Council knows residents concerned about camps

By Lethbridge Herald on July 9, 2022.

LEAVE IT TO BEEBER
Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

Residents of Lethbridge can be forgiven if they feel the city is under siege with the explosion of homeless encampments here.

Drive along Stafford Drive past Alpha House and you will regularly see tent camps set up. Ditto with the Civic Centre field which is probably the most visible example of homeless camps in the city. That field is packed with them.

The camp issue was addressed on Tuesday by Lethbridge city council after John Middleton-Hope brought up a motion to have administration look at strategies to deal with the issue.

And it’s not a simple one. As pointed out to council, human rights issues are involved. 

People with an existing address can’t just plunk down a tent anywhere and camp overnight, but when people don’t actually have a residence, the situation becomes trickier, councillor Rajko Dodic was told when he brought up the city’s parks bylaw.

This is an issue being faced by communities across the country.

It’s an issue as councillor Ryan Parker said at Tuesday’s meeting, he and his fellow members of local governance hear about regularly from residents and council has the same questions as them, he said. Council, Parker bluntly stated, is just as confused as the rest of us.

Council is trying to find the answers to the problem and a potential strategy that can take care of the needs of those without housing while also addressing the safety concerns of private residents and businesses.

Make no doubt about it, we all have the right to feel safe in our communities. It’s a matter my neighbourhood has addressed often in recent years due to activity at a couple of places whose tenants are of huge concern because of certain activities which have ramped up again after a brief and much-appreciated lull.

One recent incident really got a few of us alarmed and me quite frankly just outright angry. 

My son in the middle of an afternoon found a person hiding in our driveway between the garbage and recycling bins who told him to keep quiet. Which he didn’t. It turns out a person of that same description either before or after Dylan’s encounter walked into the unlocked basement unit of a neighbouring property to the huge and unwanted surprise of the tenants. If my gate hadn’t been locked, I can only imagine where that person would have gone or gotten into.

There has been talk – again – of prostitution happening on the block as well as drug dealing and whatever the bicycle people are carrying in the multiple backpacks they haul with them at all hours of day.

But we as city residents are limited to what we can do to keep ourselves safe. We can’t inflict vigilante justice because we are the ones who will face accountability, not the people causing harm to us and our properties. 

Just look at how many court cases keep getting pushed back and how many crime suspects are released quickly back onto the streets after arrests. It’s not uncommon to read of city police rearresting people for selling drugs almost as soon as they’re back on the streets.

Many people can rightfully feel justice does not exist anymore for the people upon whom crimes are inflicted.

 Instead the perpetrators of crime seem to get free passes by the justice system, which may be handcuffing law enforcement because of the revolving door of arrests and releases.

 Many here are concerned about the homeless camps and the behaviours of those who live in them. As council heard, there are safety issues attached to these tent cities which comes at the expense of people who want to – and have the right – to enjoy the public spaces in our community. 

Some people have experienced aggressiveness by camp residents and are reluctant to use certain spaces. 

Is that fair? Should moms and their kids feel threatened because they go to a park on a sunny summer day? 

Should someone be fearful for just walking through a park or for engaging in lawful activity in one?

As councillor John Middleton-Hope so eloquently said to council in support of his motion “if we as a city permit encampments throughout the city, they become the norm.

 We need a strategy, we need a location and advocacy to develop sustainable options that impact the problems of encampments and homelessness.”

With the efforts of city administration, perhaps those options and strategies will be found to deal with an escalating situation that has many in this community – including in government – concerned.

At Tuesday’s meeting, mayor Blaine Hyggen expressed how tough it was to see the situation people in these camps are in but he also recognizes the needs and interests of those who live, work and operate businesses here.

We have an extremely compassionate council in office, one that recognizes the complexities of this difficult issue and one that is working diligently to find a resolution that somehow satisfies the needs  and interests of everyone here.

One question that was asked of me by a resident, which may also need investigating, is how many are in those encampments because of misfortune and how many are there because of bad choices or because they don’t want to seek the help that is available to them. 

Where have all these people come from and why specifically did they choose Lethbridge? These are other questions residents have asked.

People are increasingly fed up in this community with what they see is a lack of responsiveness to their concerns about personal safety. 

Whether it’s due to drug dealers or car prowlers and bike thieves, or aggressive tent camp residents, some here feel they are becoming second-class citizens in their own community. 

And many residents may indeed feel they are under siege – a feeling my neighbourhood knows all too well despite numerous complaints to SCAN and the police by residents over the years.

Trust me, we know. 

Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter.

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