I have lived in Squamish for 30 years. I have always had a place to live until two years ago. Now I live in a tent with my girlfriend and our dogs. I agree and understand that things can get a little. crazy behind Under One Roof, but if we had housing, things wouldn’t be the way they are.
I don’t think people really understand what we have to go through every day.
It’s not easy living like this. We never asked for this life. Yet here we are. Not only do we have to struggle every day, but we also have to worry about the community.
What do they think, how they treat us.
Not everyone is against us, and we thank those who drop off supplies for us—food, clothing.
People should try and live a month in our shoes, even a week.
Having absolutely nothing but the clothes on your back, no money, no nothing.
Try it in winter, like we have had to do. Think about that while people sit in their
warm houses with nice beds. We sleep on the ground with the use of candles to produce heat. We aren’t perfect, but we are humans and we are a part of this community, whether people like it or not.
A lot of us have gone through some sort of trauma in our lives and have ended up here.
We would all love to live in a perfect world, but that’s not going to happen.
We don’t want any problems. We just want to be able to live without being judged, frowned upon, or talked about. We need more affordable housing. We need the government, the mayor to step up and help us.
Donny Weisz
Squamish
