According to data from Brown’s department, city staff have responded to 375 encampments so far this year. That’s way up from 343 during all of last year and 248 in 2021. In 2020, the first year with comparable data, there were just 65.

Brown said no one has to sleep outside because there’s always space at one of the city’s emergency shelters, on an overflow mat or in an arena used as a physical distancing centre.

But there are all sorts of reasons that might push someone to prefer a tent in a forest clearing or near an old train track, Brown said, such as addiction, mental health issues, trauma or just the search for tranquillity and a bit of space to breathe.

“Really it comes down to their personal preference of where they feel safe, what their kind of prior experience is,” he said. “A lot of them have past trauma.”

  • BedSharkPalOP
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    1 year ago

    I have a lot of sympathy for these people. I think we’re all a lot closer to this than we’d like to think we are.

  • lnsfw3@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 year ago

    It cost an average of $2,058 to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Ottawa in August 2023, according to listings on rentals.ca, which is up from $1,820 in August 2022 and $1,628 in August 2020.

    I wonder what would be affordable for these folks? I used to live next to a rooming house that rented rooms for a couple hundred bucks a month. Is that enough?

    Tbh, free would be fine too.

  • snoons
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    1 year ago

    “A lot of them have past trauma.”

    OPS when they’re about to cause more trauma: