As Barrie’s housing crisis continues to force people to find alternative means of shelter, some who have a roof over their head say while they feel badly about the situation at Milligan’s Pond, they are not the enemy.
Marie Lewis and her husband have lived at the Barrie Anne Gardens apartment building at 259 Dunlop St. W. for more than 20 years. Their apartment overlooks the treeline and into the area where there’s a driveway into the green space where several people are living and where the memorial rock is located.
Lewis said they have been there since 1999 and are aware of the issues facing Milligan’s Pond.
“We have seen and heard all kinds of things that have gone on there, which is where the woman you had spoken to is living,” Lewis told BarrieToday in reference to a news stories published July 5 and July 13 about Ash Wolf’s cirumstances.
Lewis says she’s angry about the situation, but not at those who are experiencing homelessness.
“Let me be very clear: It’s not that we are angry at people who are homeless. We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination and we could easily see ourselves in their situation if we aren’t careful with our dollar,” Lewis said. “I have every sympathy for those who are out there trying to survive and they are not getting the appropriate help that I think the government should be stepping up to do.”
Lewis said the issue she has — beyond a lack of government help — is the partying, noise and trash she has witnessed inside Milligan’s Pond, which is located right outside her window.
“I wouldn’t want someone to take their right to have a beer now and then. They’ve got a lot of things making them feel bad and if having a drink is a pleasure of theirs, no one should bother them for it,” Lewis said. “But, for example, the recent long weekend, there was a lot of yelling and a fight broke out between two girls. It’s loud, the F-bomb gets dropped a lot and that's not neighbourly, that’s not good for kids to hear.”
Lewis said she and her husband often sit on their balcony and have been hollered at from angry people below.
“One occasion, we have someone yell up, pointing, ‘Yeah, you! I see you!’ when all we were doing was sitting on our balcony,” she said. “I feel they think we’re calling police, but that’s not the case and we shouldn’t be yelled at for enjoying the apartment we have been in for so many years.”
Lewis says she and her husband have even gone into Milligan’s Pond on three occasions to give out firewood and food.
She said she took it to heart when Wolf stated in a previous BarrieToday article that “no one seems to be bothered except someone who is already housed and decided to make a complaint because they have nothing better to do with their time.”
“I took offence to that. I can’t help that we are living our lives, and that’s not a fair thing to say about tenants here just because we live here,” Lewis said. “We pay rent here, which, by the way, isn’t cheap.”
Coun. Keenan Aylwin, who represents this area of the city, was asked about Lewis’s comments that government was not doing enough.
“The city, the province and the federal government have completely failed on housing and homelessness. It is so completely unacceptable that there are people in our city and across this country that are denied their basic human right to housing and forced to live rough to survive,” Aylwin told BarrieToday.
“We need massive public investment in social and supportive housing,” he added. “We need all levels of government to have the political courage to recognize that housing is a basic human need, not an investment vehicle for landlords and wealthy property owners.”
When asked how he would respond to residents about something being done about the noise and disruptions Lewis mentioned, if anything can be done without having the people at Milligan’s Pond evicted, Aylwin said there are obvious ways to help.
“The only true solution to encampments is housing. We know that in this intense housing crisis there aren’t enough social housing units or affordable units available,” he said. “Encampments are people’s homes. People in encampments deserve to be supported and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
“Homelessness is a traumatic experience. We should ensure that we provide real social service supports and health care to people in encampments rather than further traumatizing them by evicting or over-policing and surveilling them.”
