A disabled homeless man who says he'd be happy with a bachelor apartment for himself and his girlfriend says a two-person tent is all he can manage.

"It's the best I can provide for her, right now," he said.

John Matthew "Monk" Kelley, 48, and his girlfriend Carrie Hunte, 40, pitched their tent on the property of St. John's Anglican Church on Canada Day.

They met several months ago at the Warming Room, the city's overflow overnight shelter for the homeless. They have both been homeless for awhile and living at that shelter.

But on Monday the Warming Room, which has been located for years at Murray Street Baptist Church, closed to allow major repairs to take place in the church.

If no alternate location can be found by Nov. 1, the congregation has voted to have the Warming Room back.

For weeks the Warming Room staff has searched for a temporary location, but were unsuccessful: as of Canada Day, somewhere around 40 people were left homeless.

Christian Harvey, the director of the Warming Room, said Tuesday they have a lead on a temporary location but it won't likely be available until Aug. 31.

While the city has offered to find housing for people affected by the closure, the majority are camping for the summer, he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the city reported there were 20 available beds out of the 82 beds in the city's shelter system, the highest shelter bed availability since 2016.

"We are reaching out to people experiencing homelessness to let them know that there are beds available and to help them find housing," stated Dorothy Olver, homelessness and addiction services manager with the city.

"The good news is that shelter beds are available because people have recently obtained housing. We have not seen this level of shelter bed availability since 2016."

At St. John's Anglican Church, homeless people are being offered sanctuary by the church. It started in May with just one tent at St. John's. By Tuesday there were a dozen.

Several tents were also set up on the lawn outside City Hall on Tuesday.

Some people staying there are homeless, while others have shelter but are camping in solidarity with those affected by the Warming Room closure.

There were also more than a dozen tents at Victoria Park on Tuesday and one at the Peterborough Marina.

Meanwhile the city's social services workers are offering help so the homeless don't have to stay in tents, a statement from the city reads.

Mayor Diane Therrien states in the release that she's always been supportive of the Warming Room, which is a city-funded program.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

But Kelley said he can't understand why developers insist on building luxury condos when people clearly need affordable housing.

He said he served in the military but now has a disability.

Hunte said she trained as a chef but also developed a disability - and she cannot access social assistance, she says, because she doesn't have an address.

The couple said it was a hard winter: they had trench-foot and he had pneumonia.

Hunte said homeless people all seem to live with a mental health issue or an addiction or both, and in tent encampments people feel "shamed and shunned" and don't necessarily get along with one another.

"We've had a lot of trauma - and then you expect us to function without support?" Hunte said.

She said that she's grateful for a lot of things: being allowed to stay on church property, for example.

But they're not camping for fun, she emphasizes: "This is survival."

joelle.kovach

@peterboroughdaily.com