Hundreds of asylum seekers now living in makeshift shelters in Ottawa

After fleeing to Ottawa from Congo last winter, Fanny Mbuyavanga was still left searching for a safe place to rest her head at night. 

"I didn't know where to go, where to start," the 23-year-old recalled.

Mbuyavanga arrived in December and initially stayed with friends before ending up at Heron Road Community Centre in July — one of the emergency overflow spaces set up to help manage the crisis facing Ottawa's shelter system. 

"I don't like this situation. I don't know what to do. I'm here, I will overcome this. I hope God will help me and I'll move past this," the 23-year-old told CBC in French.  

The centre on Heron Road currently shelters more than 200 refugees and asylum seekers, with men and women staying on separate floors. Mbuyavanga said she had to sleep in a large open room lined with bunk beds, with little peace or privacy. 

"When everybody's sleeping, others are talking, making noises, disturbing others, talking on the phone," she said. "You can't disturb others, you have to respect each other, but the others didn't do that."

Despite the discomfort, Mbuyavanga said she was treated well at the centre. She was given free transit vouchers and multiple meals each day, but she longed for more independence. 

She's just one of hundreds in this position.

Overflow shelters overflowing 

Over half of Ottawa's available shelter space is currently occupied by refugees and asylum seekers, totalling about 750 people, according to the city.

The city says it's exhausting all options to keep those people from having to sleep on the street or in other dangerous situations. 

"We're using overflow not only at Heron and Bernard Grandmaître [Arena] ... but we're also sending people to Lanark [Avenue] just to sleep for the night. That's how much the demand is," said Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr, whose community office is also at Heron Road Community Centre.

The site on Lanark Avenue, the federally owned Graham Spry Building, opened in January as an emergency overflow shelter with space for 61, but only for overnight stays. The city says it, too, is constantly near capacity. 

"I can see that there is no dignity in 230 people sharing a handful of showers and a handful of washrooms. [Heron Road] is not set up for housing," Carr said.

"There are hundreds of bunk beds jammed together in small spaces. There have been times when I've seen overflow push out into the hallways.… It's not suitable at all."

Rejigging the system

Things improved for Mbuyavanga in October when she landed a room at Carty House, a new transitional home for refugee women. There, she finally has some independence — she can cook, clean, do laundry and study while getting the support she needs. 

Kale Brown, Ottawa's acting director of housing and homelessness services, said Carty House not only relieved some of the pressure on the wider shelter system — it also gives people like Mbuyavanga some measure of dignity.

"People staying in arenas or community centres that's not purpose-built for someone to live at is just not great, so we want to get them into a better space that's more dignified," Brown said.

Efforts to create more dignified shelter spaces for asylum seekers and refugees are already underway, the city said. 

The YMCA on Argyle Avenue converted its family shelter into transitional housing for 150 single newcomers in July, moving the families to a former retirement home on Corkstown Road. 

It also opened a newcomer information centre where people can go once they arrive in Ottawa for information and referrals on immigration, citizenship, education, housing, health and more — all for free. 

The city recently purchased an old convent on St. Joseph Boulevard which will also be transformed into transitional housing, and continues to look into the possibility of two tent-like structures to act as a newcomer reception centre — prompting fierce debate in Barrhaven, where the shelters could be located. 

To help fund these projects, the city submitted a proposal to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in July asking for about $106 million over three years. 

Brown called that funding "critical" to the city's efforts.

"The municipal funding is nowhere near sufficient enough to deal with the problem of this size and scope. So across the board, to deal with our shelter system capacity, we're looking for support from both the federal government and provincial government," he said.

The city's proposal also includes the purchase of 20 homes that will be transformed into transitional housing.