Former homeless man urges city to set up managed encampment

Claudemier Bighetty lived in homeless encampments on and off for more than 10 years.

“During that time, I was gang-involved, sold (and) used drugs. I did what I thought I had to do to survive. I know how vulnerable people are forced to make choices to stay alive on the streets,” Bighetty told members of city council’s community services committee on Tuesday.

After getting sober, finding a home, securing a job and getting married within the past two years, he came to city hall to share his thoughts on how the city can best help people in encampments.

Bighetty supports the city’s new policy to ban encampments in many public spaces, including around schools and daycares. However, he said his support hinges on the addition of a “managed encampment to housing” site.

“I have seen how the lack of safe support spaces drives cycles of violence, theft and instability. Simply displacing people does not fix these problems. Managed encampment sites where people can access continuous (supports)… provides a path out of survival mode and into recovery, stability,” said Bighetty.

Such a site would offer safety and fire prevention service, portable toilets, a water supply, tents and heaters. People who stay in the spaces would be required to work on a housing plan.

Bighetty, who is now a homeless outreach worker for St. Boniface Street Links, said he once broke into a business, then waited for police to arrive and arrest him, all in the hope of finding addictions treatment.

He said he would have explored the managed encampment option, if it had been available.

In September, city council approved a policy to prohibit camps from playgrounds, pools, spray pads, recreation facilities, schools, daycares, adult care facilities, medians, traffic islands, transit shelters, bridges, docks, piers, rail lines and rail crossings. They are also prohibited when a “life-safety issue exists” and wherever they could pose a hazard or obstruction to vehicle or pedestrian traffic.

On Tuesday, Bighetty was one of several members of St. Boniface Street Links who urged councillors to pair that policy with a managed encampment-to-housing project.

“I think that we need to think about a way forward that does… protect the public while at the same time protects interests of those living unsheltered,” Marion Willis, executive director of Street Links, told the committee.

Outreach would be concentrated at the site, which should initially be kept to no more than 20 tents, she said.

“When you bring people into a designated area, a managed encampment-to-housing site, you’re creating controlled areas, you’re dealing with public safety issues, you’re dealing with housing issues, you’re dealing with issues around mental health… and addiction,” said Willis.

Without that site, Bighetty said he fears bans on where encampments can be set up would force people to take desperate measures.

“You’re going to have people moving into stairwells, into parkades, into an apartment where there’s a lobby,” he said.

The city’s protocol is set to take effect on Nov. 17. The ban will be in effect at all times in the specified “sensitive” areas. Enforcement will also be prioritized at encampments at all other city properties during the daytime, from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.

On Tuesday, the community services committee approved a policy to support the ban, but did not act on calls to pursue a managed encampment.

Coun. Vivian Santos, the committee’s chairwoman, said there are still many details the city would need to consider on the effects of such a site, including who would pay for it.

“There is still ongoing dialogue that needs to occur with the province,” said Santos (Point Douglas).

Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) said she hopes to convince her colleagues to support the idea.

“I think that if we had (this site), along with our encampment ban policy… it would force encampments into a managed site, where we can do actual triage into housing and addictions supports. Let’s try to help people get into housing,” said Gilroy.

The concept’s focus on housing should help prevent people from staying at a serviced encampment site indefinitely, the councillor said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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