Politicians say no to allowing homeless camps within 25 metres of homes

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City politicians want to strike down an effort to shrink the distance between encampments and homes, even as city hall says current guidelines put staff at risk and make homelessness increasingly visible.

During Tuesday’s meeting of city council’s strategic priorities and policy committee, politicians spent several hours combing over new recommendations for the city’s community encampment plan, first endorsed in June, which set rules and no-go zones for tent cities.

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Arguably the most controversial recommendation was to reduce a previously endorsed buffer of 100 metres, roughly the length of a football field, between a residential property line and an encampment down to 25 metres.

Politicians voted 10-5 to endorse quashing the recommendation. Anna Hopkins, David Ferreira, Skylar Franke, Sam Trosow, and Elizabeth Peloza voted in favour of the 25m zone in a losing effort.

“I think we also have to acknowledge that this is having an impact of residents of the city as well,” said Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAlister “Right now, the tension I’m seeing in neighbourhoods is not good, I think reducing the distance will probably boil over the kettle.”

Greg Nash, director of complex urban health for the London Intercommunity Health Centre, said during a presentation to politicians that the large buffer left too little space for the city’s homeless to camp.

“We were asked to utilize proximities recommended by council and encouraged to revisit these recommendations if they were not working in community,” he said. “It only leaves 18 per cent of public spaces within London remaining available based on the current buffers.”

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Kevin Dickins, the city’s deputy manager of social and health development, also addressed the issue. He explained to politicians that the limited space means more crowding and even competition for space.

He said it also had the impact of moving encampments away from “discreet locations” like tree lines or alleys.

“It is has shrunk that footprint so small that we start to see people trying to get to those spaces as fast as they can knowing that it might be the space they’re allowed to stay,” Dickins said.

“It creates a lot of competition for that space, it can put staff in conflict situations . . . it has also led to a greater visibility of homeless encampments.”

Trosow warned his colleagues of creating too many restrictions against the city’s homeless, calling the 100m buffer “playing with numbers.”

He referenced a court decision against the Region of Waterloo in 2023, which said the local government couldn’t evict encampment residents because of inadequate shelter space.

“I firmly believe that we should stick to the staff recommendations, these were not arbitrary, and they were based on (expertise),” he said.

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Also up for discussion were potential new locations for service depots – temporary, mobile stations for outreach workers to provide food, water, and basic needs to people in encampments.

New locations for depots were recommended at Evergreen Park, Fairmont school, Kiwanis Central South Park, McCormick Park, city parking lot #12, and Thompson Park.

But politicians narrowly voted 8-7 in favour of a motion from McAlister to scrap the list, and have staff draw up new locations more evenly dispersed around the city to bring back to a future meeting. Councillors Hopkins, Trosow, Ferreira, Peloza, Corrine Rahman, Paul Van Meerbergen, and Steve Lehman didn’t support the deferral while all others voted in favour.

In addition, council voted 12-3 to endorse providing $99,700 from reserve funds, reduced from $141,000 in a motion from Coun. Susan Stevenson, in funding for basic needs for encampment dwellers until year’s end. Hopkins, Peloza, and Stevenson were the opposition votes.

Politicians also voted 14-1, with Stevenson opposed, to try lobbying Ottawa and Queen’s Park to fund the encampment strategy for 2025 at a cost of $2.3 million.

A motion to extend drop-in services at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Coffee House on Hamilton Street from December through May 2025 from surplus winter homeless response dollars also was narrowly endorsed by committee in an 8-7 vote. Councillors Stevenson, Rahman, Van Meerbergen, Lehman, Shawn Lewis, Jerry Pribil, and Peter Cuddy voted against the extension.

All votes will be subject to final approval at the next council meeting on Nov. 5.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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