The sanctioned encampment in Kitchener known as A Better Tent City, long celebrated as an innovative, model shelter for homeless people, has become overcrowded and is experiencing increased levels of violent conflict.

“We’re overwhelmed,” Fr. Toby Collins, one of the leaders of the encampment, said last week.

The changes have happened because the number of homeless people keeps growing in Waterloo Region, but space for them has not.

And so, for each of the 50 people living in this tiny-home community, located in an industrial section of the city, there are one to two visitors staying there as well. They’re homeless, too.

It’s hard to turn people away when they’re in great need.

But it means more competition for the limited numbers of washrooms, showers, and even chairs on site. It mea

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