The 100 Victoria St. encampment is home to the region’s only sandbag house, which Fight Back! KW organized over 300 volunteers to help build. The construction was funded through grants, canvasing and volunteers’ contributions.
“We think that the sandbag house cost between $1,300 and $1,500 to complete,” Wren Wombell, an organizer with Fight Back! KW, said.
Construction of the house began in December 2023 and is nearing completion.
During winter, encampment residents use fires and open-flame heaters to stay warm. Tents and shelters are extremely flammable and can burn down while the inhabitants are asleep, resulting in serious injury or even death.
Sandbag houses are a safer and more comfortable alternative to a tent. They can be heated without fear of catching fire and remain cool in the hot summers. They can be equipped with a door and dampen loud noise.
However, they do not replace the need for emergency shelters.
“One of the goals of the sandbag house is to show that, yeah, alternatives are possible…they need to be led by the actual needs of the people. If something in your community is broken, you can fix it,” Wombell said.
Waterloo Region is in a housing crisis. The shelters are full, the women’s shelter closed on June 30 and community housing comes with a 10-year wait. The unhoused have been forced to seek other arrangements.
“100 Vic is a really special piece of land in Waterloo region. It is the only land that WRPS is not legally allowed to evict homeless people from,” Wombell said.
In January 2023, the superior court justice M. J. Valente struck down an injunction requesting the use of police in evicting people from 100 Victoria St. based on there not being enough shelter beds for the unhoused in the region. Eviction is a violation of their charter rights.
The region has approximately 300 shelter beds and as many as 2,000 residents are currently unhoused. 100 Victoria has become the first stop for many on their unhoused journey.
“There are tons of fucking rats… The noise is constant all through the night, like it’s not fit for humans or animals to live there, and the city hasn’t given us any better options,” Wombell said.
There is no electricity or lights on the premises. Some of the residents are being assaulted and abused, and the dark nights make it even more dangerous.
“Two porta-potties with all these people here are not proper living Conditions,” Katerina Hodder, a resident of 100 Victoria St., said.
The residents have no safe place to go. St. John’s Kitchen used to be a safe space, but it is now closed and being converted to 44 transitional housing units.
There are meals and a few services like laundry and showers available at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church at Duke and Water, but they are unable to meet the growing demand.
“They’ve had 60 people come in a day, so they only get to shower 30 people. They have 2 showers, so they’re doing the best they can,” Hodder said.
Fight Back! KW is a loosely organized coordinating committee volunteering their time and regularly using their own money in an attempt to help the unhoused.
“This isn’t about a group of privileged people coming in and doing things for people, it’s a group of people being like, ‘Hey, I care if you live or die…how can I help you not have the worst day of your life?’,” Wombell said.
“You need to register at the shelter to get housing, but the shelters are full and once you get there, there’s no housing,” Wombell said.
An earlier version of this article quoted Wren Wombell as saying the house took $13,000 to $15,000 to complete; they and Fight Back! KW have confirmed that the figure is closer to $1,500.
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