If you have been to one of Vancouver’s busiest beaches lately, there’s a good chance you’ve spotted an unusual sight. Just a few metres from the shore and nestled near some of BC’s most expensive homes, Joey MacDonald has set up a tent.
MacDonald has been reluctantly living in his tent on the beach for months, breaking bylaws to do so. While the 40-year-old aims to find stable housing and work, he says he’s caught in a “trap.”
For four years, MacDonald has lived in and out of homeless shelters, single-room occupancies (SROs), and tents – a cycle he says he is desperately trying to break.
MacDonald moved to Vancouver from Nova Scotia about seven years ago with aspirations to work in the film industry.
“I love the art of motion, the sound, the lights, the colour – the whole production of a movie; I really have a passion for [it.]”
He was able to do what he enjoyed as a wedding videographer and DJ, however, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, gigs became harder to find.
“I ended up… taking some crappy jobs in construction and slowly lost motivation for the film industry over time,” he said.
Combined with mental health struggles, MacDonald eventually reached out to Carnegie Outreach to find an affordable place to stay.
There, he started to live in single-room occupancy homes, aka SROs, mainly in the Downtown Eastside. MacDonald said he was able to use his disability assistance cheques of $1,035 per month to live in these spaces (which he said cost about $750). He was able to access a shower, have a place to sleep, and store his belongings. However, MacDonald says there was a catch.
“I was being bullied by a lot of men in there,” he said. “I tried to move to another one and the same thing happened. They’re just belittling me all the time, and they gang up on me,” he explained.
Joey MacDonald
In many of his experiences, he said he didn’t feel safe.
“They really knew how to pick on me. They’d be just smashing on my door in the middle of the night.”
MacDonald added he’s witnessed fights in the halls and has experienced people pushing on his door “to see if I left it unlocked.”
Despite telling his SRO landlords about the trouble he was facing, “They told me that I need to develop thicker skin if I want to live there,” MacDonald said.
“They did not care,” he said, adding, “Staff really don’t know what to say to you. They almost make you feel like it’s your fault.”
Into the elements
“I find I’m choosing between slightly cold weather or slightly cold people,” MacDonald says.
MacDonald admits living in a tent means “everything takes longer,” but the struggle is worth it since his mental health is better.
Photo of Jericho Beach (Joey MacDonald)
It’s been months since MacDonald moved to Jericho Beach, enjoying the peace he’s had living alone amidst hundreds of beach-goers, including families and dog walkers, who don’t often stop to speak with the park’s unofficial resident.
However, while he is not bothered by people like he was in the SRO, he said he believes park rangers recently found his tent and took it.
“I felt real bad. That made me really angry. And I’ve talked to a lot of people who are really not happy with park rangers for doing that.
“I hear complaints about them more than police sometimes… the park rangers are like tracking you in these woods because they know all the spots that people will pick.”
Joey MacDonald’s tent at Jericho Beach. (Submitted)
“It hurt me because I had to spend $100 again on a sleeping bag and a tent. And I asked why we can’t sleep in the woods. And they said, ‘it can ruin the forest.’ It does something to the ground, I guess,” he said.
Plus, there’s a constant worry about his belongings, especially in the moments he has to leave to find somewhere to shower or to find food.
“Because the catch-22 is you either have to carry everything all day or hide it,” he said.
Despite the pains of living outdoors, MacDonald said he will not return to an SRO. However, trying to find a home has been difficult, to say the least.
“I feel better mentally it’s just yeah. I think I’m just down now financially and all that like I’m just I’m dealing with the leftovers,” he explained.
Ready to work again, but in need of a chance
MacDonald has maintained he’s searching for work, but like a place to live, there are so many barriers.
“When I apply for jobs, I don’t know whether to tell them I’m homeless or somehow try and go there without showering,” he said.
Sometimes, he’s able to use some free services, but it’s still not enough.
“I’ll go shower, like the Gathering Place [Community Centre] or the Evelyn’s [Cafe & Bistro], and luckily, they have food… and then I go to the library. I have a really cheap laptop and I just go in there. I just work on my resume and… apply for jobs,” he said.
But he has a few things on his resume that he could see himself finding work for, if the company was able to look beyond his appearance or situation.
“I’ll probably find some temporary work in like retail,” he said about his prospects. Adding, “I can see myself in five or six months, hopefully, back to editing videos. I’ll probably go in stronger this time because you have something bad happen. It’ll help.”
Joey MacDonald working on his laptop in a Vancouver park. (Submitted)
But he says it’s hard to truly carry out that search when he’s also looking for a home.
He’s not alone.
For people who depend on disability assistance cheques or welfare, there is “virtually no housing” available for them to rent at a rate they can afford, according to Jean Swanson, an anti-poverty, social justice advocate and former Vancouver City Councillor.
“The basic thing is there is no decent housing available for $500 a month, which is what a low-income person or a person who’s homeless can have if they get on welfare and disability [cheques].”
MacDonald said he’s contacted BC Housing, applied for supportive housing, and been working with REACH Community Health Centre, which has been helping him find housing.
“It takes a while, I guess,” he said.
It’s why he’s tried to fundraise money to help him move past living in an SRO and again live in a shared place by renting.
After experiencing homelessness for years, MacDonald said he wishes there were spaces for people like him. People who’ve been “escaping abuse or had been abused.”
A place where they can live together, build community, “buildings that were [for people] recovering,” and “not bully each other and harass each other.”
Swanson suggested that MacDonald is likely seeking supportive housing, which is subsidized housing with on-site support. These spaces can provide a range of on-site, non-clinical supports and have staff on-site 24/7. Tenants also have self-contained units with kitchenettes and private bathrooms, according to BC Housing.
“They’re not huge… but they’re way better than an SRO,” Swanson said.
However, she explained there are continued barriers for the thousands of people waitlisted to live in this kind of subsidized housing.
“A lot of [supportive housing] is modular housing, which is on temporary land leases. And right now, there are 144 unit systems that are boarded up, and there are 39 more units where people have been told to have to leave by the fall, and others are on leases that are going to expire mostly by 2028,” Swanson explained. “And the city has shown no interest in renewing the leases.”
Swanson added that BC will lose more than 700 units of modular housing in the next four years.
“Now the province says it wants the city to build 700 units in the next 10 years. But we’re not talking about an increase here,” the advocate emphasized. “We’re talking about staying even over the next 10 years when there’s 3,500 people on the waitlist.”
“I’m considering going back”
MacDonald says he’s considering life outside of BC, and it’s a difficult decision and one he doesn’t take lightly.
“It’s looking scary,” he admitted. “I’m considering going back [to Nova Scotia]… leaving the province if I can’t get this together.”
Despite all his pain and hardship, he’s not given up.
Joey MacDonald shares a photo of the sunset at Jericho Beach
“I do love this city. I just wish I had more money to keep me up on the I started with too little money, I guess,” he said.
“I love the beaches. Like all the mountains and stuff. I think there’s a lot to do. And though it’s it’s beautiful, like I don’t know if you’re familiar. It’s really nice when you first land, and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is nice.’”