‘We have feet on the street’
Homeless camp cleanups continue near Hwy. 406 preparing for cold winter
Abandoned homeless camps along Highway 406 were cleaned up this week, while Ontario Power Generation also continues to clean up debris left on its St. Catharines property.
Ministry of Transportation’s maintenance contractors were on site near the Geneva Street ramp in St. Catharines, removing garbage and debris from the right-of-way at the side of the highway.
Ontario Provincial Police and Niagara Region outreach workers were there also, to ensure anyone staying there was taken care of.
Members of the Niagara Assertive Street Outreach (NASO) team visited the area prior to the cleanup, to help move anyone who had been staying in the area into homeless shelters or housing programs, said Shelly Mousseau, homelessness program manager for Gateway Residential and Community Support Services.
“We had staff on site and there wasn’t any evidence of anyone actually at those encampments,” said Mousseau, whose agency is leading Niagara Region’s homelessness outreach efforts.
She said only one of the three camps was being used prior to the cleanup, and outreach workers “were actively working with individuals there and encouraging them to go to either Out of the Cold or into a shelter.”
The ministry said there has been an increase in homeless individuals accessing property along highways this year, and the contractor will return to the Geneva Street ramp at a later date to complete some brushing to improve sightlines.
She said what appeared to be another large encampment on OPG’S St. Catharines property was also cleaned up this week. Workers, however, believed that site was used as a dumping ground rather than as a camp, and no homeless individuals had been staying there.
Mousseau said outreach workers continue to visit known homeless camps included on a mapping tool used identify encampments.
“If they are on our map tool as active, the NASO team goes out daily and connects with people at those sites, whether they’re being cleaned or not. … If there are individuals there, we are definitely working with them to find them other places to be,” she said.
As frigid winter weather arrives, Mousseau said, the team’s focus is making sure people are safe.
“We have feet on the street across the entire Niagara region this winter. We didn’t have that at the beginning of last winter,” she said.
“We have outreach workers from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, five days a week. We have people on Saturdays and Sundays who weren’t there a year ago at this time.
“For us, nothing’s changed. We continue to engage with individuals who are either in these active encampments or have moved on. It’s business as usual. We’re definitely working with everybody.”