to me, it’s like my Saturday thing. I get up and do laundry at a laundry mat…” she said, adding that she has friends who let her come over to shower.
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The DTES gets all the attention, but most of the homeless in the region do not live there and represent a larger segment of society than often gets recognized.