'Utter relief': Hamilton encampment resident Gord Smyth finds apartment after months in a tent

Gord Smyth spent Wednesday taking down tarps and packing up tents, preparing for what he hopes is his last move for a long time.

As he cleared up the encampment he's called home for the past few months, the 54-year-old had one thing on his mind — the CityHousing Hamilton apartment he's finally secured, or, more specifically, the hot shower it comes with.

"I haven't even been thinking of it as a new place to live. I've been thinking of it as a shower and a bathroom," he said.

"We're gonna be in there for a couple of days scrubbing off six months worth of dirt."

Smyth said he began living on the street in June after he was evicted from his longtime apartment after the property owner decided to demolish it to build condominiums.

He set up camp at various sites around the city but said he was moved along every few days or weeks — and in one case after just a few hours — under the city's bylaw barring tents in public spaces.

"It's definitely not camping, it's surviving," Smyth said.

"It's a really hard life. You've got to look after food, you've got to look after your hygiene and a lot of that is impossible."

Central Park was where he decided to stand his ground after arriving in August.

Smyth was one of five people who had lived in encampments and was named in an application to Superior Court seeking an injunction to stop the City of Hamilton from tearing them down.

"Moving every two weeks, or moving every day or moving every time you have to move wasn't acceptable," he said on Wednesday.

The attempt for an injunction ultimately failed.

But Smyth said advocates and agencies, including police, pushed for him to be allowed to stay in the park while he continued to fight for housing.

On Wednesday he signed a lease for an apartment and collected the keys.