Bruce Boyko warms his hands above a portable propane heater, sitting on the ledge outside the Guelph Concert Theatre at the top of Wyndham Street. For now, this spot is home.
It’s -10 C outside as the sun sits high in the sky, -20 with the windchill, though the wind is partially blocked. He’s wearing a couple of winter coats and a thick winter hat as his hands hover over the heater and his breath crystallizes in the air.
Next to him is a cardboard refrigerator box turned on its side, with shoelaces strung across the inside to hold the sides up straight … or reasonably so. The bottom of the box is open so he can crawl in and out, with a piece of removable cardboard covering the opening and a small pole to hold the box open.
This is where he sleeps.
“It’s not a great lifestyle, but if you know how to survive, you can do it,” he says. “This is my first time out in the streets here in Guelph.”
Life would be a lot different if not for the pandemic, Boyko believes.
“The virus is shutting everybody down, small businesses are closing up, families are falling apart,” he says. “I’m not planning on staying here, but as long as this virus is going on or until they can come up with a better system for housing, I’m stuck.”
The 63-year-old says he lost his job when the metal recycling facility where he’d been working had to cut back in light of COVID-19.
Then complications led to him losing his apartment and he says he’s not allowed at the shelter.
Boyko was offered a hotel room but he turned it down for a couple of reasons – he isn’t allowed to bring the shopping cart where he keeps all his things, and there’s no access to food there.
“I’d still have to go back and forth,” he says of downtown, where he can get two meals per day throughout the week, as well as one on Saturday, at Royal City Mission.
It is not uncommon for people to choose living rough over the shelter system, for a number of reasons.
There are tented camps where he considered staying, but those are also too far from downtown.
“The cops are shutting everybody down,” he added of tented encampments.
Though far from ideal, his ledge provides a covering and is partially blocked from the wind. It’s also near Royal City Mission and customers at nearby restaurants sometimes buy extra food and drop it off to him.
And while it’s a very visible location, it’s on private property, so police and city bylaw officers are unable to move him along. Boyko insists he has the owners’ permission to be there.
At first, he put up a tent to provide some protection from the elements, but that’s against a city bylaw and he had to take it down.
“I think it would be a lot better than having a cardboard box outside or two grocery carts and a piece of plastic. If it’s a tent, it’s a little more presentable than some of the stuff we’re using,” Boyko says, speaking of unhomed people in general.
“There’s people sleeping on the concrete,” he adds, pointing south on Wyndham Street, toward the heart of downtown, “which isn’t too healthy.”
On the ledge he’s off the ground, away from the frost and dampness.
The location comes with another appealing attribute – its high profile makes it incredibly difficult for people to ignore, which Boyko believes is often the case with homelessness in Guelph.
“Now they can’t miss it. They see you sitting here, they have to say something,” he says, hoping his presence draws attention and results in action to address issues that lead to homelessness.
For the most part, Boyko says passersby have been respectful and supportive, though he has been the victim of a few thefts.
“There’s been nobody complaining. Not to me anyway.”
