Trying to figure out how to be housed again. Recent encampment resident and couch surfer. If you see someone shoplifting, no you didn’t. We keep us safe.
I am proud to be queer, not bc rainbows are pretty and there’s cool gay merch now, but bc of our history of resistance; of being anti-cop, of our refusal to fuck off and die when everyone wanted us gone. I’m proud of the community we formed to keep ourselves alive
No one talks nearly enough about how hard being housed again is. You’re safe, often for the first time in your goddamn life. And now you have to process all the trauma that you were certain you’d never have to process bc you thought you’d die on the street. 1/4
pPL ARe RefUsiNg HOuSiNg OfFeRs
This is my housing offer. Bedbug carcasses everywhere. At least two dead cockroaches. They fumigate 1 unit @ a time. I’d be eaten by pests for the rest of my life
The door to the unit had damage from someone trying to break in.
Because a bunch of career politicians decided they don’t care if I live or die. It could all have been avoided. Not just for me, for everyone. If politicians had just *wanted* to, we could all have been spared being broken, degraded, and traumatized. 3/4
My blood just ran cold. The Toronto safe consumption sites that are being shut down:
The Works
KMOPS
Parkdale Queen W
Regent park
South Riverdale
Get ready to fight to keep these doors open when they become illegal.
We keep us safe.
Of the 10 sites that will have to close under the new rules, one is in Kitchener and one is in Guelph.
There are also five in Toronto and one each are in Ottawa, Thunder Bay and Hamilton.
Every ambient sound is suddenly a cop, or a fight, or a neighbour in distress. Being awake means hyper-vigilance, falling asleep means nightmares.
And the thing that gets me? I went through all this, all of this trauma, shit that changed my neuropathways… 2/4
We could have always had the human right that should never have been in question. We could have had housing.
Instead we were left to rot on the futility of our struggles. And we will never be the same. 4/4
To my fellow alkies who are really scared about a potential LCBO strike:
The employees striking are NOT the enemy
The enemy is ALWAYS the CEO/boss who refuses to compensate their workers fairly
Our fear & anger should be directed toward the bosses who are refusing a fair deal
Let me explain why some ppl choose the park over other options.
There are infantalizing, dehumanizing rules in shelters. Mandatory bed-checks, curfews. Bedbugs, cockroaches, the risk of theft & violence. Most of the time you’re lucky if you talk to a housing worker. 1/6
pPL ARe RefUsiNg HOuSiNg OfFeRs
This is my housing offer. Bedbug carcasses everywhere. At least two dead cockroaches. They fumigate 1 unit @ a time. I’d be eaten by pests for the rest of my life
The door to the unit had damage from someone trying to break in.
.
@MayorOliviaChow
I was in your house running
@JessicaBellTO
’s E-day, 1.5yrs ago. A yr after, I was putting NDP signs under my tent, to keep the rats from chewing through. Last Friday, in a city you run, I was sitting on a curb, crying, as heavy machinery displaced yet more ppl.
A tiny, infested, insecure apartment.
If this is the state of an apartment they’re trying to get ppl to move into, imagine how little maintenance units get once you’re moved in?
It’s hard to find a housing unit that’s worse than a tent, but congrats, Toronto, you’ve done it.
Chants from old white queers echoed:
“Give our community centre back”
“Give us back our Village”
From whom? The 519 is a resource for marginalised queers. Somehow the anti-homeless prejudice is so strong that NIMBY queers want it “back” from the ppl who need it most?
The St Stephen’s clearing was the first encampment defence I’ve been to since I got rehoused.
I was at the church from 7:30am-8:30pm. The DAY AFTER NATIONAL HOUSING DAY, they brought the Claw out, after dark, after almost all of us had already been there for 12+hrs. 1/8
PLEASE stop posting pictures of tents & homeless ppl to make your political point.
A) That’s our home. We’re already forced to live in public, at least show the respect of not posting us w/o permission. Many ppl don’t want to be your poster child for end-stage capitalism 1/2
To every person thanking us… please also pick up the phone, call 311, and ask them why a ragtag group of random people with snow shovels are doing more to ensure that Toronto is accessible than the entire damn
@cityoftoronto
is.
#snowbilityTO
The speakers said, over & over, “this is not anti-homeless. This is not anti-addict. This is not anti-mental illness”. Yet they were protesting outside the 519 & Barbara Hall. Who stays there? Who do you want to take the Village back from, when you protest there? X/
Simple joys of being rehoused:
- not having to time when I drink according to when bathrooms are available
- not having to panic check my tarps when it rains
- ice water
- long showers, whenever I want
- washing my face
- cooking, and being able to store food
- no rats
In Allan Gardens this morning. This photo is simultaneously an example of the BS the city tries to pull every day, and why one-time Christmas charity can actually be harmful when you don’t consult the residents. 1/
“They’re pushing through 50 million more for this” is what I’m saying as I’m being dragged out.
$48mil more to continue to drag the public out when we speak up, to continue to beat down the dissent of vulnerable people as council passes policies of social murder w/ impunity.
"Come grab her leg" is the directive the City has to remove someone who refuses to leave a public meeting in a public building. This was NOT a protest, we were removed for participating in our government by the speaker
@FrancesNunziata
#TOpoli
I attended the Toronto homeless memorial today, like I do every month. Unfortunately, today was plagued w mayoral candidates that had no interest in speaking to ppl who are actually affected by the crises in this city.
@chloebrown4TO
dipped before I was able to talk to her 1/8
Do privileged queers feel unsafe around unhoused ppl, or do they just feel uncomfortable? Do we just serve as too much of a reminder of where they would be, if they were a little more poor, a little less white, a little less cis-presenting?
This movement was built by poor, homeless, Black trans women. Don’t forget that history just bc you’re privileged enough to be able to, bc being gay is now mainstream enough if you’re wealthy & white. The fight isn’t over. Don’t spit on the ppl you owe this Village to.
This Village rallied to catch Bruce McArthur. This same community rallied to advocate for accountability & recognition that there was a serial killer stalking our streets. The victims of whom were racialised, they were undocumented, & homeless. X/y
Was the crowd outside of the 519 yesterday the same ppl who only started caring when Andrew Kinsman became a victim? When it was someone who was *just* white enough, *just* connected enough, that they saw themselves as potential victims as well?
Apparently, the Claw happens.
@MayorOliviaChow
is this your housing plan? Continuing to displace ppl, except now under the literal cover of darkness, so fewer ppl see?
Not a single person from St Stephen’s was offered housing. Not. One. 8/8
You’re thanking the fucking cops for keeping queer people safe?? You do not speak for the rest of our community, Kristyn. The cops do not keep us safe. Never a friend, always a bastard.
WE KEEP US SAFE.
I have spoken to the local Councillor
@ausmalik
, MPP
@chrisgloverndp
and the
@TorontoPolice
and thank them for their steadfast support in protecting the children and families attending the library programs.
Is there any proof that unhoused ppl are the ones vandalising Dudley’s? Or are we just the easiest group to scapegoat?
Why do I feel so unwelcome in a neighbourhood that’s supposed to be mine?
Municipally, provincially, federally, where are the so-called progressives? I have reached out to all the NDP contacts I know, asking someone, anyone, in any level of gov, to provide me & my ppl w more support than a scavenged barrier between us & the rats & the cold hard ground
Now that they’re safe, now that the police aren’t terrorizing them specifically, somehow class consciousness permeates the marginalised identity that they are using as a cudgel to push their self-serving interests.
The fastest, safest way to get the housing you need is to be in the park. The City has set its system up for the park to be the best option to get housing.
We’re here bc there’s no better option. 6/6
Being in the park gives you a fast track to housing. The City *really* hates visible poverty. It makes them look bad. As long as they can warehouse you away in a shelter, there is no reason to provide you housing. 3/6
Am I just the easiest back to step on in order for privileged gays to get leverage in society, despite their marginalised identity? Am I only a part of this community until I’m disposable, for the upper echelon’s interests?
I’ve stayed silent long enough.
@CarymaRules
& her cameraman Lee pretend to be allies. We’ve seen a lot of her especially at trans rallies. This clip is her cameraman deadnaming a trans comrade. “Hi W*sley”. I recognize my comrade’s voice. I’ve seen him deadname her before.
I packed my life up in
@JessicaBellTO
tote bags, as I was displaced time, after time, after time.
Progressive politicians—is it hard to call for a moratorium on encampment evictions, or is it just that low on your priority list?
Wtf is this? We’re not your photo op. Did you ask ppl if you could take pics of their tents, or what they needed? Or did you assume that “the homeless” are so pitiful that we can do nothing but fall grateful on our knees for whatever scraps you could be bothered to throw our way?
While passing out water & socks in Allan Gardens, heartbreaking stories about renovictions, rent hikes & unsafe shelters explain why encampments are growing in Ontario. Ottawa, Niagara, Hamilton & Toronto have all declared homelessness an emergency. Time for Ford to do the same.
Ppl refusing housing offers are refusing units in buildings like the one I saw. Usually the units are more cleaned up, but shit buildings get a bad rap for a reason.
Vacuuming up dead bedbugs doesn’t make them disappear. 5/6
If you’re able to couch-surf, according to the City, couch-surfing doesn’t count as homelessness. You don’t get a housing worker. If you have no fixed address, you also don’t get a shelter allowance from OW or ODSP. No path to housing, no money. 2/6
And Logan said “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise there was a funeral going on, I thought this was the homeless memorial”
The homeless memorial IS a funeral. As somebody who was almost on it this month… it kills me that there’s opinions like that. That it’s not a funeral 4/8
“No, I do not have naloxone on me… we do not carry it”
If
@TorontoOEM
is claiming to be shaking & opening tents every day for “wellness checks,” why are they not equipped to respond to an emergency? What is the justification for opening tents if they are not carrying narcan?
To reemphasize: a beloved resident died at 6am that morning. At noon, THE SAME DAY, the City issued trespass notices. Not only that, they trespassed THE DEAD RESIDENT’S TENT. 6 HRS AFTER SHE DIED.
The cruelty of
@cityoftoronto
somehow still finds ways to shock me
ALL OUT TO MARILYN BELL PARK!
The City of Toronto issued trespass notices on the homes built at Marilyn Bell Park, including the tent of a beloved resident who had passed away that morning. Now they're here to clear the camp with force. Police & heavy machinery are on standby!
If you’re offered housing when you’re not in the park, you get to turn down 2 units, I believe, before you get moved to the bottom of the waitlist. In the park, you get more leeway. As a youth in the park, I can turn down the subpar units I (rarely) get offered indefinitely. 4/6
Shelters are full, &
@MayorOliviaChow
has said that she supports closing shelter hotels.
Where do ppl go?
What happens when when we’re waited out, when unpaid supporters—most of whom are also homeless, or underhoused, or poor—what happens when we go home for the night? 7/8
Also, apparently it needs to be said: DISPLACING PEOPLE IS INHERENTLY VIOLENT. Removing someone’s home is inherently violent. Leaving someone without shelter in the winter is inherently violent.
The other half of this story is how the city, when we wouldn’t let them take the tent, refused to clear the actual garbage & food that they listed as the reason for trashing the tent. The contempt that’s constantly displayed towards unhoused people is something I can’t understand
So many ppl are fleeing abuse, or cops. Posting tent locations & pics of ppl, even w/o faces, can seriously put them at risk.
When I did interviews, I specifically did them w/o my tent in the background, for my safety. Please ASK.
The sheer cruelty of waiting until 6pm to bring out the Claw & the cops is unbelievable. At that point, everyone was absolutely beat, including myself.
Now, there’s a fence around the south lawn, & 24hr security. It’s one more place where homeless ppl aren’t allowed to be. 5/8
If you think
@CarymaRules
is an ally, you are a goddamn fool. She pretends to care about trans rights and then willfully posts a video of her cameraman trying to antagonize a comrade by calling her by her deadname. They care about clout, and they will do ANYTHING to get it.
Today in the park,
@TorontoOEM
’s Belinda told us that they wouldn’t be taking tents today because of the cold weather alert. She literally indirectly admitted that taking tents puts people in danger. And every other day, they do it anyway. This is social murder.
If Christmas is the time of year you feel inspired to start helping your fellow human by doing park outreach, that’s fine. ASK PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED. TALK TO THEM. Just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean they don’t have specific needs
The City’s homelessness strategy has turned from “go die” to “go survive *elsewhere*.” But the options for unhoused ppl are dwindling. There’s still a “no new tents” policy at Allan Gardens. Half of St Stephen’s is fenced off. Both of which happened under Chow’s mayoralty 6/8
Honestly the strict adherence to my internal moral code is a huge reason why being autistic in this world is so hard. The world is not built for people who can’t turn a blind eye to injustice
We don't suffer peer-pressure, and in my experience, we can't be embarrassed away from what we know is morally right, and we tend to be very strong in our values (whatever those may be). In Greta's case, she's had a strong sense of justice since day 1.
Allan Gardens this morning.
@Local416
here took a box cutter to the tent that we were standing in to try to save from being trashed. I KNOW THIS RESIDENT. THEY WERE COMING BACK.
Belongings were somewhat mostly spared, if the residents were home.
But the trauma of clearings is not *just* about losing everything you own. It’s about displacement. It’s about having to pack up your entire life, over & over & over again, often under threats of violence. 4/8
When Pride became a parade instead of a protest, it lost its soul.
The first time I felt ACTUALLY proud to be queer was at
@NoPolicing
Pride 2 years ago. Queer ppl are fighters. Some queers have gained too much privilege—on the backs of Black trans sex workers—to remember that
That it’s just a memorial for “the homeless”, to be used as a political prop. I saw the immediate aftermath of three of the deaths on the memorial today, in addition to almost being on it myself. Is that really the most respect we get? To be used as people’s political props? 5/8
The way to reduce encampments is to HOUSE people. And until there is an actual, tangible housing solution (not a shelter) for every single park resident, supporting their eviction (NO MATTER HOW NICELY) is an absolutely trash take.
If you don’t immediately and unequivocally condemn police “enforcing the law” around encampment evictions when there is literally no place else to go, idk how to help you.
@AvreetJ
Why not check out what I actually said? E.g., I support shelters and the legitimate rights of their neighbors. I don’t support gratuitous violence. Read my platform at
This very real fear makes it so hard to go or do anything at all when living in a tent. All your belongings, your survival gear, your entire life is protected by some flimsy fabric & plastic. And It’s not only direct state violence that’s a threat, it’s stochastic terrorism too
Residents and supporters were cold and exhausted. I was grabbing food when one of my friends called me and told me to come back ASAP. Once the sun had completely set and support had dwindled, the city came back w the Claw and the police. 2/8
I’m starting to lose my shit. Unhoused organizers are being disregarded despite their experience & hard-earned knowledge in defending encampments. If you want your solidarity encampment to be more than a political stunt, consult the ppl who‘ve had to defend encampments to survive
A pertinent reminder, as solidarity encampments are being planned, that (currently or former) unhoused organizers have plenty of experience to share when it comes to ensuring an encampment can provide basic needs to those living in it.
This is devastating news. But let’s start turning that grief and anger into organizing. We keep us safe bc the government doesn’t. Let’s organize shifts, organize SCSs out of tents, w volunteers. It is NOT over. Users deserve safety.
And these wannabe politicians are going to show up and use the dead bodies we’re grieving over as stepping stones for their political gain?
To not even pretend to listen to us? To our grief, to our pain?
Fine, don’t listen. And let us grieve in peace. 8/8
Neither
@LoganChoy1mayor
nor
@chloebrown4TO
have ever been to the homeless memorial, in my recollection. These are real lives, these are real people. We are dying, and the most respect certain mayoral candidates can give us is to use our deaths, our suffering, our day-to-day 6/8
A good friend just lost all of their financial support w/o any warning. They should be recovering from cancer & getting back on HRT, but instead they’re falling apart w/ the stress of trying to make ends meet. Please help if you can & share
Alright. There are far too many progressives being far too excited about
@oliviachow
becoming mayor. Let’s take a gander at her housing platform, shall we? 1/9
The residents on the S lawn had either accepted a shelter hotel spot, or they had crammed all of their belongings in the tiny space between the church & the sidewalk/pathways. The Claw started clearing full tents at 9:30pm.
The resident on the N was allowed to stay, for now 3/8
The excessive Christmas meals not only mostly go to waste, but actually endangered someone’s only shelter in Canadian winter. The city will use anything as an excuse to clear tents. Today, imminently rotten Christmas meals was that excuse.
college park food court.
the lengths our city goes to make sure people who have nowhere to go - remain, with nowhere to go. not even to sit down.
like what about accessibility needs even?
When I packed my bag to go to the Homeless Memorial today, I threw in smokes, socks, hand warmers, and gloves to give out. And somehow I had more forethought and preparation on how to help ppl on the street in this storm than the entire goddamn
@cityoftoronto
. Embarrassing.
Ontario alkies!! If you can afford it, stock up on your booze of choice today!!
Tomorrow the LCBO goes on strike, and we NEVER CROSS A PICKET LINE!!
LCBO employees, during the strike, don’t charge for alcohol if someone does come in needing it. Alcohol withdrawals kill ppl.
A generation ago ppl dreamed of having enough money for a house and a family.
I just want enough money to not have to scrape the mould off of vegetables bc I can’t afford to buy more
As a prop, for political gain? This is a community in grieving. This is a community who is constantly in *so much* pain, and our lives are plagued w/ deaths and close calls. We are constantly dealing with the fact that politicians actively pass policies that want us dead 7/8
The Homeless Memorial today marked the release of the city shelter death data from the last quarter of 2023. The Doe’s fuck me up. There were 27. I read each J. Doe out individually. It breaks me every time. I played Dear Evan Hansen to myself after. The song “Disappear” came on
About her housing policy, which involves warehousing homeless people like me into tiny modular units on re-zoned industrial land. Does that sound like slums and ghettos to you? Bc it does to me. 2/8
Somehow more fucked up than that was
@LoganChoy1mayor
showing up, with literally zero interest in speaking to anybody. I tried to talk to his staff, to him… he kept yelling over me. Finally, I caught his attention when I said “dude, this is a funeral” 3/8
NOTHING drains me more than a “radical” action that the organizers bail on. I’m autistic. I’m expecting a “shut down” to do exactly what it says on the tin. Then I hear stories of ppl being made BY THE ORGANISERS to move out of the way for ppl to pass through
What the fuck?? They just... went home? Not even served an injunction? Hold it tf down ppl, enough with the symbolic gestures jfc 😒 frustrating and disappointing.
At Allan Gardens today: Belinda, from
@TorontoOEM
wanted to take and “store” two perfectly new tents that people hadn’t had a chance to move into yet. She preemptively called the cops to make sure me and
@duldoona
couldn’t be a problem. 1/
Since this thread is getting some traction, here is the mutual aid fund for the Allan Gardens encampment! It goes towards things like tents, sleeping bags, battery packs, etc. If you’re able to materially help support unhoused ppl, please do!
Our community aid collective materially supports unhoused and low-income folks in Toronto's Allan Gardens area and surrounding community. We've been doing this work for about a year now! If you'd like to help us keep it up:
Being trans rn is exhausting to me. I’m so, so tired. Every fucking day, I go online, and I’m illegal in yet another state. Someone is misgendering us, or calling us pedophiles, or f*gs. Someone else is calling for our genocide.
I’m so tired of it.
"I wanted to be a leader for people like me, but that wasn’t written to happen. I hope that the world gets better for us. I hope our people get old. I hope we get to see our kids grow up to fight for us. I hope for trans rights world wide."
Fun fact, for those who don’t know: if you’re homeless and on OW, you get less than half of the money that is alotted to a housed person. Bc we don’t need a shelter allowance.
I get $343 a month. Have I mentioned that the system is trying to kill off poor ppl yet?
You were a real estate agent. You voted to clear encampments. You invite cops into queer spaces. You recently thanked cops for brutalizing community members at a drag defense. But you keep trotting out your two weeks of homelessness two decades ago, & the fact that you’re queer.
In Allan Gardens yesterday morning, Belinda approached me. She said that she was going to perform a “wellness check” on a resident w S2H, and asked if I wanted to join, since I carried naloxone.
Had to warm my hands up. There’s 6 Christmas meals there, more in the tent. Mostly still good, some breached by animals. When I got there, city workers were about to trash the whole tent because the food could pose a rat problem.
So this housing benefit is great, but $500 barely puts a dent in my rent. It does nothing to help unhoused people, who need it the most. People with RGI probably largely don’t quality. And for the rest, it just postponed whatever economic disaster is waiting for us by a month.
But that’s fine as long as housed people get to take nice walks around Toronto’s green space, right? As long as a stroll in the park isn’t blemished by a visible reminder of how the city is failing people. Out of sight, out of mind, eh?
It’s official. We might be close to the longest winter night, but City Council is already planning for warm weather’s return.
These changes will help small businesses, make our main streets livelier, and help make the warm months even more fun.