Their Only Means

Thoughts on the Encampment at Nelson's City Hall

Homeless people are camping on the lawn of our town’s City Hall.

It looks like other nearby encampments in the forests around Nelson.

Along with the tents speckling the ground are scavenged items from dumpsters, bottles and cans, random garbage, discarded clothing, and various harm reduction supplies - some of which are properly disposed of, some of which are not.

What sets this apart from other nearby encampments is that this is a “protest camp.”

The campers are pointing to the need for a space where people struggling with addiction, homelessness, and mental health challenges can go.

They are demanding the city create such a space immediately.

This demand isn’t far fetched.

In fact, the half dozen or so people occupying the grounds at City Hall came from such a place.

The Coordinated Access Hub, or just The Hub, as it was known, began operating in downtown Nelson during Covid.

On any given day, a visitor to The Hub could access medical care from outreach nurses, connect with various social services, find nourishment, get out of the elements, or use the overdose prevention site.

With all that The Hub provided, sometimes its most valuable service was simply giving street entrenched people a place to be, out of the public eye.

The protest camp at City Hall is, essentially, a form of demonstration to raise awareness.

Mental illness, poverty, drug addiction, and homelessness are a growing problem within the community. People experiencing any or all of these are in need of greater supports.

The Hub addressed many of their basic needs. Now that it is gone, the problem is even more in the city’s face.

A main reason for The Hub’s closure is Nelson’s exorbitant rent costs.

It is extremely difficult for those with less financial resources to afford rent in Nelson - a hard truth on both an individual and organizational level.

As an organization, The Hub had to come up with $5,000 a month to rent the space, on top of all the other costs such as utilities, staffing, and provisions for service users.

For individuals trying to make it in Nelson, the average cost to rent a one bedroom apartment in the city is around $1,500.

This does not include moving fees.

I often hear people say the homeless people in our city are lazy, and if they just “worked harder” they could get off the street. But the reality of raising oneself up from the gutter on a minimum wage income with no family support is Herculean.

The massive benefit and privilege of family support is downplayed by many of our town’s home owners. Yet imagine not having parents to co-sign and help fund the cost of the downpayment for your house.

Could you have afforded it solely on your own?

What if you didn’t have an inheritance to count on, or a family that could help you during rough times?

Are you resourced enough, both financially and emotionally, to make it without outside support?

To make this more personal, let me tell you about the situation my partner and I, Stacey, recently faced.

When our landlord gave us an unexpected eviction notice because she intended to move back into the home we rented, Stacey and I faced both upheaval and the reality of Nelson’s affordable housing crisis.

Since rent in this town can be equal to a mortgage, Stacey and I wondered if we could get out of the insecure position of renting and buy our own home.

We went to the bank and, to our surprise, were pre-qualified for a $400,000 mortgage.

Given our backgrounds - me with a history of childhood homelessness, and Stacey coming from a lineage of colonization as a member of the Mi’kmaq First Nation, we felt proud of ourselves that we have worked our way up to this level with no outside support.

And yet, she and I quickly realized that a $400,000 mortgage wouldn’t buy anything in a town with median list prices between $655,000-$715,000 for a single family home.

Fortunately for Stacey and I, we are long standing members of the community. The two of us have lived here for over twenty years combined. We have good references. Stacey owns a business, and I work full time.

Because of this, we can shoulder the $4400 fee (damage deposit, pet deposit, and first month’s rent) to move into a mobile home we found on the outskirts of town.

The campers on the lawn at City Hall are at rock bottom.

Dealing with extreme poverty, addiction, homelessness, as well as mental and physical illness, none of them are in a position to rise above their circumstances without outside assistance.

Places like the The Hub provided space where they could take the first step toward stability and wellness.

Now that it’s gone, the people it served are begging for the wider community of Nelson to notice them.

The encampment at Nelson City Hall is not pretty. I won’t gloss over it. Like all homeless encampments, it has problems - issues of safety, exposure, sanitation, and overdose.

But what you see there on the lawn is an honest representation of the lives these people live on the day to day, a clear view into what it is like for this population, and a glimpse of the other side of “Kootenay Life.”

Harsh as it may be to look upon as you travel the far end of Ward Street, the encampment at Nelson’s City Hall is the only means the street entrenched members of our community have to ask for help.