'Pay rent and starve, or live in a tent and eat': More Haligonians living in tents

Every morning, Darrin Smith does the rounds to tent sites in Halifax, checking in on the people who live here.

He’s been volunteering to help the homeless for more than two decades, and says more people are living in tents than he’s ever seen before.

“There was no tents here in Grand Parade last summer, and as you can see we have nine here now,” he says. “And that’s only been within the last two weeks.”

Smith points to one of the tents, which he says was the first one set up here.

“This blue one here, he’s one that’s actually working every day,” he explains.

Smith says those forced to live in tents have all faced different circumstances, but many, he says, simply can’t afford the city’s high rental rates.

“There's five people that I know of right now that are living in tents and they work, but they don't enough money to make rent,” he says.

“So it's either pay rent or starve or live in a tent and eat.”

Charles Oickle and his partner Trinity Keddy says they’ve been living in a tent since October.

“They need to come in with a better solution of renting, and affordable housing for people,” says Oickle.

Keddy says they moved their tent to different locations throughout the city at least a dozen times, and eventually came to Grand Parade because they feel safer here.

“If you look at all the places we've been and the environment, this place is way better,” she explains, “there’s no trash, there’s Wi-Fi.” But, she notes, there aren’t any public washrooms nearby.

“Compared to last year, we're seeing more youth, we're seeing more seniors, and that’s heartbreaking,” says Max Chauvin, Halifax’s housing and homelessness director.

The city alone has given out 60 so-called “living rough kits” since April 1. The kits consist of a tent, a waterproof tarp, a seasonal sleeping bag, and an inflatable mattress.

According to the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, 930 people are considered actively homeless in Halifax right now.

Chauvin says the five municipal locations designated for tent-living are now considered full.

“Some of them even have more people than we originally envisioned, and then you’re still seeing people in Victoria Park, Grand Parade is new,” he says. “But there’s also people in a variety of other places, in all areas of the municipality.”

He says as soon as one person finds shelter another becomes homeless, and creating new affordable housing takes time.

“And I think we are seeing more people being homeless than we can create housing spaces, so that’s the challenge,” he explains.

“How do we create them faster? And how do we create them so they are accessible financially.”

Responsibility for addressing homelessness falls under the province’s Department of Community Services.

In an email, a spokesperson for the department, Leanne Strathdee-Dowling, says creating more housing is a “critical piece of the work underway, to provide more appropriate housing solutions to individuals experiencing homelessness.”

The email cites 347 new supportive housing units created in the past year, along with $8.2 million set aside in the provincial budget to “improve homelessness services and increase supportive housing options.”

“In partnership with HRM, we have recently increased outreach support to people living in encampments to better coordinate services and connect individuals to housing support,” writes Strathdee-Dowling.

In the meantime, Smith says the province should be doing more to help people afford a place to live.

“I get frustrated, very frustrated,” he says, “I would like to see the government do something about the rent,” he says, “(if) affordable rent is $750 a month, then why is it people on social services only get $650 for rent?”

As for what keeps him going while doing his work, Smith states simply, “caring.” 

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