Melvin Ellsworth wants more than anything to have a safe, affordable place to live.
“Oh, I wish,” he said. “I would jump at it in a second.”
The 73-year-old is one of dozens of people living at Grand Parade Square in downtown Halifax. The site is now home to more than 30 tents, filled with people with nowhere else to go.
Ellsworth, who is on a pension, has been living in Grand Parade Square since July. In the spring, he left the seniors’ home where he was living due to excessive noise, but didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find an apartment.
He acknowledges that was a “bad mistake” – one that he’s paying for dearly as he now has to deal with excessive noise from city nightlife, while living in a tent, with two worn-out knees to boot.
“It’s good that it’s still warm, because there’s times that I wake up early and I wonder if I’m going to be able to stand up,” he said. “I force myself to get up and move around with a lot of pain.”
Melvin Ellsworth, 73, is one of dozens of people living in tents at Grand Parade Square.
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Ellsworth is due for knee replacement surgery, but can’t get it yet because he needs a permanent residence where he can recover.
He said it’s not due to a lack of hard work that left him where he is.
“I started working when I was 16, and I worked right on through ’til about six years ago,” he said. “I made a big mistake of not swallowing my pride, and I ended up here.”
He is currently on the waitlist to get into The Bridge, a hotel-turned-homeless-shelter in Dartmouth.
Despite the challenges of living in a tent in one of Halifax’s busiest areas, Ellsworth said it’s not all bad.
People come by often to bring food and drinks, and he’s formed bonds with others who are in the same boat as him.
“I’ve made some good friends. There’s people here that look after others, so we sort of get together,” he said.
“And this is it. What you see is what I’ve got.”
The encampment at Grand Parade Square has grown to more than 30 tents.
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Grand Parade Square is right next to city hall, and Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said the visibility of the tents highlights the city’s ongoing housing crisis.
“I think we should all see it. If the legislature had room for them, and if they weren’t gated the way they are, I’m sure there’d be people there too,” he said.
“Everybody should look at that and say two things: first of all, it’s a shame that we have it, and secondly, these are human beings who need to have a place to live, and it should be a priority for everybody.”
As winter approaches, Savage said it needs to be a priority to get more options in place for people living outside.
“Most of the folks in Grand Parade, they’re not making a mess, they just have no place else to live,” he said.
“And many of them work. They get up in the morning, they go to work, they can’t afford a place to live. So we have to work to find solutions.”
More affordable housing needed
One solution being pushed for by advocates is more affordable housing – and to that end, the province recently announced that it will start building public housing again, after a nearly 30-year hiatus.
More than 220 units will be built on provincially-owned land close to existing public housing developments in Bridgewater, Kentville, Truro, as well as multiple locations in Cape Breton and Halifax Regional Municipality.
But reaction to the announcement was mixed, with Halifax councillor Waye Mason saying that is “not enough,” noting that 222 units across the province when the population of Halifax itself is growing by 20,000 per year is insufficient.
There is currently a waiting list of close to 5,000 people for public housing.
Meanwhile, Ellsworth said more needs to be done – and soon.
“I just wish that there would be more attention paid to people instead of superstructure,” he said. “Look at the condominiums that have gone up in the last year. There’s no place for low-rent housing.”
He hopes to be in a warm place when winter comes.
“Those tents are summertime tents,” said Ellsworth. “You get ice and snow on those, you’ll wake up covered.”
— with files from Megan King
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