Sometimes, you don’t get involved in a problem till it’s on your doorstep. Sometimes even then, it’s not enough to galvanize you to action for any variety of complicated reasons. I have been watching, passively, as more and more fellow citizens pitch tents in city parks, feeling heartbroken for those folks, for the circumstances that brought them to a deeply imperfect, unideal option for housing themselves.

I have felt a flare of anger at the outpouring of help offered to those displaced by our recent floods and fires in Nova Scotia. That may sound backward to you. It has enraged me to see the way that Nova Scotian businesses and government officials have offered help and comfort to those who lost their homes in catastrophic climate events this summer. Not because those folks aren’t deserving of help and comfort. But because it has revealed how easily, how beautifully we will extend ourselves to those we perceive as being like us, and it revealed how utterly we have failed to extend ourselves to everyone in need. Businesses made sure people knew that if they were experiencing power outages, or were staying in temporary settings because of the fires and floods, they could drop by, charge their phones, use the bathroom. There is no such outpouring for our neighbours—at least tenfold more than pre-Covid—who are forced to pitch a tent on (unceded and unsurrendered Mi’kma’ki) city land. Where do they charge their phones, get out of the heat or rain for a rest, use a bathroom?

Our politicians love to talk about how generous Nova Scotians are, how we rise to a challenge, how we take care of each other. That’s a very convenient way for our politicians to get away with not doing the same.

But the housing crisis we are in the midst of is not going to be solved by individual Nova Scotians and their generous spirits. It just isn’t. There have been decades-long failures by successive governments at every level—decisions made and neglected, actions taken or not, policies gutted and already-rich pockets lined—that have led us to our current state. The three levels of government—federal, provincial, and municipal—love to play hot potato with who’s responsible for housing, and by extension, for the housing crisis. The truth is, they all have a role to play and responsibility to bear—and officially, it’s a provincial portfolio. Which means, in Nova Scotia right now, it’s up to Premier Tim Houston and Housing Minister John Lohr and their colleagues to get their program in gear.

And listen, I am no expert on this. I am just a mad, middle-aged woman with a ton of privilege and a way with words. So please, if you are interested in learning more, hit Google. Check out Acorn,  Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, and lots of others doing good work in this space.

What I do know is that the growing rows of tents in our parks reveals the many and various ways our governments (and therefore we as citizens and voters) have failed our communities. The tents are not the problem. They are a symptom of the problem.

So, when city staff brought forth a proposal for Halifax Regional Council to consider, as a way to mitigate the effects of many hundreds of unhoused people who are living in tents in city parks, people predictably went a little nuts. The city is planning a new encampment on the north Commons! The city’s solution to homelessness is to put people in tents on the ball diamonds in the park! The city won’t police dog owners to keep their dogs on leashes, but they say they’ll police the people living in the tents on the Common! Some things about all of that:

1. The city isn’t doing any of that. A staff proposal has been brought forward for discussion. These ideas are not policy. People are already living in tents. That is happening. It’s not the city’s plan. It’s a matter of fact. They are living in tents on land that is under city jurisdiction. It’s not good. No one thinks it’s good. Or the best idea. Or sustainable, or safe, or humane. It just is happening. One of the mechanisms the city has is to bring things forward to force a public conversation, such as is happening now, and try to help people understand that the province needs to step up and attend to the housing crisis, like, NOW.
2. (The city is not blameless here! They have, over the years, made it really easy for developers to knock down housing and replace it with vacant lots, or high-priced condos. They have failed to get a meaningful grip on Airbnb and the impact it has had on the rental market in Halifax. They violently evicted unhoused people from the old library and lied about it! They did not have plans in place for those they evicted! I can’t believe I am suddenly in the position of defending the city!)
3. Predictably, every NIMBYer in the North End got their trousers in a twist. I awoke to this tone-deaf, compassionless, privileged piece of garbage propaganda in my mailbox this morning, which is how we all find ourselves here on this blog, reading this barely cohesive rant.

Let’s leave aside this seemingly newly formed organization, for the moment, but neighbour, know that I am onto you and your bullshit. If the part you’re mad about is that people are tenting on the Common and you’re afraid that once this encampment is established it will never go away and you’ll never get access to that part of the Common again—you are missing the point. The problem is not that people will be tenting on the Common. It is that people are having to live in tents instead of being properly housed.

Thing is, the province knows how to mitigate homelessness—when the people in need of housing are healthcare workers, or those displaced by recent fires or floods. What is needed here is some of that same energy brought to housing folks who are right now living in tents. These are our neighbours. They are just like us—they want to be happy, they want to be safe. They deserve to be happy, they deserve to be safe. The mechanism that made them homeless may not tug the heartstrings like a wildfire or a flash flood. But they deserve to be met by the same boundless compassion, understanding, resources, and positive attention as any Nova Scotian who was made homeless by the climate crisis this summer.

Friends, here it is. I don’t know the half of it. Okay? But I know that we are facing great big hairy challenges. Those challenges are not far away, they are not in the future. They are here, they are now, and they are not going away.

Nova Scotians do step up to help when others are in need, so much of the time. Our governments are right about that. But you know what? Our governments are Nova Scotian too. They have a lot more resources to make change at their disposal than you or I. And though a lot of the time it doesn’t feel like it, they are supposed to take direction from us. And I suppose in a way, they do, when we remain silent on something that doesn’t seem to directly affect us. I don’t know about you, but I am feeling directly affected by the housing crisis in Halifax, and not because the city is talking about facilitating tent sites on the North Common which I can see from my front porch. That’s not the part to be mad about, sis. We are all connected and when some of us are being forced to make our homes in tents, the rest of us need to fucking smarten up and help, not complain their tent is blocking the view.

So. My invitation is this: Step up, now. Do it in a meaningful, politically informed way. Insist that your MLA talk to you about housing. Write to every MLA, and Premier Houston as well. Call in to CBC Radio and register your point of view. Write to your councillor and the mayor. It is disgraceful that people are being forced to sleep in tents in this moment in this place. We have more than enough to go around. We rise to the occasion. It’s time to act like it.

ETA: Thanks to my pal and yours Allison Outhit for putting together the comprehensive Google Doc of MLA contact info linked above!

Also, please note this bananas provincial surplus. Kinda seems like some of that could help put some folks into some housing, no?