A new tent city has sprung up along the waterfront in downtown Nanaimo, and residents are calling for action on the affordable housing crisis.
People living in the tents near Port Place Mall say they're calling it "Discontent City" because of false promises made after a similar encampment was removed from Nanaimo City Hall earlier this year.
The tent city was quickly dubbed illegal and was moved off city hall's lawn, but Nanaimo
Activists say residents of the new encampment want to see homes – not shelters – built for people experiencing homelessness in the Harbour City.
"Sometimes you can get moved five times in a night. People are displaced every day and that's what this is about," said Mercedes Courtoreille. "This isn't a localized issue, this is B.C.-wide. This is all communities with an unreal amount of people experiencing homelessness because of the housing crisis."
Protesters say they expect the tent city to grow in the coming days, and plan to stay as long as they need to.
