This article was previously published on GuelphToday.
Aaron Collins lives in an encampment tucked in the trees at the end of Armstrong Avenue near Lyon Park.
He's following all the rules of the city's new bylaw: setting up his tent in an unrestricted area according to the bylaw map, his propane tanks are stored safely and have been inspected by city officials. He’s doing his best to keep it clean and tidy, and even has wood chips lining the ground to prevent mud.
But the Guelph man is being met by conflict and confrontation in a neighbourhood that wants him gone.
Since moving in Oct. 1, he’s been told several times by frustrated and angry neighbours: “We don’t want you here.”
It's a tense scenario likely to play out elsewhere as the city prepares to evict encampments from places now prohibited under the new public space use bylaw, like St. George’s Square.
Born and raised in Guelph and recently fallen on hard times, Collins chose his spot because it was a neighbourhood he was familiar with and felt safe in, parking his car on a nearby street.
“But it turns out, that’s not the case,” he said.
Neighbourhood residents have repeatedly expressed their indignation to Collins about his presence, and the bylaw allowing encampments so close to their homes.
After one too many unpleasant interactions left him feeling unsafe parking on Armstrong Avenue, he moved his car to the next street over.
He parked in front of a structure that, while there was no sign, he wasn’t supposed to block. A neighbour told him so, and the discussion grew heated.
Collins began recording the interaction, which resulted in a verbal altercation between him and six other neighbours telling him he’s unwelcome.
In the video shown to GuelphToday, Collins asks why he’s being treated this way and what he’s done to upset them.
“You did not do nothing, but your trash is piling up, there’s junk over there, there’ll be junk over there,” one neighbour says while his wife and two more neighbours watch.
“I do not need this f***ing shit,” the neighbour shouts.
“This is no place for you, move along,” the man’s wife says. “We pay taxes.”
One neighbour said he would happily bring him food, but “the last thing I need is to look out my window and see blue tarps," and that they have no recourse for addressing the encampments.
Another two neighbours arrive from the next street over, asking if everything is ok, concerned about all the shouting. When they discover the anger is directed at Collins, they join in.
“I don’t want you here,” one woman says. “You’ve cut down the forest. You’ve removed homes that the animals and the insects are living in. You have propane heaters that are against the law.”
She tells him to get educated and get a job “and move into a real dwelling.”
“I don’t need to know your situation. Do you know how much taxes we pay to live here? You’re bringing an element to our neighbourhood that we don’t appreciate,” she said.
Not long after he returned home, a firecracker was thrown into his encampment.
Guelph Police Services confirmed a report was made for the verbal dispute, and again for the firecracker, though there were no injuries or evidence the officers could follow up on.
The initial neighbour, who asked not to be named, said he was already on edge from an earlier incident where a person pushing a shopping cart was on their street screaming “like a mad man” at his wife, and it terrified them.
They called the police, and were waiting for them to arrive when Collins parked his car on their street.
He said he regrets how he handled the situation; “it’s eating me alive.”
“I feel real bad that I lost it, but after what happened to (his wife), all I was seeing was red,” he said.
He said many area residents are afraid, and upset the city didn’t consult them or let them know this was happening.
With encampments nearby, he’s concerned about drug use, waste and fires breaking out.
“There’s a lady here, she’s so afraid she carries a knife with her when she takes her dogs out for a walk.”
Collins is afraid too.
“I’m scared to leave, that as soon as I leave all of my possessions are going to get destroyed. Then at night I’m trying to fall asleep thinking I will wake up in a ball of fire,” he said, worried another firecracker will be thrown into his encampment.
"This is so much more serious than people being annoyed,” he said.
Collins says he became unhoused after being attacked by a group of men downtown Guelph last year, left with a traumatic brain injury, knee, ear and eye injuries and “severe PTSD.”
Though his friends launched a GoFundMe to help him recover, unable to work, he was evicted not long after for missing rent payments, and spent the next six months living out of his car.
He hoped the bylaw would give him the chance to live in peace while he tries to put his life back together, but noted it’s not helping the unhoused directly, and that the unrestricted areas on the map are also often in ditches, on hills, or in the middle of parks with no privacy.
One neighbour agreed, adding it was nothing more than a Band-Aid to get people out of downtown.
“Next summer when the winter is over, my thinking is it’s gonna look like a shanty town,” he said.
“I was born and raised in this town, and this to me is disgusting. I’m so sick and tired of this,” his wife said. “We moved here specifically for the (park), and now we want to get further away from it.”
Another neighbour who asked to remain anonymous agreed the encampments are too close to their homes, and is upset with the lack of public consultation.
“I don’t think they should be in encampments this close to any of the homes, because they bring with them their problems. They’re not easy to deal with. They have a real sorry-for-me attitude,” she said.
She referenced another encampment further down and said it’s the most garbage she’s ever seen in the 38 years she’s lived there.
“I’ve always looked out my patio window to a really nice little quiet bush area. The path is used by multiple families and children. And now I look out to (that).”
She said those in encampments have nothing to lose and aren’t fined if they disagree with the bylaw, “but if we say something or if we do something, then we can be fined or the police get involved.”
“There’s a lot of attention put on them. They’re given a lot of grace to them right now, that I think they don’t have to be accountable. Every single one of us needs to be accountable.”
All three neighbours GuelphToday spoke to said they’ve heard from a number of others about concerns regarding the encampments and the unrestricted areas on the map, though they noted some have no problem with it.
Multiple residents mentioned they believe the encampments are lowering the value of their homes significantly, and that they want to see more consultation and the restricted areas of the bylaw altered to reflect more appropriate spaces.
They also mentioned wanting to see all levels of government working together to find a better solution to homelessness, like tiny homes and ending renovictions.
In the meantime, Collins is working hard to do everything by the book, and said bylaw has been by multiple times and assured him he is.
“That’s one of the reasons I was in my car for so long, because I knew that if I set up camp around town, it’s kind of illegal,” he said.
“I need a home. I’m injured to a degree where it’s very hard for me to get a job,” he said, adding he’s doing everything he can to make money now, from selling old belongings to offering photography sessions. But the neighbourhood tension is making it harder.
“I’m still traumatized,” he said. “These people are right here. They don’t want me here.”
