Developer sets up heated tents in Gatineau parking lot to shelter homeless

The tent city near Gatineau's Gîte ami homeless shelter is a constant source of fear for François Lescalier.

He's deputy director at the shelter, and says staff frequently see fires break out at the site where campers heat themselves with gasoline — or even alcohol-based gels like Purell. 

Lescalier called it a "slum," where drugs are easy to come by. Two people have died there this fall. He's afraid there will be more once the temperature drops.

So he welcomes an initiative to move those staying in the makeshift encampment into tidy rows of 28 heated, fire-resistant tents on a parking lot near the site, right in front of the Robert-Guertin Centre arena.

"It's not a very safe zone, especially at winter time," Lescalier said of the existing tent city. "We're afraid some of them could be frozen, so we are very happy there's a new solution that is going to start today with heated tents for 50 people."

Property developer Devcore is behind the idea. Crews were out erecting the tents on Monday after the plan secured City of Gatineau approval, which is good until May 15. Devcore managing partner Nicholas Bouquet said the goal is to assure a safer environment for the homeless.

"We decided that enough is enough and we want homeless people to be able to have a decent Christmas," he said.

The tents will come with a camp bed, an electric heater and an electric blanket. Two people can stay in each one, and they'll have access to warm showers and bathrooms on site.

Community organization Itinérance Zéro will run the site. Its director and founder, Benoit Leblanc, said they have everything needed to save people from frostbite — and to grapple with the safety issues that have plagued the tent city. Workers will be on-site 24 hours a day, and a perimeter fence will keep out intruders.

There will also be social supports to make sure those living there don't get stuck.

"Most of them have to have a plan to get out of the street," Leblanc said. "We've got social workers to work with them, to guarantee they have the maximum services."

'We expect to save some lives'

Gatineau Coun. Daniel Champagne leads the city's housing task force. He acknowledges putting people in tents, even heated ones, is not a humane or lasting solution to the city's homelessness problem. But on a short-term basis, the Devcore project is far better than the existing tent city.

He noted that Gatineau has seen "a drastic increase in the number of people living in homelessness." Where the city saw about 30 tents in 2019-20, he said, the figure reached about 90 to 100 this year.

Champagne said the city is investing in housing, but it won't come fast enough.

"Temporarily, during the time that we're building new homes and new apartments, et cetera, during that time we need to find solutions," he said.

Lescalier agrees tents are hardly an ideal solution. Still, it's better than letting the tent city take root, with all its dangers.

"We expect to save some lives this winter," said Lescalier. "It's not a good solution for the long term. We don't want people staying in tents all their lives."