Unable to find housing, Halifax senior lives in tent: ‘What you see is what I’ve got’

globalnews.ca:

Melvin Ellsworth wants more than anything to have a safe, affordable place to live.

“Oh, I wish,” he said. “I would jump at it in a second.”

The 73-year-old is one of dozens of people living at Grand Parade Square in downtown Halifax. The site is now home to more than 30 tents, filled with people with nowhere else to go.

Ellsworth, who is on a pension, has been living in Grand Parade Square since July. In the spring, he left the seniors’ home where he was living due to excessive noise, but didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find an apartment.

He acknowledges that was a “bad mistake” – one that he’s paying for dearly as he now has to deal with excessive noise from city nightlife, while living in a tent, with two worn-out knees to boot.

“It’s good that it’s still warm, because there’s times that I wake up early and I wonder if I’m going to be able to stand up,” he said. “I force myself to get up and move around with a lot of pain.”

Ellsworth is due for knee replacement surgery, but can’t get it yet because he needs a permanent residence where he can recover.

He said it’s not due to a lack of hard work that left him where he is.

“I started working when I was 16, and I worked right on through ’til about six years ago,” he said. “I made a big mistake of not swallowing my pride, and I ended up here.”

He is currently on the waitlist to get into The Bridge, a hotel-turned-homeless-shelter in Dartmouth.

Despite the challenges of living in a tent in one of Halifax’s busiest areas, Ellsworth said it’s not all bad.

People come by often to bring food and drinks, and he’s formed bonds with others who are in the same boat as him.

“I’ve made some good friends. There’s people here that look after others, so we sort of get