More than two years after the dramatic tent encampment clearings that took place at parks across Toronto, another outdoor space has become the site of tensions between unhoused residents — and their advocates — and the City.

Grassroots organization Friends of Kensington Market (FOKM) has written to Ward 11 University—Rosedale Councillor Dianne Saxe this week appealing what they believed to be an application to turn a property at 103 Bellevue Avenue that is currently filled with makeshift residences into a garden.

Despite the public realm improvements a garden would mean, some community members are speaking out against the evictions this would mean for those living on the lot, which is outside of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church.

Mother Maggie Helwig of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields has been a supporter of the encampment, and is among those concerned for what will happen to those living there if the garden comes to fruition — and also about the motive behind the project.

For clarity -- we don't know for sure that they have a PollinateTO grant. Their funding may be coming from elsewhere. We do know that they have a permit, granted by the City. We are attempting to discover permit type and number.

— Maggie Helwig (@MaggieHelwig) October 20, 2023

Advocates have shared on social media in recent days that a group called Friends of Bellevue Parkette has applied for a grant through PollinateTO, a City initiative to support projects that help enrich the ecosystem for pollinating insect species.

According to Helwig and X (formerly Twitter)-active community worker Diana Chan McNally, the group was only incorporated in August and is helmed by the director of a Montessori school down the street.

While the garden has yet to be approved, a Street Occupation Permit has been issued at the address, which is reserved for when construction requires a change to a street's right of way.

— Diana Chan McNally (@Diana_C_McNally) October 20, 2023

Those who don't want the revitalization to happen are especially worried because Councillor Saxe has tried to get rid of the encampment and replace it with a different type of garden in the past — ironically, one people say was due to commemorate unhoused people who have passed away in Toronto.

"This eviction is being proposed under the guise of creating a community garden. However, this initiative would have serious negative consequences for the vulnerable residents of the encampment and the broader community," the letter from FOKM reads.

"Allowing a new organization with no track record of work within the community to disrupt the existing and well-supported community use of this space would be an unprecedented and irresponsible move."

This just isn’t true. Although this eviction seems illogical, there was a huge fire in March, a stabbing this past week & screaming every night at this encampment. I live near here and it is very disruptive.

— Kras (@nkrasic) October 21, 2023

But, while some online agree with the advocates and are calling the idea "disgusting City-sanctioned cruelty" others seem to feel quite the opposite, arguing that the encampment has been problematic for those in the area and has been a source of drug use, noise, fighting, trespassing and debris.

The issue isn't unique to Kensington, either, with citizens divided over people squatting in Barbara Hall Park and Allan Gardens, and crimes that have occurred as a result. One hardware store near the former space considered closing permanently after nearly 100 years due to vandalism and "nonsense" that owners said the City has been too complacent about.