[I am writing as a concerned citizen to call for immediate government action to prevent the forcible removal of Tent City Resident Protestors and to call for swift action to provide safe and appropriate housing for unhoused members of the community. Tent City Residents and local volunteers have expressed continuous health & safety concerns regarding the state of available emergency housing. Residents of Tent City who have availed of housing offers and been placed in shelters have expressed concerns about living conditions within the shelters. There have been reports of low food quality, safety threats from roommates, minimal privacy, unhygienic living standards (including mold & open drug use), etc. Tent City has become a safer option to live for many. Despite this, government continues to ignore issues raised by the very people these services are intended to support. Tent City recently shared a resident protestor's experience and they had this to say: 'NL Housing and End Homelessness offered me a shelter spot in a hotel room with my own bedroom and bathroom to shower in. Instead, they sent me to a slum shelter in an area I didn’t know sharing a room with 3 other men with curtains to divide the room, 8 people sharing 1 bathroom, and no phone to call anyone to let them know. I slept on a boxspring with no mattress or bedding. They provide one meal a day and here’s what they fed me for that supper - that’s cheerios and two pieces of dry bread. After one night in the shelter, I am back at Tent City because it’s better here.' That is only one of the many stories that Tent City resident protestors have from their experiences in local shelters. It reflects extremely poorly on the current government that unhoused city residents feel safer and more comfortable living in a tent rather than accessing the housing supports that government is meant to deliver using the residents of Newfoundland & Labrador tax dollars. It is inhumane for government & police to facilitate the forcible removal of Tent City residents who have nowhere else to live without supplying a suitable alternative. I demand government to cease this act of state-sanctioned violence and take appropriate actions to offer safe and affordable housing for all.]

Disclaimer: I am not involved with the official volunteer group. This is a volunteer effort to support my local community!