Anti-poverty advocates are asking Vancouverites to sponsor tents for the homeless at $100 each.
Hundreds of the red tents could go up around Vancouver by the end of this month if the city follows through on the planned closure of seven cold-weather shelters over the next few weeks, said John Richardson of Pivot Legal Society.
“We are hoping to get 100 tents sponsored,” he said, adding it’ll be up to the homeless to decide where in the city to camp.
“There are a number of parks that have been mentioned.”
Fraser, who did not want his last name used, is a resident of the Aboriginal Central Shelter on Central Street.
“(The tents are) probably the No. 1 option … not the best solution, though,” he said.
The first shelter is scheduled to close on April 20.
“Where else are we going to go?” Fraser said. “If I had an apartment building or condo, I wouldn’t want to wake up in the morning and have to step over somebody, but (the homeless) guy has no choice.”
More than 600 people call the HEAT shelters home and Fraser claimed about 60 per cent of the people in his shelter have jobs.
“(When the shelter closes) I have no address. This is my home. What am I going to do, show up (at work) with my big bag of clothes … I don’t think so,” said Fraser.
