Encampment clean-up continues as City weighs solutions
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on October 19, 2022.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
Tents are seen set up this week between City Hall and the Civic Centre.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
From June 3 until Sept. 25, the Clean Sweep Program cleaned 13,080 kilograms of debris, 852 needles and 44 pipes from the Civic Centre track area.
That information is contained in a report that was submitted last Thursday to the Community Safety Standing Policy Committee meeting of Lethbridge city council by Mike Fox, director of Community Services.
From June 1 to Sept. 15, Clean Sweep cleared a total of 17,338 kg of debit from other encampment calls.
Since Aug. 11, the Streets Alive Outreach Team has done more than 6,700 interactions with occupants of city tent encampments.
From Aug. 5-25, the Canadian Mental Health Association Outreach Mobile Team and Community Links Team had more than 710 interactions with 29 intakes booked, 15 of which were successfully completed, said the report.
Of the interactions done by Streets Alive, 70 people have been connected with resources such as detox and treatment, stabilization/transitional housing programs and the Indigenous Recovery Coach program.
Fox’s report contained two possible responses for council to consider as ways of dealing with the encampments.
The first, said the report, would be an ad hoc encampment response with unstable funding.
The report was received as information and will be forwarded to November budget deliberations.
Under this scenario, Community Social Development “would continue facilitating, co-ordinating and convening with relevant stakeholders and offering support to the best of its ability for encampments.
“Many encampment response partners have been assisting under the status quo approach despite staff shortages, resulting in overtime costs and at times, resource gaps,” says the report.
The report states that although the $230,000 allocated by council has helped to backfill and improve the status quo response, that money was one-time funding and wouldn’t provide the stability for camp-related resources.
The second option calls for ongoing funding for strategic and proactive planning, says the report.
“This option would be a proactive encampment response and is directly linked to proposed 2023-26 budget initiatives (Clean Sweep Program, Diversion Outreach Team, Lethbridge Outreach Programs) being added to the municipal base budget,” according to the report.
The second option also proposes and describes the tasks and responsibilities for a dedicated camp foreman to execute an encampment response while Community Social Development develops and co-ordinate the camp response, said the report.
The report notes there has been a rise in encampment numbers here in the past three years, and they are more visible now because of location and media coverage.
The City has several contracted partners to deal with encampments including the CMHA, ICA Community LINKS, Streets Alive, Clean Sweep Program, and Lethbridge Police Service.
Several organizations the report calls “external partners/stakeholders” have also been involved. Those include Alpha House which provides outreach in the areas of the shelter and AHS Addiction and Mental Health Outreach whose staff assess individuals’ mental health, monitor effects and side of effects of medication, monitor compliance and collaborates with clients and their psychiatrist/physician among other tasks.
Also involved is the SAGE Clan Patrol, which provides outreach services and connection to vulnerable people, the Indigenous Recovery Coach Program which gives water, snacks and bagged lunches to the vulnerable while providing recovery supports through a Blackfoot lens.
Other groups assisting with camp residents include MyCity Care, The Watch and the Alberta Alliance Who Educate and Advocate Responsibly which provides harm reduction supplies, naloxone, snacks, hygiene kits and other supplies.
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23-22
Save some tax dollars. Put a match to it.
The resulting fire investigation and cost of incarcerating the arsonists would save tax dollars? And they would never just return with more pallets and tarps to rebuild their version of affordable housing? You think they don’t know where the fire extinguishers are or how to steal them?
12 agencies, same results. A large amount of money going out for no results. 38,143 POUNDS garbage, 70 out of 6700 interactions have gone forward, 1.04% success rate. 710 interactions, 29 intakes, 15 successes. 51% success rate of the intakes, 4.08% of interactions. With 12 agencies involved in this surely someone amongst the many has a better idea.
Just like in BC . . . money burned up, with no improvements, but issues grow . . . but no one listens! The taxpayers has deep pockets . . . right?!!!
There are better ideas but it seems nobody likes the price tag on those solutions ether. The jails are full to the point the guards are ready to walk out if we jam in more inmates. Look up the cost of a new jail and yearly operating budget. And jails don’t work anyway, we learned that long ago. If you want life sentences no parole then the price tag is even higher.
How can a jail work when people go in not addicted and come out addicted? Drugs are getting into jails, supposedly ‘secure’ facilities, to the point the 9 of the penetentiaries in Canada now have Safe Injection Sites.
We can’t force them to work or they riot, and the bleeding hearts have forced us to pamper them, so the only thing we can do is take away their freedom, with no rehabilitation and no deterents. Once should dread going to jail, but many get ‘institutionalized’ now and now call it Club Fed, since they often get fed better in there and have a warm bed and roof over their heads.
There are no deterents anymore and crime is rising because of that!
God Bless those bleeding hearts!
“…there has been a rise in encampment numbers here in the past three years, and they are more visible now because of location and media coverage…”
There has been a rise in numbers because the city has allowed them to grow, not because of media. As we face increased property taxes and less services, millions of our dollars are being spent on all the non-profits to support the encampment/homeless/ addicts.
Many of us warned this administration, repeatedly that this would happen, after observing it in BC, yet the only thing they could say was, ‘well it is happening in every other city there is nothing we can do’, throwing up their hands and allowing it.
The costs to the taxpayer in this city from city coffers is in the millions every year to support the groups Fox mentioned and many other non-profits who now make a living of the homeless, on the taxpayers dollar.
We are paying to support these people as they take over our neighbourhoods and parks and steal from the people in the area, intimidate them, assault them, and live a ‘feral’ lifestyle where no one will tell them what to do and they do whatever they want, with impunity.
Police do not have the budget to act and the Watch walks by open drug use, drinking, etc., in many areas of downtown, parks, alleys, behind businesses etc, saying nothing to them, just continuing in their conversation they have had not paying any mind to the illegal activity, probably because they have been told not to engage . . . so the public has to face the issues.
Who is responsible to protecting the public now? Apparently we are on our own to deal with the mess they have allowed to grow!
The encampments should have been removed and a message sent, not in this city, but instead they said they would find them housing, attracting more and this cycle will never end, because once you house one group more come in from other communities, shipped here or come on their own for free housing.
Repeatedly other communities have tried housing, sanctioned encampments and more shelters, but it failed because more encampments popped up, more people arrived needing housing.
Why work when you are housed, people come around with food and water/pop several times a day and other organizations bring you clothing, so all the money you get can go for drugs. All paid for by taxes and local donations that could have gone for cancer, MS, Alzheimer’s and other disease research!
Now, you tell us there is going to be another property tax increase and the encampment issues which you say have been here for 3 years have never been resolved, but allowed to increase? Expect blowback! It is coming from outraged citizens and we are going to demand people are held accountable and fired!
The greater Vancouver DTES is under 20,000, yet they pump over $360 million per year into housing and support services to support the addicts/homeless and have done so for years with no end in sight.
Many warned the city but no one listened and we are going down that same path, on the taxpayers dollars!
The Watch never intended to engage. That’s why they’re called The Watch and not The Vigilantes. Get ’em trained/certified, give ’em a gun and a badge and maybe call ’em The New Cop Recruits. Or get ’em trained/certified as mental health workers and call them The Badly Needed Healthcare Workers but if you stop and talk to the red coats they don’t seem to approve of vigilantism. They do approve of getting to know the streets and the regulars and they do help the cops keep an eye on things, report suspicious activity and act as witnesses. Isn’t that enough?
I know, the Watch is told just like security to not engage. The Watch has been a good program in many areas, but my point is that we pay them over $1 million per year, due to the addicts and homeless issues. We pay other non-profits and contractors millions of dollars per year, because of the homeless and addicts. We pay millions each year for security because of the issues as well.
We are making the same mistakes at BC, pouring millions into the wrong programs. In Vacouver DTES, there are over 200 non-profit programs burning up over $360 million per year and that doesn’t include police/fire/EMS.
The most effective programs in the US with 83% success rate involved strict policing, charging addicts and giving them an opportunity to go into treatment or go to jail. The ‘effective’ treatment program is 18 months, includes treatment, relapse training, upgrading and job placement, with follow up with volunteer probation officers/counsellors who meet with them weekly.
We have some of the programming in place right now, such as drug courts, treatment, etc., but there is more that would be needed.
People are dying as we continue to make poor decisions and the issues are growing and as they grow their impact to everyone increases. I already see and high percentage of people in this city of all social stratifications and cultures that have been impacted by this crisis.
Harm reduction doesn’t work and when we finally realize that giving all the paraphernalia addicts need to do drugs, delivering food right to the encampments and not providing any treatment or counselling will not get them off the streets and coddling them is only killing them slowly, then getting them into EFFECTIVE TREATMENT PROGRAMS, then we will see progress, lives saved and money saved.
It works, you can force addicts to be treated if the programs are effective!
The city went through the $230,000 long ago. Remember in the first weeks $170,000 was already spent, months ago!
They say: ‘The City has several contracted partners to deal with encampments including the CMHA, ICA Community LINKS, Streets Alive, Clean Sweep Program, and Lethbridge Police Service.’
Those are not all of the people contracted to deal with the issues, they are many more that the public is paying for and yet, the encampment has grown not decreased!
What we have is a complete failure to listen to taxpayer, allowing this group of criminals to grow and take more of our city.
I think high school kids could do a better job managing these issues!
They’re just doing what Danielle Smith intends to do. They carve off a piece of Canada, call it their own, scoff at the law and accept donations. I don’t know who got the idea first.
When we pay for people and elect people to make the right decisions for us and they fail and refuse to listen, but act on the requests of others who make money from the addicts and homeless, then we can only do one thing . . . PROTEST!
Some of us have already had to come out of retirement and spent countless hours preparing for yet another protest and lobbying government event because people we pay have failed us!
Sad . . . I would much rather enjoy this great fall weather, but instead have already spent 18 hours in the last couple of days preparing.
The encampments should have been gone, instead the taxpayer has to pay for criminals to continue to commit crimes . . . while we feed them, donations pay for their tents, we clothe them . . . why would they change or move along? They have suckers on the hook and we are those suckers!
While checking my mail at the Post Office, 3 people were doing drugs on the ramp, as I walked by, one blow the smoke in my face. No point calling police because they would be gone hours later when police arrived. They have free reign and they know it! They know they can get away with most things, because the bleeding hearts won’t fine them, so there are no deterents . . . and we pay!
While taking pictures of the encampment, all in 2 minutes, I had something thrown at me and the person was going to throw his lighter at me, screaming I wasn’t allowed to take pictures . . . on a public street, from in front of the library? Both incidents were assaults, but I shrugged them off, because I know police are dealing with more important issues . . . and had their budget slashed by last council for over a million dollars! When is the next election . . . too bad there is now right to recall!
So who is protecting us? Who is supposed to be making the right decisions?
A small group of deviants are costing us millions every year and we have to pay, while the abuse by these individuals continues, and no-one is doing anything! They come at local residents with threats and throw things at them and if those residents responded and tackled them to protect themselves, who do you think would be charged?
Do we have to bring in the Sheriff’s to remove these criminals?
I will be protesting this and our group is in preparations, taking their valuable time to prepare, which is very time consuming, while others who are supposed to lead, have failed!
As my letter to Council states, since we have to once again protest, we are going to want change in the leadership as well, since our concerns, the taxpayers, have fell on deaf ears . . . deaf ears and blind eyes!
I cringe when I hear someone say, ” it is happening everywhere else so we just have to accept it ” . . . pretty easy to say when it is the Taxpayers footing the bills.
Can you imagine if Winston Churchill, during WWll would have said, “well, it is happening all over Europe so we will just have to accept defeat by the Nazi’s” what kind of world we would now live in?
Now imagine once the recession hits what kind of city we are going to live in since these issues have been allowed to explode on our streets and money is scarce and police budgets are slashed, as they always are in recessions!
You will see more gangs and the rise of vigilantes and hate groups because there is no law enforcement to protect the rights of the people!