Council considers “not prohibiting” temporary overnight sheltering at City Hall
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Or, as Councillor Byron Stewart noted, it’s a classic case of not-in-my-backyard. At least when it comes to temporary overnight sheltering within the city limits.
For the last month, city staff have been working to develop a draft of the new Parks and Open Spaces Bylaw, applying the feedback council gave staff on the earlier draft. A bylaw is needed to both provide the city with a tool to move people setting up camp in prohibited areas, and to meet Human Rights requirements.
Staff and council have hit a stumbling block. Where to “not prohibit” temporary overnight sheltering.
“I don’t think there is a winning location".”
Councillor Trevor Bolin
Without a bylaw, people will set up temporary shelters in a variety of locations throughout the city, as they have been doing all summer. With the enforcement tools provided by a bylaw, enforcement officers can redirect unhoused people to a better location if there’s no shelter beds available.
Erin Ferris, Community Safety Manager said that reports of illegal sheltering, reported to the bylaw department, has increased approximately 93 percent since 2010.
“We do have an emerging issue within our community, through the increase in illegal camping bylaw calls over the past decade,” said Ferris. “We need to navigate the increase of unhoused individuals seeking shelter in the [city], to mitigate the risk to the community as a whole.”
In their presentation to council on Monday, Ferris and Fire Chief Robert Norton used the area by Wal-Mart where several tents are already set up, as an example of how an area could be utilized for temporary sheltering. That location is large enough to accommodate up to 14 tents within the sample setbacks – from trails, walkways and buildings – outlined in the first draft of the bylaw. It also seems to be a preferred location for people living in tents.
“This is an example of what it would look like if we did have a dedicated area,” Ferris said. “We do not believe there are many more than the 14 currently sleeping outside. So that would be an indication of a space where people could temporarily shelter.”
Based on the data, Ferris said that having the individuals in one area would make it easier to aid them, if needed. Having a dedicated temporary area would be beneficial to those seeking shelter and increase safety in the community.
“What we’re looking for are areas where it would not be prohibited,” said Norton. “We’re looking for places that not necessarily would be dedicated as that, but that would be not specifically prohibited.”
“So, you want us to pick a location that could mimic this Wal-Mart location, where it could fit 14 tents,” said Councillor Trevor Bolin.
Ferris said that to prohibit camping in the parks and open spaces within the city, they have to dedicate an area where people aren’t prohibited from camping.
“Do we have any recommendations of where, because I doubt Wal-Mart would like to have it there,” Bolin asked.
He added that a lot of people use that walkway to get from Matthew’s Park to Wal-Mart to do their shopping and the presence of the encampment has created fear in the community.
“We met with the Chamber last week, one of their main concerns was the fact that they won’t even let their kids go near Wal-Mart anymore,” he said.
The city needs to find a location that won’t impede businesses or safety.
The city owns quite a lot of property throughout the community, but much of it is in prime locations, such as along 100 Street, or in the industrial area. Only a few locations would meet the setback requirements, and one of these is the former site of the Sew It Yourself Shop on 102 Street.
“We would have to identify a piece of private property that we probably own, and still have it within reach of resources,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Darrell Blades.
“So, it’s safe to say we currently don’t have a good solution for location?” asked Bolin.
“Right now, of the property that we own, unless you want us to go on 100 Street, it would be [by Wal-Mart] or the old Sew It Yourself Shop site,” Blades said.
The space that is chosen needs to be able to handle between eight and twelve tents, so that if there are no shelter beds, there’s sufficient room for people to move to once the bylaw is in place.
“If we choose a site that is too small, then it won’t be sufficient to support enforcement decisions in the future,” said Chief Administrative Officer, Milo MacDonald.
“If five people are camping in a park, there has to be sufficient space to put five people or go to the shelter. It allows enforcement to proceed in accordance with human rights standards,” he said.
“Right now, have no tools.”
Deputy CAO Darrell Blades
“We’re not setting up a camp or providing a camp, we’re just having an area where we’re not enforcing it,” said Blades.
While there haven’t been any formal discussions with businesses, Blades says that they know none of the businesses want an encampment to remain near Wal-Mart.
“When they first started overnighting down there, we had complaints from the businesses, the hotels, Boston Pizza – we do know that if we do go out for public consultation the answer will be ‘not there’, we won’t get any public support for any spot,” said Blades.
“I don’t think there is a winning location, not without turning it into a fenced in campground which we’re then fully responsible for,” Bolin said.
Last week, Campbell River designated their camping spot at City Hall, plus one other location and prohibited it everywhere else in the city.
“Would council consider the north side of City Hall?” Blades asked. “The RCMP’s across the street, bylaw is in the building.”
Bolin said he would be 100 percent in favour, and Mayor Lilia Hansen agreed.
“I think we could deal with that easier,” said Bolin. “The businesses that would be impacted would prefer it. Maybe those folks won’t like it, and they’ll choose their correct form of housing, moving into the shelter if they so choose.”
“At some point in time the enabling becomes a problem,” Bolin said. “The more we enable it, the more the problem grows.”
Whatever site the city chooses not to prohibit temporary sheltering on, there will be additional costs, whether it’s providing porta-potties or garbage clean-up, that burden is on the city.
Councillor Gord Klassen suggested keeping track of the costs and perhaps trying to get the province to cover the costs of complying with its orders.
“I think the point is regardless, we have to clean it up. Our residents want a clean community, so whether we put the garbage cans out in advance or we’re picking it up after,” said Hansen.
Once the city has decided on a location to not prohibit temporary overnight sheltering, the bylaw will be finalized and at last the city will have a tool to regulate this type of sheltering in the city.
“The intent would be if we have an area that they’re not excluded specifically from, then that gives us more leverage to ask people to relocate to that area,” said Norton.
“Right now, have no tools,” said Blades.