Camp Hope tent city to be replaced by 40-bed emergency shelter in Regina
CBC
Some of the residents of Camp Hope — a temporary encampment for people experiencing homelessness — will soon be able to stay at an emergency indoor shelter secured by the City of Regina.
The camp, formerly known as Camp Marjorie, formed a little more than a month ago, as anti-poverty advocates made a desperate move to house the city's homeless. The first tent went up in Regina's Pepsi Park on Oct. 8.
The camp was scheduled to disband on Friday, but that was postponed until Monday, as the new municipally and provincially funded location finishes its preparations.
Now, a little over a month after the camp began, the City of Regina announced Friday that it's secured a six-month lease for a 40-bed interim shelter with food, showers and social support for residents.
City officials said they recognize the shelter is a short-term solution for a long-term problem. It's meant to be a pit stop for those in need of housing as they seek out a more permanent home.
Regina Treaty Status Indian Services will be the main operators of the shelter. Executive director Erica Beaudin did not want to disclose its location, citing privacy concerns for the residents.
"We've had a lot of citizens, whether it's through goodwill or curiosity ... [that] have been driving by [Camp Hope] as though the people who are in the camp are zoo animals or spectacles," she said.
"They are not receiving the privacy and the dignity … that they should have in this society."
Beaudin said the address would be released at a later date.
She doesn't believe that the shelter will have room for everyone at Camp Hope, but said the goal is to meet the needs of residents.
Representatives estimate the camp has 100 to 150 people daily, though Beaudin said a large number of people come during the day to seek food, and there are fewer people at night.
Beaudin said support will be provided to those who can't be accommodated at the new shelter, or other shelters, but she didn't provide specifics.
In an interview with CBC Radio's The Morning Edition, Regina Mayor Sandra Masters told host Stefani Langenegger that the temporary "tent city," as it was first called, demonstrated the need for housing in the city.
"The idea isn't temporary shelter for anyone — the idea is to match them into homes and to match them into the services that they need," she said.
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