- Aug 6, 2012
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G-d approves. Kudos to a city that is willing to provide more than just police to break up encampments. It is only a matter of time before the usual agent provocateurs pose as homeless people to ruin this for those who need it I'm sure, that's what we have here.
A society is judged by how they treat the most vulnerable among them. Where do you stand on maintaining the dignity of our fellow humans?
A private cabin framed in steel has provided a measure of stability for one resident of a new community for unhoused people in Peterborough, Ont.
"I love it. It's great. I got lots of security, you know, people that care," said the resident, 45, who didn't want her name used to avoid stigma.
"The workers are great here and if you need anything, they're right there."
A mother of five children, aged 15 to 27, the resident said living in Peterborough's Modular Bridge Housing Community is better than being in an encampment.
"It was scary at night. A lot of fighting, a lot of weapons, a lot of drugs. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Not enough food. Just couldn't wash up. Couldn't do much of anything — feed yourself or even leave your tent. You'd have to bring everything you own with you," she said.
"I'd wake up crying because I'd be so cold."
Now, Peterborough is garnering attention both provincially and across the country for this project, as cities and towns are trying to develop solutions to get people out of encampments. The city and its partner agencies also examined similar projects in other communities, including an outdoor shelter in Waterloo Region, Kitchener's A Better Tent City and Kingston's sleeping cabins pilot program.
The resident who spoke with CBC News is one of 50 unhoused people selected to live in the units on a former parking lot after Peterborough decided the 106-square-foot modular cabins, arranged in four rows, were one way to address what it calls its "unprecedented" problem of
A society is judged by how they treat the most vulnerable among them. Where do you stand on maintaining the dignity of our fellow humans?
A private cabin framed in steel has provided a measure of stability for one resident of a new community for unhoused people in Peterborough, Ont.
"I love it. It's great. I got lots of security, you know, people that care," said the resident, 45, who didn't want her name used to avoid stigma.
"The workers are great here and if you need anything, they're right there."
A mother of five children, aged 15 to 27, the resident said living in Peterborough's Modular Bridge Housing Community is better than being in an encampment.
"It was scary at night. A lot of fighting, a lot of weapons, a lot of drugs. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Not enough food. Just couldn't wash up. Couldn't do much of anything — feed yourself or even leave your tent. You'd have to bring everything you own with you," she said.
"I'd wake up crying because I'd be so cold."
Now, Peterborough is garnering attention both provincially and across the country for this project, as cities and towns are trying to develop solutions to get people out of encampments. The city and its partner agencies also examined similar projects in other communities, including an outdoor shelter in Waterloo Region, Kitchener's A Better Tent City and Kingston's sleeping cabins pilot program.
The resident who spoke with CBC News is one of 50 unhoused people selected to live in the units on a former parking lot after Peterborough decided the 106-square-foot modular cabins, arranged in four rows, were one way to address what it calls its "unprecedented" problem of
