Some of Edmonton's inner city homeless have set up a new tent city after being evicted from a parking lot behind a non-profit agency.
About two dozen people were evicted on Friday from the Bissell Centre parking lot because Capital Health officials said there wasn't proper sewage and water facilities.
About two dozen people evicted Friday from a parking lot moved across the street to an empty field, setting up more than 20 tents and makeshift shacks.
(CBC)
The homeless moved across the street to an empty field, setting up more than 20 tents and makeshift shacks.
"This is my home right here … It's just a four-man tent. It cost me a hundred bucks," said Lorrie Neryinck. "We're not skid row trash. We are good people. People who came from good neighbourhoods."
Arley Hanna lives a few tents over. Police have asked him to move his tent seven times in the last three months, he said.
"They are polite every time. They're not ignorant. They're very kind."
Hanna said even though the police are helpful, it's hard to relocate.
"Every time we've got to move we're getting more depressed, more down."
Alberta's boom is putting people on the streets, and the province could do more to control rising rents, said Neryinck.
The campers want to get Premier Ed Stelmach's attention by marching to the Alberta legislature at the end of this month.
The Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness said 41 homeless people died in the city in 2006. The organization said there are 2,600 homeless people living in Edmonton, up 20 per cent from 2004.
