Why this Londoner lets strangers sleep on a cot he set up on his front porch

CBC

15-11-2024

One woman cried when Jonathon Phillips offered to order her a vegetarian pizza.
Another wondered what kind of ulterior motive he had when he offered her a place to spend the night and a shower.
But Phillips, 52, said he's just trying to help in the small way he can when he offers people down on their luck a place to crash on a cot he set up on his front porch, enclosed in plastic to keep out the elements.
"Maybe I'm going to make a difference in that person's life. Maybe they will realize that there is somebody out there that cares or that would sit and listen and help," said Phillips.
"While they're sleeping, that's when they're the most vulnerable because they can be attacked or assaulted or robbed. This gives them a safe, dry place where they can crash. That's why I call it the crash cot."
Offering up a spot for people to sleep is something Phillips has done for about a decade. It began when an old friend showed up at his door, homeless, and asked to crash on his couch for a while. That relationship soured, but eventually, he set up a cot on his covered back deck for people who needed it.
Through trial and error, he's developed some rules: No groups or couples, just individuals, and no long-term stays — a night or two is what Phillips allows.
More recently he moved the cot to the front porch of his bungalow because he needed the back deck for something else.
Officials estimate there are 2,000 people living without a home in London. In a recent survey, 55 per cent of Londoners identified homelessness as the most pressing issue facing the city.
A hot meal, a shower
Phillips has first aid training and a first aid kit, as well as safety equipment such as a fire extinguisher. The crash cot operates on an invitation-only basis, though some people reach out to him on Facebook.
"I don't go up to the first homeless person I see and say 'Come on home with me.' We get to know each other, maybe we go down to the Tim Hortons to get a coffee, we chat, and I ask if they need a place to stay for the night," Phillips said. "Some people sleep 12, 18 hours."
Rosemary Van Gelderen's daughter is one of an estimated 2,000 people living unhoused on London's streets. Van Gelderen opened up to London Morning about what it's like to have a child living rough and what she would like to see happen to help those who are unhoused as winter approaches.
A forklift operator during the day, Phillips spends evenings and nights biking around the city with water bottles and other essentials to hand out to those less fortunate. "If I get an okay vibe from them, I offer them the cot. For others, I might just give them something to eat or just have a talk.
"I offer them a hot meal, have a shower, I'll wash your clothes, you'll get treated like a human being for the night. People don't see them. You go on Richmond Row and people just step over them. They don't realize that somebody's there, that's a person. Some of them just want conversation."
Phillips admits there have been some negative experiences, but those have just made him double down on offering the cot to only single people and make sure to go with his gut about who he offers the cot to.
"Most people have a similar story. You were a recreational drug user and now you're on the street and an addict, and then there's the pharmaceutical ones who had an accident, were prescribed an opiate, and then there was no aftercare, they were cut off, but a friend stepped in and said 'Oh, I can hook you but with something better and cheaper.'"
For Phillips, the reward comes from having interesting conversations with people and knowing that he's atoning for what he called a "misspent youth."
"You're a guest here. People are extremely grateful that they have a chance to be normal," Phillips said. For the people he can't help, he refers them to other services.
Phillips admits letting strangers sleep on your front porch isn't for everyone. He's a big, burly man, so he doesn't scare easily, he said. But it would be impossible to sit back and watch London's homeless crisis deepen without doing something, he said.