Martine Lee has only lived in Stratford since March but has decided to take a stand against what she said is a lack of action by the city on homelessness.
The 37-year-old has been a self-proclaimed activist for the homeless when she lived in Toronto, Montreal and then London. She explained Stratford City Council’s failure to put more effort into creating a shelter in cold weather prompted her to set up a tent at the bottom of the steps at city hall.
“We are now advocating for what we call an emergency/warming centre for the homeless that will be open overnight. They don’t like it being at the Rotary Complex, so where could it be? They have to figure that out.”
Lee said the city would rather push the issue into the hands of the Council of Churches which is ill-equipped to deal with the responsibilities that come with establishing a shelter. In her experience in other cities, church shelters are required to purchase insurance and even have security guards on site.
“They would need money to buy cots and blankets, and the city refuses to put any money towards it. They just want the churches to fundraise on their own and figure it out.”
Lee is also bringing awareness to the Stratford Connection Centre and encouraging anyone stopping by her tent to donate to the organization.
“I am not affiliated with them, but I am pointing people in the right direction if they want to help.”
The centre is a wrap-around support centre for people who are experiencing homelessness, precarious housing, or other vulnerabilities. It provides both emergency and preventative services: helping with basic daily needs (food, showers, laundry, storage), and connecting people to longer-term supports like case management, housing stability, medical, legal, mental health, and addictions.
Lee, who plans to at least stage her protest at the same location every afternoon this week, explained the reaction was positive on day one.
“Lots of people who used to be homeless or who now are currently homeless came by to show their support. Quite a few people took flyers and one individual said his family is at risk of becoming unhoused because of a renoviction and a woman who is in geared to income housing who could soon be evicted.”
Her hope is for all levels of government to eventually work together to come up with more tangible solutions to the problem, but said first, the city needed to take a look at its own by-laws, which are confusing.
Mayor Martin Ritsma said recently the best way to end homelessness is to create more housing options.
“In my opinion, permanent and supportive housing is where we need to go, and then it’s a continuum of housing from there. People could then go from supportive care to their own apartment with the ability to access supports.”
He also isn’t ruling out some sort of shelter after the city held three consultations on homelessness in August and launched an online survey to gather residents’ feedback.
“It provided an opportunity for people to listen and learn about what we have and share where they think we should be going. Whether it’s more cooperative housing or a shelter, we will present them to council.”
