Many people believe homelessness is a big-city issue, reserved for sprawling urban centres like Vancouver or Toronto, but there are hundreds of people living on the streets of Halifax.
Jeff Reid is among them. The 32-year-old has been homeless on and off since he was 16.
“It was just a big hassle living at home,” says Reid. “And it was just a safer bet for everybody that I not be living there.”
Reid now spends his days and nights on the streets of Halifax, hoping his unique sign will prompt a reaction from passersby.
It reads: “Will accept verbal abuse for change. Donations also accepted.”
“I got a lot of people that were just coming by and just being like ‘ah, get a job ya slob. You’re a bum. You’ll never make anything of yourself.’ And I thought, you know what? There’s got to be a way to cash in on this.”
Sometimes it works. Often it doesn’t. But Reid says what hurts the most is people’s unwillingness to make eye contact.
“It doesn’t make you feel very secure,” he says.
Jean Clement and Florence May-Gaudet are also familiar with the harsh realities of poverty and homelessness, but things are looking up since they got an apartment together three months ago.
“I was up all night. I was tired,” says Clement.
For three years May-Gaudet crouched anywhere she could, including cemeteries.
“I was on the street and I had nowhere to go,” she says. “I lost my mother, I lost my father.”
In addition to the hunger and harsh living conditions, May-Gaudet says she suffered verbal abuse from strangers.
“They call me names. They call me stupid and retarded and everything.”
And camping out in public is not only dangerous; it can get a person in trouble.
One night, May-Gaudet says a police officer grabbed her arm and told her to get off the street.
“He said no, you can’t sleep there Flo. I said, where else am I going to sleep? I tried to commit suicide myself and everything.”
Halifax Regional Police Const. Shawn Currie, the community constable for the downtown area, admits his relationship with the homeless could be better.
“It’s not as good as I’d like it to be,” says Currie. “Most people don’t want to approach the police, and I understand that.”
He says being homeless isn’t illegal, but some of the behaviour that comes with it is, such as sleeping in a bus shelter or city park.
Reid admits he has stolen to keep from going hungry.
“I literally became so hungry one night. I literally had no choice but to walk into a grocery store, stick a thing of bread and spam in my coat and walk out,” he says.
Despite the fact that many continue to seek refuge on park benches, those who live on the streets say there is still a perception that homelessness isn’t an issue in Halifax.
“Some people are oblivious,” says Tom Keoughan. “Even if you show them the facts, they still won’t recognize it. It’s too scary for them.”
Michelle Porter moved to Halifax three-and-a-half years ago to set up Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, an organization that aims to rescue people from poverty and addiction through emergency help such as food, clothing and shelter.
She says she quickly discovered Halifax is a city of hidden homeless.
“You had to dig a little deeper to find out, wow, that beautiful historic building actually has some little secrets inside that aren’t so pretty,” says Porter.
A recent report on the state of homelessness revealed 235,000 individual Canadians will experience homelessness in a year, while 35,000 are homeless on any given night.
Shelter Nova Scotia estimates there are 2,000 different people using shelters in Halifax alone. However, many more are unwilling to use them. Shelter Nova Scotia doesn't charge for its services, but some shelters do.
“They took me in for one night then the next day they said I had to pay over $10, which I didn’t have,” says Clement.
Then there’s the issue of employment. Reid says he’s often faced with the question as to why he won’t get a job, but Porter says it’s not that simple for people like him.
“People aren’t homeless because they don’t have a job. They don’t have a job because they’re homeless,” she says.
Some struggle to obtain the proper identification, while others can’t find work because they have criminal records.
As for Reid, he collects what change he can throughout the day, and often spends his nights camped out under an overpass. He tries to focus on each day as it comes and tries not to think too much about tomorrow.
“I mean, I always wish for more out of life than this, but at the same time, you’ve got to work with what you’re given, right?”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell
