Living on the streets since she was 17, Rose Lamarche said she is not surprised by the growing number of encampments in her hometown of Barrie.
“It's not just in Barrie; it's affordable, safe housing being shut down because of bugs, and people have to pay to live there, but they're being kicked out if they don't make enough money in time,” said Lamarche, now 29.
Lamarche said she has experienced periods of stability over the past 12 years, saying that in the unstable times, asking for help has often been met with harsher judgment, which she described as “a bit classist.” She said years of couch-hopping and unstable shelter have left her fearful of what's to come.
“It’s getting scary, there’s a lot of people I’ve seen pass away as of the last couple of years, whether that's from drug use or homelessness, and it feels like there's a breakdown of community,” Lamarche said.
Her worries reflect the larger emergency at hand. Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall declared a state of emergency on Sept. 9 to deal with an ongoing encampment issue. It was made a priority after this year's murders of two men who apparently lived together at the Anne Street homeless encampment.
“This summer in the city of Barrie, in one of our encampments, we had a double homicide with dismemberment of the individuals. Where the police had to shut down the encampment very quickly in order to investigate the situation,” Nuttall said.
Robert Ladouceur, 52, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the dismemberment deaths of two Barrie men, William “Blake” Robinson and David “Kyle” Cheesequay.
Barrie Today reported police saying, “both men disappeared from a Barrie homeless encampment near Anne and Victoria Street about six months apart earlier this year.”
Nuttall first raised his concerns about encampments in 2018 and 2019, due to the opioid emergency and fentanyl crisis that was spreading across the country. Nuttall wrote a report about the growing problem, which he said was later dismissed.
“I asked Barrie city council at that point to declare a state of emergency, which they did not do, and so this was something I talked about in the House of Commons when I was a member of parliament,” he said.
“Fast forward to two years later, it got to the point again where I felt that the state of emergency was the correct avenue to be able to meet the day on encampments, and the criminality and lack of safety that takes place inside of them,” said Nuttall, who served as the MP for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding from 2015 to 2019.
However, declaring a state of emergency because of the increase in camps and concerns for citizens’ safety does not address the needs of those living without houses, Lamarche said.
She views the state of emergency as a way of pushing the problem away rather than solving the issues faced by those living without housing. The city is not providing enough food programs, affordable housing, and work.
“Everyone's staying in the hotels in the state of emergency, but this is happening everywhere. It seems like the officials are trying to push everyone out,” Lamarche said.
While Barrie citizens like Lamarche and her acquaintance Badger talked about being pushed aside, housed resident Brodi Hanlon said the issue with encampments is not new.
“It’s just an issue becoming more visible here,” Hanlon said.
She said she worries the “state of emergency will not address the root of the issues like the lack of affordable housing or mental health and addiction support.”
However, Nuttall said the county of Simcoe is “building 215 units on Rose Street in Barrie that will be for affordable housing and market rents.”
“Barrie has put $30 million on top of that investment and will probably be increasing it to affordable housing throughout our area,” Nuttall said.
He said his plan is “to get individuals to take a long-term look at their lives, to take a long-term look at getting healthy, defeating addictions, or living in a way that they're not owning their lives.”
Although housing is important, Nuttall said shelter is a short-term approach to the larger issue, and what municipalities are trying to do is build capacity down the system for individuals who can improve their lifestyle.
Nuttall said, “Work that's being done right now in the shelters is to coordinate all of these services in a way that allows for success in moving out of a lifestyle on the street and into a more stable atmosphere."
But for unhoused Barrie residents like Lamarche, the change cannot wait to happen. Help is needed now. Even though homelessness is an “emergency everywhere, it wouldn’t be an emergency if you just dealt with it,” she said.
