Jerry Lee has been living in his recreational vehicle in the Cowichan Valley, outside of an RV park, for the past 14 months.
The 63 year old is on disability, so finding an affordable place to keep his RV is difficult. He’s often moving every night and he says it’s a stressful way to live.
“People banging on your door. You get tickets for being parked on the streets. The police harassing you. You end up with rocks on the front of your dash. People throwing rocks through your window,” said Lee.
Jerry Lee outside his RV in Duncan.
Duncan United Church’s Minister says he’s seeing a growing number of people in the same situation and says the community should come up with a way to give these people, living on the margins, some relief.
“Where can we make parking spaces available to people? Where can we legalize that practice and how do we support it with facilities like maybe washrooms or dumping stations or facilities people need to be able to live in that condition,” said Keith Simmonds.
Simmonds wrote to Duncan’s city council asking it to examine the issue, which it’s going to do with North Cowichan’s municipal council.
Currently, parking overnight is banned throughout the Cowichan Valley.
North Cowichan’s mayor says there aren’t many complaints about illegally parked RVs.
“Broadly the community recognizes that this is a housing issue and so they don’t get too bent out of shape as long as it’s only one or two nights then the folks move on. So far it’s been managed quite well but this is short-term. We need to find a longer-term way of addressing this issue,” said Al Siebring.
It’s an issue many communities are facing. Over a year ago, Ucluelet started a pilot project allowing property owners to get temporary use permits to allow people in RVs to live on their properties for up to six months.
Jerry Lee says any solution would be better than what’s happening now, but he’d like to provide some value.
“Some of us are willing to park in front of their businesses and do security at night for them,” said Lee.
Duncan city staff are going to research temporary options and report back to the two councils.
Kendall Hanson
