‘This became a family’: A Better Tent City celebrates six years

CTV’s Karis Mapp speaks to former and current residents of A Better Tent City as the community celebrates its sixth anniversary.

There was no fanfare or cake, but there was plenty of gratitude as a community came together to celebrate the anniversary of A Better Tent City.

Anyone who has passed by Ardelt Avenue in Kitchener, Ont. likely noticed a collection of 42 colourful 8x10 cabins set up on a former industrial lot. It is known as A Better Tent City, and it began in 2020 as a low-barrier answer to the persistent housing problem.

“We had no plans. We just wanted to help with the homeless crisis,” Nadine Green, co-founder of A Better Tent City, explained. “People were just homeless and [had] nowhere to go.”

People who live at A Better Tent City have a safe, stable place to stay, access to hygiene and sanitation facilities and connections to support services, such as a methadone treatment program.

Over the years, more amenities and opportunities for growth have been offered. Today, residents work alongside volunteers to help cook for their neighbours and some people even earn money by doing work to support the community.

It became a haven for people who felt they had no other options.

“People who didn’t want to go into shelters, people who are couples, people with pets. There was no place for them,” Green said.

Now, six years after the first residents were welcomed, approximately 70 people call the community home.

“A lot of people here have mental health issues and suffer from addiction, as I do myself,” former resident Holly Windsor reflected. “They can’t picture themselves anywhere else. In a big way this became a family.”

Although the ultimate goal is to find a permanent home for the residents, Green said people are not forced to leave.

“A lot of people are afraid when they move out, they’re going to be homeless again. People tend to stay here. They need to build more housing where people don’t get kicked out.”

Former residents said the combination of a steady place to call home and access to services helped them beat the odds and create a life they once never thought was possible.

“It helped me with the resources I needed to find stable housing, rent. Then I ended up meeting somebody. I’m living in Maryland doing much better now,” Windsor said.

The shelters may be small, but current residents said it make a big difference.

“This place has my heart,” Diana Myers, A Better Tent City resident, told CTV News.

“Everybody has a home. They could lock their doors, you know, feel peace and stuff life that,” she said.

“A lot of people don’t understand you have a street family. I’ve been on my own since I was 14, so it’s a big deal,” Jaimi-Lee Sullivan, a former resident, said.

The City of Kitchener owns the land and said it reviews license agreements on an annual basis.