Niagara examining implications of court’s encampment ruling
Niagara Region homelessness services director Cathy Cousins says a Superior Court ruling regarding an encampment in Kitchener may have an impact here, although the Region does not clear homeless encampments until they are either abandoned or accommodations are found for people staying there.
“We’re still unpacking the implications and I need to have conversations with my regional lawyers and we need to have conversations with local area municipality legal teams as well because many of the parks belong to the local municipalities, so we need to work in partnership to understand what this means,” Cousins said, adding similar conversations are happening in communities across the country.
Local municipalities have cleared encampments, including St. Catharines, which spent $283,000 on its response in 2021.
The court ruling was handed down Friday by Justice Michael Valente, denying Waterloo Region’s request to use its trespassing bylaw to clear a homeless encampment in Kitchener, where roughly 50 people were living because of that region’s lack of adequate shelter spaces.
The Toronto Star reported the decision builds on cases in British Columbia, which have also found removing encampments infringes on Charter rights, under Section 7.
In Niagara, however, Cousins said the strategy has been to work with area municipalities, Niagara Regional Police, Positive Living Niagara and Niagara Assertive Street Outreach team members and other partners, meeting weekly to assess local encampments, “and understand who is there, what are their issues, and should we be cleaning it up.”
“If it’s abandoned, absolutely we’re going to be cleaning it up,” Cousins said.
While encampments that may be causing challenges in the community are typically cleaned up as well, she said long before any cleanup efforts begin outreach teams are at the sites regularly working with people to find them housing or move them into shelters.
As a result of those efforts, rather than only offering shelter to someone who may have a history of “shelter trauma and doesn’t want
‘‘ We need to work in partnership to understand what this means.
CATHY COUSINS NIAGARA REGION HOMELESSNESS SERVICES DIRECTOR
to go there,” Cousins said one third of individuals outreach team members work with are moved directly into housing.
A small encampment on Gale Crescent in St. Catharines has been dismantled by the city several times only to reappear a few days later. A city bylaw prohibits people from erecting tents in parks without permission, setting fires, loitering, littering or frequenting parks past 11 p.m.
Cousins said Valente made several other points in his ruling that may have a greater impact on homelessness services offered in Niagara.
Cousin said the ruling addresses issues such as shelter spaces to accommodate unmarried couples who, in some cases, can be segregated into shelters for men and women, as well as the importance of “low barrier” shelters — referring to facilities that allow drug users to stay there.
Although Niagara does have some accommodations for people under those circumstances, she said she is uncertain if those accommodations will meet the requirements of the judge’s decision.
Cousins is also concerned about the focus on shelter spaces in the court’s ruling.
“If this means we have to make investments to address encampments going forward, where’s the money coming from?” Cousins asked. “I don’t have it.”
She said enhanced provincial funding for homelessness services during the pandemic came to an end on Dec. 31.
Cousins hopes to present a report on the impact the legislation may have on local communities at the Region’s Feb. 14 public health and community services committee meeting — if she can garner enough information on the issues by that time.
St. Catharines city staff are also developing a report on the potential impact the ruling could have on the city’s efforts.
Merritton Coun. Greg Miller said he requested the report during Monday’s city council meeting, interested in learning if it impacts the city’s involvement in removing encampments, and bringing in subcontractors to clear encampments.
“Certainly, it would seem to me that this will have multiple implications, and, hopefully, it will speed up the conversation about how to provide more shelter spaces, shelter beds and transitional housing in St. Catharines and Niagara,” he said.
Cousins said the Superior Court ruling does not refer to privately owned land.
“It’s important for the broader community to understand that their rights of no trespass have not changed,” she said.
In addition to parks and municipally owned property in Niagara, there have been several encampments on Ontario Power Generation property in St. Catharines.