Council approves $230,000 funding to address camps

By Lethbridge Herald on July 26, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber A tent is seen set up in the middle of the Civic Centre field on Tuesday morning. Council on Tuesday afternoon addressed homelessness and homeless encampments in Lethbridge.

Al Beeber and Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

After a lengthy discussion that took about 2.5 hours, city council on Tuesday voted 7-1 to allocate up to $230,000 in one-time funding from corporate budget contingencies to assist in administrative and policing funding shortfalls to expedite the compassionate clean-up at homeless encampments in the city.

Councillor Rajko Dodic was absent from the meeting.

The vote came after council separated into four pieces a motion by mayor Blaine Hyggen that also called on council to approve  $470,000 in one-time funding, also from corporate budget contingencies, to move forward with more suitable solutions for the encampment situation. Hyggen’s original motion also called for a  task force to be struck to gather key partners for a community view of what the motion calls complex issues.

 Another part included a request to have council write a letter to the provinces Seniors and Housing, Community and Social Services department and Mental Health and Addictions requesting the formation of a working group to allow for city and provincial collaboration on medium and long-term housing and homeless solutions “that will ultimately address encampments issues.”

Ultimately council voted to approve the smaller amount to immediately begin the process of addressing the camps.

A referral motion put forward by councillor Jeff Carlson on the $230,000 funding was defeated in a 6-2 vote.

The second through fourth operative clauses of the mayor’s motion were unanimously referred to a special council meeting or SPC meeting.

Deputy mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel, who took over as chair from the mayor since his motion was on the table, told council she would support it because entrenched encampments aren’t safe “for any of our residents, those who are living in the encampments and those who are not.

“We need to be creating a safe community for everyone and while we’re not hearing or moving forward on the other three options at this time, we will be looking at those in the next week.

“None of this is ideal, none of this is a great position for us to be in but right now we need to provide a safe place. We need to provide a safe community and I think at least this is a start of doing this,” said the deputy mayor.

Speaking for his motion before the vote on the $230,000, the mayor told council “it’s not easy; it’s a very, very complex issue and I wish we had a magic wand. I wish we had that crystal ball, we don’t,” said the mayor.

He said council doesn’t have the answers ‘but I know doing what we’re doing right now isn’t working so we need to do something.”

He referred to remarks by councillor Ryan Parker that the city has rules and bylaws for city parks “but it’s the resources to get people out there as quickly as we need them to get out there and to work with these encampments and to pull these encampments down.

“It may seem to many we’re not being compassionate” but the mayor said with the increase in tent numbers and a recent shooting, encampment areas aren’t safe for anyone.

“These areas aren’t safe whether you’re homeless or if you have a home or for those visiting our community. It’s just not a safe area,” added the mayor.

“There’s no much more to this very complex issue…we may get to the end of this and have to spend $230,000 and find out that it hasn’t changed as much as we wanted it to change. But if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re getting the same result that we’ve had which is not working,” added the mayor.

During the question period, councillor Ryan Parker asked Hyggen how the $230,000 would be allocated and what the community could expect in return. Hyggen asked Community Services Mike Fox to answer.

“About $195,000 of that money is for wages alone, so most of the asks today would be to enhance our response and our presence in these encampment areas. That also includes cleaning up areas and one of the recent encampment responses, we cleaned up 5670 kilograms of refuse and also 282 needles,” said fox.

He added that at those encampments they also do daily cleanups, and therefore that amount of money allows them to make sure the safety of the occupants and allows them to watch for criminal activity.

“Part of this is also with LPS and when LPS is with us, they are watching for criminal activity and any aggressive behaviour and they support us in in this,” said Fox.

Counsellor John Middleton-Hope asked Fox for clarification about the establishment of encampments as opposed to removing them.  

“My understanding is it would be a controlled encampment site, this would be an area that has similar services to a shelter, so we would have for lack of a better word a bag check or security check, when people enter the area making sure no illegal items are brought in. We would have 24/7 presence of people that would be healthcare workers and people that can do outreach within these areas,” said Fox.

He added that he has never seen one of those sites work, but they have not had full services like is being proposed with the one in question. Fox explained that is the reason for the $395,000 in wages.

Middleton-Hope was confused about the amount, as he thought it was supposed to be $195,000 but Fox explained that amount was for Part One of the motion to deal with the encampment situation at hand.

“The second part is for 470 ($470,000) and 395 ($395,000) of that is for wages in that aspect,” said Fox.

He explained that with a controlled area people cannot be forced to entered, but the idea is to have a place for them to be safe and have access to services.

Counsellor Jeff Carlson asked later into the question period if there was a location in mind to set up the controlled encampment site and what the plan is for it, and Fox offered an answer.

“The current location that we have been just started conversations with the service provider in the building, and the province, and this is over by the current shelter’s site. It backs on to the CP rail, there’s already a fence that goes along the CP rail side. There would need to be a removal of the stairs on the side to bring the gated entrance into it,” said Fox.

He explained that they would not lock anybody in, but there would be controls on the entrance and exit so we can maintain the safety in the actual area.