Other encampment options possible

Authorities in Winnipeg will soon launch their latest response to homeless encampments, though sadly actual solutions to the problem remain elusive.

Beginning in mid-November, the city will roll out its new policy for dealing with the encampments, in an effort to prevent them from being established and presenting risks near sensitive sites and public spaces. The system outlines three different levels of encampment response, each calling for a different degree of involvement from police, fire-paramedics and support workers. Some responses call only for outreach, rather than removal of encampments.

The new policy is sure to bring relief to Winnipeggers who have been alarmed by the emergence of homeless encampments in public spaces, near schools, or other at other locations where they may present unwanted risks to residents in the area.

What it does not do, however, is get the city any closer to a long-term solution to its homelessness crisis. The number of homeless people in Winnipeg nearly doubled last year — End Homelessness Winnipeg’s annual street census reported that about 2,469 people are homeless in the city. The Manitoba government has implemented a strategy to get people into housing, but the process has been slow and the results to date underwhelming. About 100 people had been successfully placed in housing as of the end of October, but that still leaves more than 2,000 people living rough.

Encampments are a reality for Winnipeg in the short term. Policies to keep them from being established at certain public, high-traffic or sensitive spots are not entirely without merit, although it’s difficult not to see the cynics’ point that it amounts to shoving a very real problem out of view for propriety’s sake.

There is another proposal worth considering as the province continues its efforts to get people out of encampment life: a permanent encampment site, co-signed by the city itself. One proponent, Claudemier Bighetty, an outreach worker who was once homeless, urged the city to pair their camp-relocation policy with an initiative to set up just such a sanctioned camp earlier this week.

It’s a proposal rife with complications. First of all, in this case, if the city builds it, the homeless may not come; there would have to be some incentive to moving where the city says to move, rather than set up an encampment according to one’s own preference. It would need to be well-monitored and frequently visited — if not outright staffed — by outreach workers capable of helping the encampment’s residents.

A city-approved encampment site would, in essence, place its residents under the care of the city. If the city creates the zone and tells the homeless population to camp there, then whatever happens in that encampment is a result of the city’s invitation.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Despite the cost, risks and liabilities which go with such a plan, it’s worth doing, at least for now.

The homeless population of Winnipeg is one comprised of our fellow Winnipeggers. If we believe that Winnipeg should be a city where people can find shelter that is safe and warm, that sentiment goes for the homeless too. Yes, it would be preferable if there was more shelter space, or if there were more affordable housing units — but there aren’t just yet, and the city is in dire need of a solution that works for everyone in the meantime.

Kicking encampment residents out of public view, to try their luck elsewhere, is not the way to move forward. Setting up a place for them to go, and letting them remain, is the compassionate approach as we work to solve a terrible problem before it gets any worse.