Homeless campers who have been calling Victoria’s tiny Kings Park home for months — much to the chagrin of many neighbours — hosted “a private neighbourhood barbecue” Saturday in an effort to put a friendlier face on the fact they are living there.

The barbecue was the brainchild of Ken Prowse, a formerly homeless man who used to live in Kings Park and still regularly returns on weekends to pitch a tent.

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“It’s for the neighbours to see that we’re all not that bad and to give back a little,” Prowse said of the barbecue as he sat on a lawnchair in the Caledonia Avenue park, nursing a bad back.

Devin Landis and other volunteers from the Table Church covered the cost of the burgers and pop, and helped Prowse organize the event.

Landis said about 40 people stopped by. “It’s been a happy time. Everyone is smiling and a lot of people have met each other. So that was the goal.”

Harold Stanley, who lives in a townhouse complex at the corner of Cook Street and Caledonia Avenue, said he appreciated members of the homeless community reaching out. “The more we see each other as part of the same community, the more understanding and accommodation we’ll have for each other,” said Stanley, adding that he’s had no problems with the campers.

In 2008, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny a person the right to erect shelter in a city park if there were no shelter beds available.

City staff estimate that about 130 people sleep in parks, costing the city about $600,000 a year in associated expenses.

At Kings Park, upward of a dozen tents are pitched each night.

Neighbours of the pocket park, which has no washroom facilities, have long complained about the homeless campers. They don’t want their children or dogs to run free for fear of discarded needles and human excrement.

Mike Aucoin, who has lived across from the park for five years, said he felt “conflicted” about whether to attend the barbecue.

“I want to be sensitive to the homeless population and their plight, but, at the same time, I have to be conscious of how it affects my life and my living situation,” Aucoin said.

“When I purchased the property, I purchased it partly because of the greenspace, which is not there any more because they are there all the time.”

His water has been tapped into, a neighbour has had electricity stolen and needles are regularly found in the street, he said.

Aucoin said the wording on the handbill, which says the barbecue is hosted by Kings Park residents, rubbed him the wrong way.

“They’ve pitched it like they’re members of this neighbourhood which, to me, they are not. They are not paying taxes. They are not using the land responsibly. They are not being good neighbours,” he said.

“So, they’ve sort of seconded my park, and for me that’s a bit of a problem. Like I said, I want to be sensitive to their needs and I want to make sure they are looked after and that there’s a solution for them, but I don’t know what it is.

“It’s a complex problem that I don’t think you can solve easily.”

bcleverley@timescolonist.com