Like Chicoutimi or Roberval, the city of Trois-Rivières has experienced a very
significant increase in homelessness in recent years. Gentrification with condosspringing up and the closing or conversion of downtown rooming houses to privateaccommodation has thrown many people out, in addition to accommodations convertedinto AirBnBs for tourists. Private developers have the full ear of the city evenif they are detrimental to the well-being of the average tenant. Social housingis abandoned to make way for so-called affordable housing (with public fundingfor developers). The community resources in place to help people who arehomeless, struggling with a labor shortage, are struggling to meet the growingneeds and are putting some people on the sidelines. Without housing or servicesthat meet their needs, homeless people organize themselves as best they can tosurvive: makeshift camps are increasingly visible in the city, heated places suchas ATMs serve as refuge and the church Sainte-Marguerite was squatted last year.The squat has since been evicted, but, in a sign that the leaders don'tunderstand, all that has changed is the demolition of the church and theconstruction of expensive real estate developments on its site.An activist from the city witnessed the dismantling yesterday morning of themakeshift camp of a homeless person on the banks of the "Trois-Rivières surSaint-Laurent" site. In a hideous scene of social injustice, city Public Worksemployees accompanied two police officers to deliver this brutal blow: strippinga person of their only improvised home while they were away and putting theirthings in trash bags. An employee busy with this dirty work explained that sheacted in this way following a request from a resident of the neighborhood.Nothing can justify crushing already vulnerable people into misery. This scenethat we also saw in Saguenay is quite simply dehumanizing; crowd out people onthe street. But we know that what the city is defending through this is privateproperty and the wallets of the gentrifiers of our neighborhoods.We can retaliate against this hunt for the poor. The Trois-Rivières comrades havelaunched a number of initiatives in this regard. The Collectif Matente Aloue, anartistic and advocacy project, took action to denounce the housing crisis andtalk about homelessness. He also supported the tenants of a rooming house intheir refusal of a rent increase and eviction from their accommodation. There isalso a Food not bombs collective that has been set up and distributes free meals.As long as there is resistance, there is hope!Posted 21 hours ago by Collectif Emma Goldmanhttp://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2022/10/trois-rivieres-demantelement-de.html_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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