City staff moved Wednesday morning to remove a makeshift homeless camp set up under the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.Traffic slowed on Lake Shore Blvd. W. near Lower Simcoe St. as a loader and city truck cleared debris from the encampment. City staff could be seen sorting through various belongings of the people living in the homeless camp, including several bikes, blankets, plastic boxes, mats and small bags.A few metres away from the scene, Dexter Wolfgang busily packed his belongings before city workers could reach him. “What they’re doing is stupid. They should give us housing,” he said.The area beneath the elevated stretch of the Gardiner between Bathurst St. and Lower Simcoe has been home to several makeshift homeless camps this winter. In January, city staff backed away from a plan to evict residents of the camps, saying residents who pack up would find space in city shelters. Earlier that month, several people who set up tents or makeshift structures, including some under the Gardiner, were handed notices informing them they had 14 days to leave or face “further enforcement,” prompting fears that sweeping evictions were coming.The city said that was not the case and the notices are handed out to let people know they are violating city rules and their possessions could be moved. With several shelters near capacity this winter, residents told the Star’s May Warren they had nowhere else to go but the camps. “It’s a Catch-22,” resident Richard Smith, who has lived under the Gardiner near Spadina Ave. on and off for about two years, told the Star at the time.Read more: Under the Gardiner: ‘We check in on each other, that’s kind of the reason to be here’No mass eviction planned for people living under Gardiner, city saysMore to comeGilbert Ngabo is a breaking news reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @dugilbo
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