Region pushing residents to leave Victoria encampment: advocate
“Restricted access and coerced removal” are among some of the tactics being used to pressure residents into leaving the 100 Victoria Street encampment in Kitchener, a local advocacy group charges.
“Constant surveillance by the region-hired security and the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) has created a sense of invasion and anxiety among residents without fostering any real safety,” according to a statement on behalf of Fightback KW.
The group says staff from the Region of Waterloo visited the site in April, offering residents motel accommodations.
“While some residents accepted the motel offer, concerns arise regarding needing more clarity on the region's actions,” it says. “Moving to motels presents various barriers for unhoused individuals, including limited and loss of belongings, potential bans, and pet restrictions. Further, the length of stay at the motel is unknown, creating the potential for folks to return to the streets where they started within the month.”
On Tuesday morning there were about 10 people living at 100 Victoria Street, according to FightBackKW spokesperson Acer Bonaparte; however that number fluctuates from day to day and Bonaparte expects it to increase as some seasonal shelter spaces in the community close for summer.
The 100 Victoria Street encampment is on region-owned property — the future site of multimodal transit hub— and was established in 2022 when as many as 50 tents were set up at the location.
In January of 2023, a judge ruledthe region’s application for an injunction to remove residents violated people’s Charter rights. The decision was partly based on the region’s inability to prove it had enough space in shelters for more than 400 people living unsheltered in the region.
Since the summer of 2022, the region has added 175 additional beds to its shelter and supportive housing system, said Peter Sweeney, commissioner of community services.
At one time there were more than 90 people living at the 100 Victoria Street site, he said.
“The goal is to get everybody inside to the degree that we can and the degree that they are able and willing.”
Metrolinx, the province's GO transit operator, hoped to gain access to the site last fall to get started with preliminary design work on the transit hub.
“There is a cost of delay and when we’re in a partnership with Metrolinx it’s very important that we have and appear to have our ducks in a row,” said Regional Chair Karen Redman at the time.
Metrolinx has plans to move the GO train platform from the current train station at Weber Street to the Region of Waterloo’s proposed new transit hub at King and Victoria streets.
Construction was originally expected to get started in 2022. Metrolinx now says it plans to issue a request-for-proposals later this year.
In March, the region announced it purchased the property at 70 Victoria St. N, providing it with a continuous stretch of land on Victoria Street, from King Street to Weber Street.
“They've invested a lot of money into the transit hub and right now, we're very much standing in the way,” said Bonaparte. “So, they kind of want to use as much pressure as they can to get people out.”
In the past two weeks, Bonaparte contends cleaning crews have swept and disposed of current residents' personal property. “These initiatives suggest the region intends to clear the 100Vic encampment and fence off the property.”
Community members recently erected a “sandbag home” on the site which serves as both a statement and a temporary housing solution.
“I guess the main things are reducing the risk of a campfire, a break from the wind and harsh weather, and just a more permanent place to feel at home,” Bonaparte said.
“It's a proof of concept,” he added. “We do intend to build more.”
FightBackKW says its advocacy work is about safeguarding the housing rights of all those facing insecurity in the region.
Yet any sort of makeshift structures on the encampment site have not been supplied or approved by the region and shouldn’t be considered safe for use, Sweeney said.
“My focus and the focus of my team in community and social services is to support the people who are living at 100 Victoria and people living rough in the community,” he said, alluding to the provision of portable toilets and pest control, and “meeting people where they’re at” by connecting them to services in the best ways possible.
“We've always said we don't believe the encampment is a safe place for folks and we've done our best to offer alternatives, and if people take us up on those offers, we support them.”