Homeless encampment in P.E.I. evicted after numerous warnings from Charlottetown fire inspector
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Time has run out for the controversial tent encampment in Charlottetown.
Charlottetown’s fireplace inspector had initially given discover to residents on the Charlottetown Occasion Grounds on Jan. 20, saying all private belongings needed to be passed by midday on Jan. 23. That was delayed due to climate, however work started the morning of Jan. 25.
Mark, who’s staying on the province’s new Park Road in a single day shelter, says he had been sleeping on the occasion grounds throughout the fall. He final stayed there in a single day a couple of week in the past.
It was chilly, he mentioned, noting the native fireplace division and police had confiscated propane tanks shortly earlier than then.
“No warmth, in any way.”
Nonetheless, there was a way of neighborhood on the occasion grounds, and it’s heartbreaking to see it destroyed, mentioned Mark, who visited the positioning simply earlier than the tear-down began.
“I imply, quite a lot of guys didn’t wish to go over to the trailers, and so they had been pressured into it. Like they don’t – they go in there, and so they keep of their rooms,” he advised SaltWire Community in an interview outdoors of the Neighborhood Outreach Centre, situated a number of blocks from the encampment website
He, too, felt coerced into signing up for the Park Road shelter, he mentioned.
“It was not a selection, dwelling by selection. I used to be just about pressured into it. That’s the one choice I had.”
Mark hasn’t had steady housing since summer season of 2021 and has slept in a tent on and off since then. However what he wants will not be difficult, he mentioned.
“Simply (to) get appropriate housing. I imply like, there’s locations round which are vacant. Hire them. And I imply, social companies would assist out, I’m positive.”
Eviction
When SaltWire Community obtained to the occasion grounds on the morning of Jan. 25, Charlottetown Police had been on website. Half a dozen staff and a small tractor had been eradicating objects from the bottom and loading them into a big dumpster.
A big wheel loader — a bulldozer on wheels — confirmed up round midday, choosing up particles to clear the bottom.
Whereas the Division of Social Growth and Housing advised SaltWire on Jan. 24 that nobody remains to be staying in a single day on the encampment, one individual on the website on Jan. 25 mentioned they had been dwelling there.
They had been busy packing containers and couldn’t give an interview, they mentioned.
Because the Division of Social Growth and Housing opened the shelter on Park Road in December, it has been urging unhoused Islanders to go there.
Jan. 25 was the primary official eviction from the grounds, however fireplace officers had been retaining a daily watch after confiscating propane tanks, handmade heaters and different objects they deemed fireplace hazards on a number of events.
Nonetheless, folks continued to remain on the tent grounds.
Police on the website wouldn’t remark however advised SaltWire Community to contact the division for data. A name was made to Charlottetown Police Providers the afternoon of Jan. 25, however no response was obtained by deadline.
