A family living at a campground in Peterborough, Ont., says they’re being ordered to leave — despite paying for their campsite since arriving.
Shanna Miller, her husband and three children have been staying at Beavermead Campground since May 10. Miller claims severe medical conditions have kept her and her husband from regular work. In February she says “unsafe conditions” at a rental home forced the family to leave.
Unable to find affordable housing or shelter spaces in the city for her family, Miller says they pitched their tents in the campground and have paid for their extended stay.
“It’s not something I thought I would ever have to deal with,” she said. “It’s been a year since I’ve been looking for another place to live. I haven’t found it.”
However, Otonabee Conservation, which operates the park through an agreement with the City of Peterborough, issued a trespass notice to the family on June 18.
“Beavermead Campground is not a housing option for you and you will not be permitted to make consecutive bookings in the future,” a letter states.
The family was first asked to leave when their booking ended on Friday. However, a subsequent letter on Thursday extended their camping to no later than June 27 if some conditions — including not paying by cash — were followed.
Otonabee Conservation did not respond to repeated requests for an interview with Global News on Friday.
Miller says they recently purchased a recreational vehicle to keep at Beavermead, however, the campground says the family can’t return.
“Crushed, ’cause it’s like, this was supposed to be safe, this was supposed to be a good place for our family to be,” she said. “I’m not out on someone else’s property, I’m not destroying city property, I’m not bothering anybody.”
The conservation authority’s website does not have any rules regarding length of stay at Beavermead Campground, which offers 18 unserviced campsites and 77 serviced campsites (with hydro, water). Showers and washrooms are also available for campers to use.
Peterborough city councillor Keith Riel, co-chairperson of the city’s housing and homeless portfolio, says he spoke with the family on Thursday.
“I don’t know the particulars of why they (Otonabee Conservation) have asked this particular family to leave,” he told Global News. “My main concern is to try to find housing for them.”
Riel says he’s reached out to city staff, who informed him they were working with the family to find a resolution.
Riel says a family paying to live at Beavermead is the first he’s heard of it “this season.”
“It’s a precarious situation, and I don’t have the background on the family but that’s not what my sole aim was by contacting our city staff,” he said. “I’m more concerned with the children than the particulars of why she’s being asked (to leave) or the position she is in. We have professionals to deal with that. She reached out to me, told me a bit of her story. My main concern is to get them housed.”
The councillor says each week he receives calls from individuals who say they are unhoused or are about to become unhoused.
“We need as much housing as we can possibly get and it’s not getting any better,” Riel said.
Miller says if her family is forced to leave the campground, they’ll head east to a campground in the village of Havelock — farther from job opportunities and medical care.
“I have to hope and pray that somebody can come and help me…. It’s definitely a crushing reality,” she said.