Unhoused - Canada
One to two thousand people sleep rough in Toronto every night; meaning they are living outdoors under bridges, in tents, and makeshift shelters. During the COVID-19 pandemic encampments began to spring up in parks throughout the city. With restrictions in place for months at a time, the availability of indoor spaces was drastically reduced.
This project began in 2020 with a desire to document homelessness in Toronto and evolved with a desire to gain deeper understanding of the people experiencing homelessness in Toronto.
In late 2020 a man known as Georgia, who was living at an encampment near Toronto’s waterfront, became a vocal point in the project. After a fire engulfed and destroyed Georgia’s encampment, and resulted in him being hospitalized, Georgia eventually moved to Trinity Bellwoods Park. He provided insight into the realities of homelessness and survival in the urban outdoors.
As the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on so did the realities of living without housing in unsanctioned encampments in public parks. People came and went; some were banished by residents of encampments and found other places to sleep, others were put up in hotels by the city. In the summer of 2021 City of Toronto mandated evictions of encampments led to clashes between encampment residents, and their supporters, and the Toronto Police Services. Trinity Bellwoods Park and Alexandra Park were cleared of all encampments. The need for affordable and supportive housing has never been more evident yet the complexities around homelessness continue to confound the city.
The chronologically organized photographs provide glimpses of the lives of those in the encampments.
March 30, 2020: Various items strewn outside of a makeshift shelter next to the Metropolitan United Church.
May 11, 2020: A woman sits amid various items in a TTC streetcar shelter on Queen Street West.
May 15, 2020: Members of the Toronto Police Services approach a man during the eviction of his encampment under the Gardiner Expressway.
October 5, 2020: Domenico Saxida (Bubbles) repairs his encampment at Alexandra Park following a police raid in the middle of the night.
November 4, 2020: Derrick poses next to his encampment in Moss Park after he was given a Tiny Shelter from Khaleel Seivwright.
November 8, 2020. Domenico Saxida (Bubbles) in his newly set up encampment at Alexandra Park.
December 7, 2020: A deteriorating Canadian flag towel on the ground next to an encampment in Moss Park.
December 8, 2020: Georgia and Mateo inside a makeshift shelter next to Fleet Street.
5. December 9, 2020: Jimmy the Artist, in costume, mimics a gorilla, at an encampment next to Fleet Street.
December 10, 2020: Clancy and Mateo sit inside a makeshift shelter next to Fleet Street. Days later the entire encampment was destroyed by a fire.
December 15, 2020: Georgia inside a dumpster behind a condominium shop where he collects discarded packaged groceries.
December 17, 2020: Clancy looks over items at The Bentway, where he stayed for weeks awaiting his friend Georgia to be discharged from the hospital, following injuries sustained in the Fleet Street fire.
January 6, 2021: Various pieces of debris, including a needle, lay scattered at an abandoned encampment at The Bentway.
January 20, 2021: A City of Toronto crew removes the remnants of an abandoned encampment in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
January 28, 2021: Georgia looks through found and donated items in his tent in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 5, 2021: Kenny inside a tent in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 13, 2021: Georgia uses a brush to remove snow accumulating on his tent in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 16, 2021: A man who referred to himself as "I Swim", inside Georgia's tent in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 17, 2021: Two Toronto Tiny Shelters in Orphans Green Park; one destroyed by a fire that killed a man inside.
February 18, 2021: Kenny pokes his head out from a tent in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 18, 2021: Jimmy the Artist looks through his items in a tent in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 18, 2021: "I Swim" and Georgia eat chilli out of cups while they wait for a light to change green at Queen and Shaw streets.
February 22, 2021: Nuno in Georgia's tent at Trinity Bellwoods Park.
February 27, 2021: Aboard a streetcar, Kenny, organizes the pens, pencils, and markers he uses for his signs while out panhandling. Toronto, ON.
March 8, 2021: J the Letter pours fake blood onto a costume piece next to his Toronto Tiny Shelter in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
March 29, 2021: Kenny in distress as he looks for a place to inject fentanyl in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
March 30, 2021: Georgia's encampment in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
June 22, 2021: J the Letter and Matthew, are approached by members of the Toronto Police Services Public Order unit, during the eviction of encampments in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
June 24, 2021: Georgia uses his mouth to feed a baby pigeon underneath a bridge that runs along Bathurst Street.
July 20, 2021: Heavy machinery is used to remove items during an eviction of encampments in Alexandra Park.
July 27, 2021: Georgia looks through items found in a dumpster next to the Gardiner Expressway.
August 16, 2021: Georgia with a stroller filled with items next to an encampment under a bridge that runs along Bathurst Street.
September 15, 2021: An unidentified man, left, and Georgia, right, speak next to an encampment next to Fort York.
October 21, 2021: Georgia with some of his items at an encampment under a bridge that runs along Bathurst Street.
October 28, 2021: A person blanketed by a tarp lays on the grass in Alexandra Park.
November 2, 2021: "J the Letter" makes are at an encampment in Dufferin Grove Park.
February 1, 2022: Georgia eats a snack next to a cart of his belongings on Cameron Street.
February 21, 2024: Davit (Georgia) in Clarence Square Park.
April 10, 2024: Four security personnel next to their vehicles parked on the street next to Clarence Square Park.
May 29, 2024: Matt Bigelow injects methamphetamine at an encampment in Clarence Square Park.
May 29, 2024: A public bench in Clarence Square Park with the words housing is a human right handwritten on it.
June 11, 2024: A mirror laying on the ground next to an encampment in Clarence Square Park reflects condo towers nearby.
July 2, 2024: Ali prepares food for his chickens in the parking lot of Habitant Arena where he brings his 20 chickens which he houses in his van to pasture. Ali currently lives at the City of Toronto operated shelter housed in the former Toronto Plaza Hotel.
July 3, 2024: Toronto Community Paramedics tend to Davit (Georgia) in Clarence Square Park. They checked his vitals and gave him advice and cared for his injured leg.
July 3, 2024: Tattoos of a rose and the name Owen on the forearms of Michelle who has lived in Clarence Square Park since about October 2023. Owen is 8 years old, her son, who is staying with her parents. Michelle was supposed to be studying to become a teacher but between an abusive relationship, mental health, and housing, she dropped out.
July 26, 2024: An encampment in Marilyn Bell Park on the day of a planned eviction. The residents were given several more days to vacate.
July 30, 2024: A man who did not provide his name, and who roams the streets of downtown with his cart, is pictured in an alleyway off Spadina Avenue.
July 30, 2024: A memorial to Terra Cosier is all that's left of an encampment in Marilyn Bell Park.