A hand up

Just wanted to comment about this article in The Globe and Mail:

Police move to evict man living under Toronto expressway
Anti-poverty protesters stage rally after resident told shelter would be demolished to make way for road work.

The issue is that there's some bridge repairs that needs to be done under the Gardiner Expressway and there's a man who's lived under there for eight years in a makeshift house he built from scrap wood.

"The protesters, from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, argue that Chris should not be forced to leave his home..."

He's been allowed to live there free of charge for the past eight years. It's not like there's a grudge against him. If I, as a tax payer, owned a house and the city wanted to put a highway through it I wouldn't have much of a choice. I'd be compensated, but I still wouldn't have much of a choice.

The man "has refused an apartment and various support services offered by the city, saying he does not recognize the right of landlords to charge rent." What more can they do? If the protesters are so concerned, help him move his "house" to another location; under another bridge that isn't under repairs or maybe one of the protesters backyards.

I'm all for giving people a hand up, but there are just some people who prefer to live the way they do. Give them a sleeping bag and a hot meal, but I don't think they should be used to further any holier-than-thou causes.