New shelter on horizon for St. James shed resident

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This article was published 19/09/2022 (1130 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A homeless man who made headlines for living in a shed on city property in St. James for a month is getting help finding safe housing, income assistance and employment.

However, it didn’t come before complaints, media scrutiny and even threats of violence from nearby residents, the man says.

The tiny home suddenly appeared in a brush in between a park and a community garden in St. James in August. It has no electricity or running water, but it’s been a chance at safe shelter for 40-year-old Jerry (who asked the Free Press withhold his last name at the request of his mother).

The piece of land, who a neighbour said was vacant for years, is owned by the City of Winnipeg. The shed, Jerry tells the Free Press, was a gift from a friend.

“I’ve been told that if this (shed) doesn’t get moved out of here, it’s going to be burned down, stuff like that,” Jerry said Monday afternoon, outside of the makeshift home.

“A neighbour over there, someone went over there, and (said): ‘Maybe we’ll burn him out, or smoke him out.’”

Signs of that fear are littered across the grass. A mason jar with spoons tied to wire stretching in front of the building (so if someone walks by and kicks it, it’ll make noise, Jerry explains). A handmade sign near the entrance reads: “Beware HIV+.”

Jerry is indeed HIV-positive (he’s been able to access daily antiretroviral therapy to control the virus) but said he made the sign because he was desperate to keep people — be it angry homeowners or anyone else — away.

“I didn’t feel safe downtown, in the West End or the North End, so I came down this way,” he said. “And now it’s back to feeling not safe again.”

Jerry said before he was homeless, he lived in a home in the St. James area for more than 20 years, and worked as a rink attendant at the Keith Bodley Arena.

After a string of unfortunate circumstances, including a violent assault that left him impaired, Jerry returned to his home community of Sandy Bay First Nation. Now, he’s back in St. James but without a fixed address.

“A lot of these people do know me — well, they should recognize me anyways, I was their kids’ rink attendant for so long… I don’t know why all of a sudden they’re treating me like this,” he said.

Some in St. James who have expressed concern about the shed have pointed to possible safety issues and worries about Jerry’s well-being, loud noise coming from the shelter, and a woman who had been staying with Jerry. (One area resident said she walked into an unlocked home, resulting in the residents calling police.)

“They’re just concerned about the house being in that location, and people coming and going from the location,” St. James councillor and mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham told the Free Press last week. “I share their concerns, it’s not an appropriate place for a house.”

With those complaints came media attention. After a news segment about the tiny home aired last week, Jerry said a man accused him of stealing from his garage and threatened him with violence if he didn’t leave.

“I don’t bother anybody. They have their gardens here, I don’t touch their gardens or nothing like that. I’ve actually stopped people from stealing from the gardens at night time… And then the next day, people tell me ‘Get lost, get this out of here,’” Jerry said.

Winnipeg city services, non-profit End Homeless Winnipeg and the Manitoba Métis Federation have all offered help to Jerry — and he’s taken it.

He said the city is offering to set him up in a hotel this week, along with helping him begin work on receiving Employment and Income Assistance. End Homelessness has brought him food, water and other essentials. The MMF is working with him to find more permanent housing.

When everything is settled, the shed will be returned to his friend, Jerry said.

While he stressed there are unhoused people across the city being offered the same level of support, End Homelessness president Jason Whitford called the nature of this situation “the response of the privileged.”

“I think there’s added pressure here because of the population and maybe because it’s St. James,” he said. “If it was the North End, do you think it would get the same attention? Probably not.”

Whitford is also from Sandy Bay First Nation — Jerry referred to him as “almost like family” when discussing the help he’s received from End Homelessness — and said despite best efforts from leadership on First Nations, there is “minimal dollars for off-reserve people” given to them at the federal level.

The financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has also set back many vulnerable people in Winnipeg, Whitford said. “I think we’ve got to be more compassionate, we’ve got to be more understanding, more patient.”

The MMF is working to connect Jerry with affordable shelter, federation housing minister Will Goodon said.

“To see that Jerry is finding a place where he can be safe, that’s fantastic, and that’s exactly what we want to do,” Goodon said. “But (his situation is) not uncommon.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca