Council hears encampment strategy update
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 27, 2024.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge city council on Tuesday heard the latest encampment strategy update from Community Social Development general manager Andrew Malcolm.
The update covered the period from Aug. 24 to Nov. 1.
The encampment response team experienced a 19 per cent increase in reported encampments during the Aug. 27 to Nov. 26 reporting period over the same period of time in 2023, this period which Malcolm’s report states represents the start of the seasonal decline in confirmed camps.
Malcolm told council after it returned to chamber following their morning’s meeting acting as Economic and Finance SPC that the report would be “relatively uneventful” and council unanimously accepted it as information.
The area around the shelter continues to be a hotspot with 118 confirmed encampments which account for 58.7 per cent of all confirmed encampments, says the report. The report says the area is visited during every coordinated cleanup and Lethbridge Police Service has issued multiple tickets for trespassing and other infractions of municipal bylaws.
Sergeant Ryan Darroch of LPS told council police are “hitting some hurdles around the shelter.”
The emergency response team has been working with the Blood Tribe Department of Health and Lethbridge Housing Authority to address encampments on private property and discuss the impact of ongoing construction in the area.
The ERT has also increased efforts to locate entrenched camps in the river bottom including using an LPS drone to survey areas that are hard to reach. As a result, multiple abandoned sites have been discovered in areas with low foot traffic.
Some takeaways from the report:
• 2023’s hotspots have seen a reduction in encampments with a 66 per cent reduction in Galt Garden sand a 64 per cent reduction in the civic area.
• The amount of debris cleaned up from encampments has continued to trend upwards. During this reporting period, a 179 per cent increase of debris has been removed from encampments.
• ERT has been engaging with community facilities affected by encampments and unhoused activity, such as Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens and CASA, to provide safety information and guidance. These efforts include educating staff on how to respond to incidents, offering strategies to maintain a secure environment, and sharing resources for addressing concerns related to encampments.
• ERT has established a partnership with Alberta Health Services Community Paramedics, enabling them to attend cleanups in areas previously identified as having a high number of people. Community paramedics can provide encampment occupants with wound care and assistance in accessing the Opioid Dependency Program.
In the current reporting period, there were 221 encampment calls compared to 186 in the 2023 reporting period. To date, there have been 842 calls.
There were 201 encampments identified in the current reporting period compared to 124 in the 2023 reporting period and 595 to date.
In this period there were a total of 201 triaged camps resolved for a year-to-date total of 1,122.
In the current period there were 47 reports of needle debris, up from 38 in the same period last year for a total 129 year-to-date. There have been 73 reports of biohazards (225 year-to-date) and 84 for debris (280 year-to-date).
In the current reporting period, there were 16 co-ordinated cleanup (10 last year in the same period) and 129 year-to-date.
A total of 180 structures were removed in this period and 15,900 kilograms of debris removed, for a total of 434 and 34,850 kg respectively this year.
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