Amended motion would expand areas where homeless camps prohibited

The city wants to further crack down on where homeless encampments can set up as concerns grow about public safety.

On Monday, the community services committee unanimously passed amendments to a motion that would expand the number of places encampments are restricted from setting up. It still awaits the final council vote.

“Originally, we talked about prohibiting encampments near where kids are, so playgrounds and parks and near spray pads and those areas … now we have it in proximity to roadways, rail lines. Those are some key areas that we now are also saying are off-limits,” Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters.

If approved by council, Coun. Cindy Gilroy’s amended motion would prohibit camps within 50 metres of a rail line or crossing; 30 metres of a transit shelter; 30 metres of bridges, docks or piers; on a median or traffic island; or where “a hazard or obstruction to vehicular or pedestrian traffic exists.”

The original motion, introduced by Gilroy in July, directed the public service to ensure encampments are banned from community gardens, playgrounds, areas with spray pads and pools, and other spaces designed for children and families.

At the time, Gilroy said parks where encampments are set up have become unsafe and people have told her about drugs, including fentanyl, needles, and drug paraphernalia, being found where children play.

Enforcement of the amended motion would be carried out primarily by the city’s bylaw officers during daytime hours — one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.

Greg MacPherson, a city worker in the office of the chief administrative officer, told the city’s community services committee Monday that enforcement would be targeted during the day to give homeless people the opportunity to set up a place to sleep at night.

“Presently, one of the issues we’ve been struggling with is that there just aren’t enough units to place all the people who would like to be housed,” MacPherson told the committee. “There’s so many people who want housing available to them, we’re not really able to enforce (bylaws) in the way that we would like to be.”

The city’s parks bylaw currently prohibits camping of any sort.

While most homeless shelters are open at night, MacPherson said the city of Hamilton, Ont., has a similar “dusk till dawn” policy that provides the opportunity for people to sleep safely, but also allows the public service to enforce bylaws.

City staff members would be directed to work with outreach service providers to give reasonable notice of enforcement to encampment residents and notify them of shelter options.

Gilroy said the amendment is about “setting boundaries … keeping people safe.”

Gillingham said officers will have the power to use discretion in the camps they ask to vacate.

“My hope is that the word gets out to all those living in encampments, and they understand that it’s not free reign across the city, that there are specific locations that they they can’t set up,” he said. “Once we get this through council, that space becomes a no-go zone, then that space has to be cleared out, and then we’ll have our staff remediate there.”

The motion also directs the public service to clean up sites quickly once vacated.

The mayor pointed to an area near Logan Avenue and the Disraeli Freeway that was once the site of an encampment and was cleared out and beautified.

The city has identified several other large encampments that could be cleaned up and landscaped, but did not provide a timeline.

The motion will move to council’s executive policy committee before a final vote. If approved, the public service must report back to council with a formal encampment policy within 60 days.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca