New homeless camp springs up
With milder weather comes new homeless camps.
Without being snarky, I have one question: where do the homeless get their tents? Even a Canadian Tire tent costs at least $100, and nicer ones from Mountain Equipment Coop Company start at three times that.
MarcG 10:29 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
Mountain Equipment *Company*. No longer a co-op, sold to ‘muricans.
Kate 10:37 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
Right. Sheer habit, I still have my coop card here somewhere. That was a sleazy move.
Tim 10:45 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
The “sleazy moves” were all the terrible business decisions and mismanagement that brought the co-op to near bankruptcy and forced the sale.
nau 17:39 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
I can think of 3 ways homeless people can get tents:
1) They already have the tent before they become homeless.
2) They can see that they’re going to become homeless and buy a tent before it happens.
3) Someone or some organization gives them a tent. When I changed cities back in the 90s, I had a mostly useful if not especially waterproof old tent that I wasn’t going to take with me, so I left it (with a note detailing its limitations) in the free box at a punk house I frequented. I imagine someone was quite happy to get a free tent.
So I don’t see why someone who’s say graduating from their Canadian Tire tent to a better one might not decide to donate the old one to a homeless organization or if they’re bold enough drop it off at an encampment or at least drop it off at Renaissance where it might get bought by someone foreseeing a stint on the street.
EmilyG 18:37 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
Sometimes homeless shelters post donation requests, and tents are often one of the requested items. So some of the tents might come from shelters.
Blork 19:02 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
Also consider that just because a person is homeless that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re flat broke. They might have some money tucked away. Maybe hundreds. Maybe thousands. Or they might have a small regular cash flow from some menial work or even begging. But if they used it on rent they’d be broke in a month or two, whereas a $300 tent is a one-time expense, not a recurring one.
nau 20:01 on 2023-04-15 Permalink
Yeah, as the cost of housing increases, the homeless population expands to include people who aren’t dealing with serious mental illness or substance dependency but rather are poor and down on their luck. They can’t afford a place to live but they can still maintain a more organized homeless lifestyle. If you’re on twitter or access it via nitter, you can look up a guy under the handle sqwabb who is homeless in Vancouver but has an understanding with a parking lot that if he keeps it clean and provides some level of security at night simply by being there, he can sleep there with his bike and trailer that he uses to collect cans which with no rent to pay provides him with enough income to buy food and pay for the storage locker where he keeps spare parts, dumpstered treasures and other stuff he needs less frequently or seasonally. He doesn’t use a tent AFAIK but if he decided one would be useful, he’d certainly have the wherewithal to get one.