Support for Tenters: Committee to End Homelessness Applauds Decision in Latest Anti-Camping Case

Committee to End Homelessness Applauds Decision is Latest Anti-Camping Case

Group plans creation of user-run encampments of temporary emergency abodes

Victoria, January 29, 2009 - The Committee to End Homelessness, a grassroots advocacy group in Victoria, BC, applauds yesterday's court ruling in the City of Victoria's case against homeless campers.

The Committee to End Homelessness believes that the only viable solution to homelessness is housing (and associated supports), but recognizes that it will take several years to provide real housing for most people on the street. Meanwhile, there remains a significant number of people who are vulnerable to the increased health and safety risks associated with living outside.

"Homeless people have – for now – the right to erect temporary shelter on city-owned land," says Chris Johnson, a member of the Committee to End Homelessness. "If they choose to assert this right, we want them to know that a large group of people are ready and willing to support them in a variety of ways."

The ruling comes at a time when the Temporary Autonomous Shelter Committee (TASC), a newly-formed collective of housed and unhoused individuals closely allied to the Committee to End Homelessness, is actively researching the viability and logistics of creating a community of temporary emergency shelters in Victoria.

TASC is launching a survey of homeless and unstably housed people to determine the demand for temporary shelter encampments and collect input into plans to create these encampments. Following this survey will be a consultation with the wider community, to address their fears regarding autonomous emergency shelter.

Research has proven that a user-run encampment, with a firm code of conduct and well- organized support, can be a viable short-term alternative to the current shelter system. A variety of sanctioned 'tent cities' across North America provide solid evidence that issues of safety, sanitation and unsightliness can be mitigated with proper planning and support.

The Committee to End Homelessness is supporting TASC to follow a transparent, collective process, and is aware that TASC is not ready at this point to undertake a temporary shelter project of it's own.

However, the Committee to End Homelessness supports the right of homeless individuals to erect and maintain temporary shelter, and are willing, along with members of TASC, to offer our support in the form of logistics and legal advice to those wishing to assert this right.

Media contact: Chris Johnson forestaction@yahoo.ca