A Better Tent City to move into temporary location in Kitchener
A Better Tent City is moving into a new temporary home in the City of Kitchener.
In a Thursday news release, city officials said residents will move into a small portion of the Battler Road snow storage site. Around 50 people, who are currently living in small cabins at Lot42, will move to the new site.
"It's wonderful, amazing," said Nadine Green, A Better Tent City's site coordinator. "We're here and our family is together, that's what's important."
"Very happy about it. Finally it's like we got a place of our own," said resident Gail Mallaley.
The community had to move out by June 20 following the sale of the event space.
A Better Tent City will be able to use the temporary space until October. At that point, the city will need it for winter maintenance operations.
“The City of Kitchener has a long history of stepping up and working with our community to address social challenges like homelessness that face both our city and the broader region,” Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said in a news release. “The pandemic has reminded us of the importance of looking after our most vulnerable residents, and I’m proud that Kitchener council, with its priority on affordable housing, came forward to collaboratively support A Better Tent City and its residents.”
"I think compassion is what's driving the decision there, because it's a challenging decision as a municipal government and as a property owner," said Jeff Willmer, a volunteer with A Better Tent City. "But I think it's the recognition that this is a project that's working."
Leaders with A Better Tent City and The Working Centre plan to reach out to neighbours in the area in the coming days. Officials with The Working Centre have a "Good Neighbour Plan" to help create dialogue and accountability, while creating a "respectful relationship" with nearby residents.
The new site is down the street from a school, but the Waterloo Region District School Board says "we have developed a plan to maintain the safe operations of our school noting that students will not return to in person learning until September."
The facility on Battler Road isn't used in the summer months and has a large, paved surface with berms to offer privacy for residents.
A Better Tent City will continue looking for a permanent home.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.