Working group to tackle encampments issue
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City council is looking at how it can take control of city parks after a summer of dealing with encampments being set up on municipal property.
“This is a very difficult problem and it has become more intense this year, especially in Ward 5,” said Mayor Kevin Davis at an operations and administration meeting on Tuesday. “I’ve received many requests to deal with this.”
Homeless people setting up tents or other temporary shelter has been happening in the city for many years, usually in areas not visible to the public. But over the summer, the practice garnered attention after tents were repeatedly set up in Alexandra Park at Dalhousie Street and Park Avenue.
Davis said the city’s established way of dealing with encampments – determining whether there are any serious safety issues, attempting to connect people with housing and counselling services for mental health and substance abuse issues, and then asking them to leave – wasn’t always effective.
“When they were told to leave, in past years they would,” said the mayor. “That hasn’t worked this summer, in some cases.”
Davis said that, after being asked multiple times to leave, people would eventually be moved out of the park for trespassing, “then they’d come back repeatedly.”
“Many time people have substance abuse issues and don’t want to move into housing. That’s created a real problem in the neighbourhood. We are expected to provide parks that are safe.”
Davis said the encampments create unsafe and unsanitary conditions. He said needles are discarded, people are sometimes using stoves, and neighbours are reporting minor thefts and other petty crime.
“It creates a real sense of grievance in neighbourhoods. It will de-escalate in the winter but become even bigger next year.
“Who controls our parks? Is it us or is it chaos?”
At Tuesday’s meeting, councillors agreed to establish a working group to look into the situation and “put protocol in place for next summer.”
The group will include staff from health and human services, parks and recreation, bylaw enforcement, legal, strategic planning, and the fire department. They will also seek assistance, as needed, from police, paramedics and the medical officer of health.
The group is to report back to councillors by Dec. 31.
Coun. Rick Weaver called the situation “very polarizing” with “lots of passion on both sides.”
“We’ve exhausted every avenue we can take,” he said.
Weaver requested data from the Brantford Downtown Outreach Team, which includes an outreach co-ordinator, nurse practitioner, concurrent disorders clinician and a peer support work, established over the summer to offer help to the homeless and those struggling with drug addiction and mental health issues.
“We are spending taxpayer money to handle the situation and shelter is being refused,” said Weaver.
Brian VanTilborg, a Ward 5 councillor, said help is being offered but some people want to continue living outdoors. But he said “the needs of the homeless are affecting residents in ways we’ve never seen before.”
VanTilborg said residents of his ward have been victims of petty theft and people in encampments have been using city parks as washrooms and as recycling yards for metal, broken glass and rubbish.
“We’ve seen significant growth in the number of people living outdoors,” said VanTilborg. “People are driven by their addiction.”
Coun. Jan Vanderstelt said homelessness has been a longstanding concern in the city, citing a time in the mid-1960s when firefighters tried to help people camped by the Grand River.
“We need to continue to offer compassion in a dignified way,” he said. “I think this is a step in the right direction.”
Coun. Joshua Wall said he represents all the residents of Ward 5.
“We are out there offering help but we can’t help people who don’t want help. But that doesn’t make you above the law. (Parks) are the property of the city.”
“But you can’t just punish people for being poor, or being mentally ill or addicted. The only thing that’s going to solve this is community.”
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