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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, OCAP's 'Safe Park' Exposes Crisis of Homelessness - Article﻿</title>﻿
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﻿<b﻿>﻿OCAP's 'Safe Park' Exposes Crisis of Homelessness 
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by Todd Gordon﻿<br﻿>﻿
﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, September - October 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
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The City of Toronto has declared homelessness a "national disaster". High rates of unemployment, together with changes to the conditions for eligibility for unemployment insurance, Ontario's 22 percent cut to welfare rates, and both the federal and Ontario governments' withdrawal from support for public housing has led to a crisis of massive proportions.
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The homeless population is marked by its diversity, not restricted by gender, age, or ethno-racial identity, but only by class. It includes single mothers and their children, youth, the elderly, people of colour, and the disabled. Conservative estimates place the homeless population in Toronto at 30 000, a number which can only increase as the eviction rate is now 4000 people a month thanks to the provincial Tories new so-called Tenant Protection Act.
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Despite this frightening reality, the City of Toronto is doing precious little. While people are turned away from shelters filled to capacity, the City balks at opening new shelters (under pressure from yuppie homeowners) and has actually closed down existing shelters (for the same reason). On top of this, City Council has now embarked on a three month, $1.9 million "Targeted Policing" campaign (see coverage on page 30 of this issue).
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The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has been leading the fightback against the persecution and oppression of the poor. Besides fighting police tickets issued to homeless people for such things as "dwell in park", and documenting police harassment, OCAP set up a "Safe Park" in Allan Gardens in downtown Toronto. The safe park opened officially with a mass demonstration of 500 people on Sat. August 7. A place of solidarity and support for the homeless, the safe park provided people with meals, shelter and protection from the police. In the end, the park lasted over three days before being violently shut down by police at the behest of the City and Mayor Mel Lastman. That the safe park even lasted that long is a sign of its victory. For over three days people worked collectively to make the park function. By mobilizing a broad network of support from the homeless, activists, community groups and social service agencies, OCAP was able to defy the city and LastmanÕs threats that the park would not be allowed.
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In the face of the initial defeat, however, Lastman was eventually forced to send in hundreds of police early in the morning of Tues. Aug. 10. But even the characteristic police thuggery which marked the park's shut-down cannot overshadow the fact that the homeless demonstrated that they will not lie prostrate in the face of state persecution in a three-day occupation that forced their struggle into the centre of public attention. 
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Given that the safe park received so much mainstream media attention, most of it slanderous, it is important to briefly clear up some of the media's confusion. First, to suggest that the homeless were a minority in the park, as did all mainstream media, is a blatant lie. At one point on the afternoon of the park's opening there may have been more non-homeless than homeless. But beyond that point, especially at night, there were far more homeless than non- homeless. The author can attest to this, as he spent each night in the park.
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Second, the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star claimed only 50 people stayed in the park, while CFRB radio outlandishly suggested that at one point there were only 12 people. This is a total fabrication. The number did not fall below 100 people, day or night, and was in fact usually much higher than that.
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Third, John Jagt, head of Hostel Services for the City of Toronto, repeatedly stated that there is an excess of beds in the hostel system. The mainstream media gobbled up the spoon-fed story up without question and spat it out across its pages. The reality, however, is that people showed up at the safe park who could not get into hostels because they were full. Furthermore, OCAP (which has members who work in the hostel system) has done surveys that found that most downtown hostels are full almost every night. This obviously does not even begin to touch on the condition of hostels and why many people would choose to stay elsewhere. 
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Finally (for now), city councilor Kyle Rae (famous for closing down hostels in his ward where the safe park was held) and the Toronto Star criticized OCAP for going from advocating for housing to advocating for tents. This is a blatant and purposeful misconstrual of OCAPÕs aims. OCAP has repeatedly stated that the safe park is not a substitute for accessible housing. It led a rally in Ottawa last winter for accessible housing and has been a part of the "1 percent campaign", which is premised on the fact that if 1 percent of government budgets in Canada (federal, provincial, and municipal) were spent on affordable housing, there would be no homeless.
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The truth is that governments have opted out of affordable housing and the City of Toronto is currently spending $1.9 million for 11 weeks on a targeted policing campaign, sweeping the homeless, the poor, and people of colour out of parks. This, the mayor says, is to make parks "safe". It is social cleansing, and the safe park is one of OCAP's responses. Of course, the struggle does not end here. OCAP will continue to document police harassment of the poor, while plans are underway for further action in Toronto and a possible demonstration in Ottawa at the re-opening of Parliament. OCAP and its supporters like the New Socialist Group will continue to fight for an end to targeted policing and for accessible housing.
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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Todd Gordon is active with OCAP and the New Socialist Group in Toronto.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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