A Moncton man living in a makeshift tent city says more needs to be done to house the homeless in the city before winter comes.
Roger Gagnon has been living in a tent in the heart of downtown Moncton for the past six months.
“This is home,” Gagnon said while sitting on an old mattress at the end of the unzipped tent door.
“The rooming houses are full of drugs, full of bugs and I have better here than I would have in a rooming house here in Moncton.”
He said with so many people on the waiting list for public housing in the city, he has nowhere else to go.
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“N.B. Housing is almost impossible to get in right now because the list is so long,” Gagnon said.
According the Humanity Project’s Charles Burrell, who feeds the homeless from the old curling club behind a makeshift tent city on the property, homelessness has reached a critical level in Moncton.
He said a lack of affordable housing is forcing people like Gagnon to live in tents scattered throughout the city. He says he’s handed out about 92 tents so far this summer.
“There are three tent cities in town, four if you are including the one in our back yard,” said Burrell.
Some tent city dwellers not breaking bylaws
According to a spokesperson for the city of Moncton, people tenting at The Humanity Project property are not breaking any bylaws, as long as they have permission from the property owner.
But Burrell says others live in fear of being kicked out of their tents that are tucked away, hidden in the woods on property they don’t own.
The stories of how they got there vary.
Gagnon admits he’s made some bad choices in life — his past is fraught with drug addiction and he spent five years in prison for armed robbery and abduction.
“I was getting better food every day being inside. Sometimes I feel like going back,” said Gagnon.
He worries if something isn’t done soon to help the homeless, crime in the city will escalate as people become more desperate.
“Every time you turn around you are being judged because you are dirty and you smell and people don’t look at us like we are humans,” said Gagnon.
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According to the New Brunswick Department of Social Development, the province spent close to $500,000 less on public housing, rental support and other programs in Moncton in 2015-2016, compared to the previous year.
But change could be on the horizon. Together, the federal and provincial governments have committed $56 million to affordable housing in New Brunswick.
However, according to the department of social development, no final decision has been made on how that money will be spent in Moncton.
Gagnon doubts there will be more homes available by this winter, and he’s already preparing for some very cold nights.
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