Halifax campground to stay open all winter for people living in RVs amid housing crisis
Advocate on the other side of the country hopes local government will follow suit
Halifax will be keeping its municipally owned property, Shubie Campground, open all winter so people living in their RVs have a place to stay — and others elsewhere in Canada are hoping their governments will follow suit.
The municipality has some of the fastest-rising rents and one of the lowest vacancy rates in Canada. There are also more than 1,000 people on Halifax's homelessness list, which doesn't include people who are couch surfing or living in their cars.
"It is still just a camper. But a camper is better than a tent," said Carrie Steeves, who will be living in her RV all winter for the first time.
Steeves said being able to park at the Shubie Campground through the winter makes her feel a little more secure. She works a retail job. As the cost of living rises, permanent housing has become out of reach for her. She, and others like her, are the new face of homelessness.
"Now you have people that go to work every day and have an income and have a resource. They just don't have a house," Steeves said.
Trevor Boudreau, Nova Scotia's minister of community services, said last month his department gave Halifax $180,000 to keep the Shubie Campground open through the winter.
"This is a crisis that's happening across Canada, it's across North America," Boudreau told CBC News.
The municipality will provide snow removal, garbage collection and sewage services, but bringing in water and propane is up to the people living there.
The municipality will also provide electricity, and the people staying there will pay $250 per month in rent.
In Nova Scotia's Municipality of the County of Kings, Coun. Joel Hirtle told CBC Nova Scotia News at 6 on Friday that he hoped to see the suspension of a bylaw so people in his municipality would be allowed to stay in their RVs year-round. He said he believes there is a housing crisis in the area. Hirtle said that would give those without options a place to stay this winter.
"There are currently bylaws in effect that could cost them money. They may experience fines, they may experience the requirement to leave their property if they're living in an RV as a permanent dwelling. So I'm hoping we can put a temporary suspension on this bylaw that stops them from living [in their RV] year-round and protect some folks," Hirtle said.
Hirtle says one of his neighbours recently lost their home in a fire, and because the insurance didn't match up with the cost to replace and repair his home "he's had to find an RV as his means to live until he's able to do the work himself so that he can afford the costs."
On the other side of the country, Rob Fenton is hoping governments in British Columbia will follow Nova Scotia's lead and fund a campground for people who have nowhere else to live.
Fenton is a practising lawyer who, because of housing prices, lives in an RV that's hooked up to utilities on North Pender Island in B.C.'s Southern Gulf Islands. He's fighting for municipal governments to approve and legalize living in that type of vehicle.
"People are living in unsafe regular housing, in their cars, all sorts of places that are way worse," Fenton said.
Back in Halifax, Steeves is in the process of winter-proofing her RV. The city experienced its first snowfall of the season this week.
Steeves said she doesn't expect her situation to change any time soon.
"The perfect solution would be building apartments and building housing, but that's not happening ... and even if it does start to happen, it's still going to take years to be done," she said.
Until then, she said she hopes her RV will keep her warm until a better solution comes along.
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With files from Amy Smith