Overnight encampments won’t work: Council
Councillors urge province to do more for homeless
Overnight camping in municipal parks — and expecting homeless people to be packed up and out by 8 a.m. — is just not going to work, argued Halifax regional councillors.
In a virtual meeting that went late into the night Tuesday, councillors made some changes to the encampment approach suggested by staff. In the encampment approach, staff proposed allowing camping from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. at 11 municipal parks, and longer stays in five others.
“It’s puzzling to me why we need the overnight stay,” said Coun. Tony Mancini (Harbourview – Burnside – Dartmouth East ). “In my opinion, having an overnight camping site and then having someone — police, bylaw or whomever — knock or shake on that tent to say “OK you’ve got to leave, it’s 8 a.m.’ is problematic. There is potential for conflict to occur.”
Staff will come back with a revised list of parks geared toward longer stays. Until then, no action will be taken.
Police enforcement of camping rules was also a big concern for councillors, many of whom expressed their regret over the police removal of shelters and the resulting protest on Aug. 18, 2021.
Coun. Waye Mason (Halifax South Downtown) asked city staff to come back with a timeline and a detailed plan for enforcement that would centre on city staff leading the way instead of police.
Mason, and several of his colleagues, said there were no good options here, no perfect solution, but that the HRM must do something.
“It’s pretty clear status quo is not an option with encampments in parks during this housing crisis.”
OVERNIGHT STAYS
The idea behind the overnight option was to accommodate people who don’t need to sleep rough on an ongoing basis, said Max Chauvin, special projects manager for parks and recreation.
There are 568 homeless people in HRM as of May 3, according to the latest numbers from the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia. Only about 20-80 people are sleeping rough. The others are finding shelter in the city’s 200 shelter beds, sleeping in cars, couch surfing or finding other places to stay.
City staff have been criticized by homeless advocacy groups for not engaging with homeless people when developing the plan. Chauvin said they talked to a number of service providers and two people who have identified for having past lived experience of sleeping rough. Chauvin acknowledged they need to talk to more people and an advisory board with the United Way will assist with that.
Another report with longer term initiatives for the HRM to help homeless people is expected this summer.
The cost of implementing this plan — including signs, maps, installing portable washrooms and water supplies where needed — is about $60,000.
Deputy Mayor Pam Lovelace (Hammonds Plains – St. Margarets) said she thinks designating parks for homeless encampments is meaningless and she based that on personal experience. Lovelace said she lived on the streets for a time after she dropped out of high school at 16.
“I was couch surfing and living in a cardboard box for a little while in downtown Halifax,” she said. “So I’ve got to tell you, people will go where it is they need to go and whether or not this council thinks ‘hey, we’re going to designate some spots,’ no, it’s not going to work guys.”
ENFORCING THE RULES
Staff will be coming back with a more detailed plan of how the rules for encampments will be enforced, but Maggie Macdonald, executive director for parks and recreation, said it will start with education and voluntary enforcement of the rules.
There are three compliance officers and a supervisor who will also be tasked with enforcement, she said.
Coun. Lisa Blackburn (Middle/upper Sackville – Beaver Bank – Lucasville) said staff have been asked to do an impossible task. She said this idea of designating park sites for encampments has been tried in other cities including Toronto and Vancouver with disastrous results.
Police enforcement and the removal of shelters is something she doesn’t want to happen again, she said.
It’s also something that shouldn’t be HRM’S mandate.
I’ve got to say, where is the province?” she said. “Emergency shelter beds are their responsibility.”
THE PROVINCE’S PROBLEM
The provincial government is fine with taking over development decisions with the housing task force but they seem to have forgotten the shelter beds, Blackburn said.
“I can’t understand why we’re twisting ourselves into pretzels looking for municipal lands for this purpose. Is the province looking for Crown land for this purpose, and if not, why not?” Blackburn said.
“If tents started to pop up under the statue of Joe Howe or over in the backyard of the lieutenant-governor’s house, the province would be moving pretty damn quick.”
Several councillors suggested and encouraged encampments on provincial lands and in places that would be hard for the provincial government to ignore.
Mason suggested he would love to shut down Granville Street and set up an encampment in front of the legislature.
Lovelace said it’s a crisis because the province hasn’t stepped up and “we’re not the ones to do that job.”