Motorhome-dwelling residents parked on a northeast industrial street say they won’t obey a city order to vacate their perches.
Last month, the residents were given a temporary exemption from the city that they believed would allow them to stay on Moraine Rd. N.E. until suitable alternative arrangements can be found.
But they say this week, city officials handed them permits that are set to expire Nov. 21.
Some of those occupying nine RVs parked along the west side of the street deny their presence is a safety hazard and say they won’t move next month.
“We’re not moving, it won’t happen – this permit is a joke, there’s no solution there,” said Victor LaRock, 50, who said he’s been parked on the street for a decade.
“What we do want is respect and to be treated decently.”
James Wright, a newer arrival at the site echoed those sentiments as he sat on lawn chairs with his neighbours on a grassy boulevard next to their motor homes.
“What changed? Why was our exemption revoked?” said Wright, 50, who lives off $1,800 in monthly Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) payments.
“I’m going to hold my ground because they need to stick to their word.”
Solar panels sat propped up on the grass, powering the residents’ devices while small turbines fixed to the vehicles’ roofs capture more energy.
The windows inside LaRock’s cluttered 30-ft., 40-year-old motor home are lined with insulation blankets while a wood-burning stove sits ready to heat the space for the coming winter.
“When I get up in the morning on the coldest days, it’s pretty cold in here but once I get the fire going, I keep it comfortable and livable,” said LaRock, adding he survives on an $800 monthly Canada Pension Plan Disability cheque.
The ex-trucker said multiple physical infirmities prevent him from working.
A monitor screen tracks surveillance cameras mounted on the vehicle that he says enhances security for himself, other residents and adjacent businesses.
He produces a heap of envelopes containing parking tickets – 21 issued in the past three years – that’s he says he’s so far successfully fought or seen withdrawn.
Those defeats, he said, have drawn a vendetta against him and his neighbours from city officials.
“A hundred per cent, it’s harassment, they’re on a crusade,” said LaRock.
The city’s efforts to pry them from Moraine Rd. will scatter a group of people who look out for each other and adjacent businesses, said Wright.
“We are a community right now” he said.
“Why not let us use land now while (the city) isn’t using it?”
The RV dwellers say they’re a symptom of a cost-of-living and affordable housing crisis but insist they’d be willing to pay some amount of rent to say on a designated plot of land.”
A city bylaw prohibits RVs from parking on residential streets for longer than 36 hours and the Moraine Rd. group say their vehicles would be rejected by housing parks because they’re too old.
The area’s city councillor said an interim location for the Moraine Rd. residents still needs to be found on a more suitable street in an industrial area.
But Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said finding a more permanent solution – a lot where the RVs can be parked – would likely take a year to finalize.
“A lot of details would have to be ironed out in terms of tying in social services, it would require a land-use change with a public hearing,” he said.
“It would have to be managed by a social agency, not the city itself.”
Providing income supports for those not able to afford proper housing falls to the province, he noted.
But for now, RV residents remaining on Moraine Rd. is untenable, for a host of reasons including safety and blocking access for industrial tenants who’ve been complaining about the situation, said Chabot.
“It makes it hard for two tractor trailers to pass one another – we can’t continue this,” he said, adding the presence of RVs there has grown in recent weeks and invites “a free-for all” for people seeking to park their trailer units for free on a street.
“They’ve been able to get away with it rent-free.”
Ultimately, the solution is to accelerate the city’s housing strategy adopted 13 months ago, said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
“I would like to see us doing more modular builds – something that can go up quickly so that people don’t have to live in their recreational vehicles,” Gondek said earlier this week.
“I continue to push administration to get us some results on providing housing where people can live with dignity, and safely.”
— With files from Scott Strasser