They die in plain view. Now a possible hunger strike aims to slow London's rising tally of homeless deaths

Advocates for people experiencing homelessness are vowing to stage a hunger strike on the steps of London, Ont., city hall if authorities don't agree to demands aimed at addressing the rising number of deaths on the streets. 

With increased housing costs, a toxic supply of street drugs and health authorities' preoccupation with the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated number of deaths of people experiencing homelessness rose in London from 59 in 2020 to 74 last year.

So far this year, 34 people have died in despair on the streets, including a woman found last week in the Thames River, the group of advocates said.

"It has reached a level of deprivation, of poverty, of grief, of hopelessness that I have not seen in 12 years of doing this work," Dr. Andrea Sereda told CBC News on Monday.

'Return humanity to this group'

Sereda is a physician with the Intercommunity Health Centre, one of the agencies that make up the group The Forgotten 519 (#TheForgotten519), which also includes SafeSpace London and the Ontario Network of People Who Use Drugs.

"We need to return humanity to this group of people," she said of the hundreds of people estimated to be sleeping rough in the city. 

"We feel like we are screaming from the mountaintop about what these people are needing and we don't feel like that message is being heard." 

Showing the community and city hall what it looks like to watch someone die is what people on the street are seeing every day.- Dr. Andrea Sereda

Sereda said the group has issued a set of demands that, if not met by city officials by Tuesday, Aug. 2, would result in a hunger strike by an unnamed individual on the steps of city hall. 

"The person who has offered to do the hunger strike feels very passionately that the folks who are dying on the street are forgotten," she said. "Showing the community and city hall what it looks like to watch someone die is what people on the street are seeing every day.

"A hunger strike is a very public manifestation and example of what that looks like." 

The group's demands include:

• An immediate end to the removal of homeless encampments in city parks, along the Thames Valley Parkway and in empty parking lots and derelict properties.
• More support from city relief workers at homeless encampments
• The creation of two indoor spaces — one downtown and the other in the east-end — in order to provide 24/7 support for unsheltered people. 

Mayor has offered to meet with protesters

London Mayor Ed Holder told CBC News on Monday that he and a number of staff from the city's homelessness prevention office have offered to meet with the protesters.

"These folks are well intended, I don't doubt it. I don't know what their agenda is beyond what they say. So we'll see. We've already extended an invitation today to meet with us," Holder said. 

"Anyone has the right to say as they will and the right to protest as they like. I'm not sure it gets them to where they need to get to, so it's my hope that through thoughtful discussion, we'll be able to get to the right place."

Holder said the city and front-line agencies already help supply people living on the streets with water, food, housing supports and addiction counselling, and more people from other communities arrive in London each day. 

"People from away seem to be ending up in London, Ont., and the numbers are greater than they've ever been. That ensures that the challenge becomes greater." 

At his last state-of-the-city address, Holder pledged his personal support for 3,000 affordable housing units. He said it's just one part of a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue, which also includes lobbying the provincial and federal governments.

"I appreciate this group wants the solution tomorrow, but that's not how it works," he said. 

Meanwhile, advocates point out, there have been reports in recent years of the cumulative toll of living and sleeping outside, such as shortening lives and accelerating many deaths, for reasons ranging from overdose, to hypothermia, even because of treatable acute or chronic conditions.

"The common theme of all of those deaths is the deprivation and the impact of having to sleep outside. We can only make someone so well when they're sleeping outside 12 months a year," Sereda said. 

The lack of resources and staggering demand for service is taking a toll on those who care for and support the city's homeless population, Sereda said.  

"I think I can say that 100 per cent of them are burned out. They are feeling personal and collective grief, they are feeling helpless to do the work they do."