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He laughed when he learned the city was going to order the owner to remove it. “We’re going to go there and talk to them and take down the tent?” he said. “That would not end well.”

Creighton said he was aware of the challenge of trying to remove homeless people when there’s an affordability crisis in the city, but he said the camp is expanding “with more people and more stuff. You just can’t let it grow.”

Ron Moore, 40, who said he had been staying in the tent for about a month while he waited for permanent housing, was outside the tent on Friday, tidying up.

There was garbage, including one small running shoe, some food containers and wrappers and an empty canister of “heat gel,” scattered on the ground next to a tent shielded by a tarp and surrounded by a cooler, air mattress, tire pump, bicycle and a two-metre-high pile of soggy clothing.

On the other side of the tent were two grocery carts full of belongings covered with tarps and a single mattress leaning against a wall, none of which Moore said belonged to him.

He said he and his girlfriend are looking for work, he in construction, and they hope they’ll get an apartment soon.

He said it’s uncomfortable in the tent, especially when it rains, and they have to use candles to keep warm. He uses the washrooms to wash and shave and goes to the community pool to shower and exercise.

He says it’s a chore to keep the site tidy and “I’m always cleaning up,” he said.

“I put up the cover over the tent because I wanted it to look a little more presentable, not just a grubby tent.”

And what he really wants is an apartment.

“I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” he said.

slazaruk@postmedia.com