SOMEONE LIVES HERE
Directed by Zach Russell
75 min.
In 2020 in the middle of a Global pandemic a Toronto carpenter named Khaleel Seivwright saw a problem in the City and thought he had the skills to help make a difference. He started building tiny wood boxes that homeless people could use to get shelter from the elements when they were unable to find other options for shelter and Tents just didn't provide the necessary protection and safety to live in the brutally cold winter months.
Khaleel quit his job and set up a go fund me account to raise money to build these boxes on wheels to move to encampments in City parks for people to use as they needed without cost to them. What some people thought was a solution to the over burdened shelter system the City and the first responder services apposed them.
This film is heartbreaking to watch because it was an utter failure the way the City handled clearing out the people in the encampments in City parks.
While I agree that they shouldn't be living in City parks, the in humane way the Police and the City handled the evictions was just embarrassing.
They spent almost 2 million dollars dealing with enforcement of the encampment clearing when they could have used those same dollars to set up City property to move the tiny structures to and build a community with supports for the people to get mental and physical health care and help them to find employment and permanent housing.
With a pandemic going on at the time and the unhealthy living conditions at the over crowded shelters and not enough spaces to go to the people that had never been homeless before who lost their jobs because of the closure of businesses due to Covid or for other reasons and the renovictions and rent increases in the City, plus the increased cost of living gave most of these people no other option but to live in a Tent in a park until they could get back on their feet. Instead of the City providing support they forced them out and destroyed their belongings. The brutality that the was used to move these vulnerable people was something you might see in a third world Country and not in North America.
The City fought Khallel all the way saying the structures were unsafe. Living in Tents is unsafe, living in Shelters with people with Covid and mental health issues is unsafe too. The people that were able to stay in the tiny houses had protection from the elements, Covid and violence and crime against them. They felt safe and warm until 1 fire from the inside made the whole option of the tiny shelters crumble like a house of cards.
I worked at Yonge and Dundas for 2 years and at that time I saw the visible increase of the homeless situation with people sleeping on mattresses on the corner of the street and begging for money from students, tourists and workers from every street corner. Trying to find any kind of assistance or shelter they could.
Instead of amending the by laws to find a compromise the City just enforced everyone out and elsewhere. I was in a friends car driving across Carlton and still see tents in the park but not the tiny houses. The problem didn't go away it just moved somewhere else.
What I would really like to see being set up is a space where these tiny homes or better yet, converted shipping containers which are bigger set up similar to the Stackt Market in Toronto where they could be protected by the elements and not disturbing public parks and away from residents who complain and get them shut down. Maybe a space in the Portlands where they could put a few Trailers that can have facilities with running water, showers, toilets and somewhere to do laundry that is maintained by the City and Social workers working with the residents to provide the services needed to move to permanent housing.
Build a community for them instead of pushing them out. A lot of people are one paycheck away from becoming homeless and the government services should be helping and not hurting these situations.
I would like to see what the next Mayor does to change this situation. It's already way past the point of being a Crisis in the City that is spreading like the Pandemic that spread the problem in the first place.
The film had narration that was heartbreaking from a refugee woman who isn't seen but only heard telling her story of how the tiny box helped her gain hope to live.
I wish everyone in the Municipal government would watch this film and come up with a better plan to fix this issue.
This issue is only growing the more and more they try to move it out of sight it just moves somewhere else and becomes a bigger problem.
Does anyone really think people want to live in a tent in a park freezing with no food or money? Would you?
This is not the City I grew up living in. It's a waste of human potential.
Please vote for the people that will work to fix this problem.
Thursday May 4, 2023
4:15pm Tiff Bell Lightbox in Toronto
Tickets: Ticket | Hot Docs
also streaming online May 5-9th
TH
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