Report provides insight into city homeless issues
By Lethbridge Herald on August 11, 2022.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
Tents are seen set up outside the Civic Centre as traffic passes behind on Stafford Drive. A report by administration to city council addresses the difficulties faced by municipalities across North America in removing such encampments.Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
A report provided by City of Lethbridge administration for council says inadequate housing supports and emergency shelters are exacerbating the situation of homeless camps in urban centres across North America.
The report, presented to council at a special meeting on Tuesday, says the city needs to create both short-and long-term solutions to mitigate health and safety risks.
Approaches to dealing with encampments by various communities have included clearing them out, using municipal bylaw enforcement where possible, seeking voluntary compliance; and going for court-ordered injunctions to remove camps.
Other approaches have included sanctioned camp sites, and pilot projects for tiny homes or other transitional housing.
Successes of those approaches have been varied, says the report.
The report says under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, citizens have the basic right to adequate shelter, “particularly if the deprivation of shelter may result in serious or life-threatening situations.”
It says sanctioned camps can be costly and resource-intensive, adding that the cities of Edmonton and Kingston proposed pilot projects for sanctioned sites and councils in both communities voted them down.
In Edmonton, the cost of setting up three small camps to serve 60 homeless people would have been $2.1 million for three months. This included a fenced area with washroom trailer, potable water, picnic tables, storage for belongings and a fire pit.
The report says Alpha House has opposed a sanctioned camp behind their building “due to the health and safety of staff and shelter participants and infringement on the current egress/escape route for the shelter.”
Shelters in Lethbridge have become more prevalent during the summer months “highlighting the need for a corporate-wide response and strategy to mitigate risk and identify long-term solutions, pertaining to encampments.”
Municipalities can open themselves to legal action if they try to use bylaws to encourage camp residents to remove their structures but have not “satisfied and evidenced Charter of Rights and Freedoms requirements for encampment occupants such as right to life, liberty and security of the person with shelter being one of those rights.”
Councillor Ryan Parker asked council “if people are doing something illegal, it drives me nuts that we can’t do anything and I understand the frustration. If we know these encampments are occurring and we don’t do anything, and in the past there has been a shooting and we still aren’t doing anything to rectify the situation, are we liable as a city that we did not do anything to clean up this site?”
Acting City Solicitor Adam Faust responded “generally I would say that the risk is likely low. There is always some risk” telling council they would have to go in camera if they wanted a further detailed analysis.
Parker said if LPS had been present at the meeting, he would have asked if it’s possible to put an officer or vehicles in the area to prevent illegal action from occurring or to make sure residents are safe.
Councillor John Middleton-Hope said he wanted city administration to have legal services to communicate directly with the provincial Crown prosecutor’s office to determine what criminal actions can be taken “because I do believe that there are sections within the Criminal Code that are available” adding “it’s different getting a legal opinion from the City Solicitor as compared to the Crown prosecutor who is going to prosecute those offences. There are offences that can be charged but at the end of the day, they may not be prosecutable offences.”
City manager Lloyd Brierley told the councillor that recently LPS has had those conversations and “we as administration have no ability, absolutely no ability to direct Lethbridge police.”
In July, Alpha House provided shelter for an average of 66 people per night. It has capacity for 91 but the report says for a variety of reasons, many people don’t want to stay there. But even if the shelter was at full capacity every night, the report adds many people wouldn’t have a safe place to stay overnight.
A 2018 Point-in-Time count showed that 223 people were homeless in the City. It identified that 109 people living at the shelter identified as homeless but only 67 left there.
An updated count will be done this fall.
From July 25-29, the city’s Clean Sweep Program had eight calls about camps, half of them at the Civic Centre. Three of the four calls about camps elsewhere were responded to.
On Aug. 3, the Clean Sweep Program removed 1.25 metric tonnes of debris from the Civic Centre camp and collected 51 needles. That same day Canadian Mental Health Association referred 14 people to additional supports or resources while the Diversion Outreach Team took five people to other locations.
The report says that in the last year one in nine people who died of an opiate overdose in Alberta died in Lethbridge.
Police are limited in their authority to “authorize or participate in the take down of such encampments,” according to the report adding there is presently no provincial or federal legislation that gives them the authority.
“There is the ability to arrest and deal with individuals, however, nothing to allow police to take down and remove shelters,” the report states.
The report notes that nobody can be forced to attend a sanctioned encampment so it’s anticipated that other camps would continue to exist here to some degree.
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DTES Lethbridge, here it comes….. Stupid city admin and council,.
Hmm not a mention at all about holding any of these people accountable for their predicament! The coddling persists!
A society that has people living in tents is no where even close to “coddling”.
Yeh, they got us right where they want us. Some don’t want a home, they want a tent, garners sympathy and prevents accountability. Some like it. Separation of the crowd is necessary. Truly homeless, happy being homeless and the addicted homeless.
I applaud the city for all the hard work many levels have performed at a time when many of us had a chance to vacation and turn our minds away from this.
Much of what was said, many of us were aware of. Most of these people will not move into housing, sober shelters or shelters. As we have seen and earlier reported, Alpha House has operated around 75% capacity for several weeks, so there has been room.
I am all for sober sheltering if it will be used, but I believe only about 10% of the people in the encampments will use it. Some may short term, but will find it ‘cramps their lifestyle’ and will go back to encamping.
The longer they are allowed to stay where they are, the harder it will be to move them! Most of us agree. Look at what it happening in Vancouver! This is what happens when you allow this to continue for months. Some of these people have been encamped at the Civic Center since late April.
If we do not send a loud and clear message that this will not be tolerated in our city now, to set the tone for next year, then we can expect bigger encampments next spring.
We can also expect better organized advocate groups that will make it harder to move the encampments, higher policing/fire/EMS costs, and higher crime rates.
Just because it happens in cities across Canada doesn’t mean we have to accept it here! We have a choice! We have an opportunity to send a loud and clear message now that will not allow these in our city!
Recap what the estimates in Edmonton were for similar amounts of people in the encampments:
“…In Edmonton, the cost of setting up three small camps to serve 60 homeless people would have been $2.1 million for three months. This included a fenced area with washroom trailer, potable water, picnic tables, storage for belongings and a fire pit…”
That doesn’t include the policing/fire/EMS, graffiti in area, vandalism in area, loss of revenues to businesses in area, etc.
How big are your wallets and how many of the services you now enjoy are you willing to give up to support the encampments?
Have you ever stepped foot in the Alpha House? If you have, I doubt you would be questioning why people don’t want to sleep there.
Picture a giant room, with thin mats on the floor. No separate rooms, not even sheet dividers. No privacy. How safe would you feel?
What’s your point!! Tents have walls???
dancin, I have been in Alpha House and all around the outside, including along the railroad tracks. I have also talked to many who used the services there, telling my several stories: They were raped, they were assaulted, the were forced to do drugs, they were pressured/threatened to join a gang, they had they personal effects stolen and in many cases they stated Alpha House did nothing. That is what they stated.
As a young adventurous person in the 70’s I packed up a few things a hitch hiked to BC, staying ‘hostels’ along the way. They were often school gyms, with a mat on the floor, no showers, but school washrooms to clean up, etc. We had a bowl of free cereal in the morning and off we would go. There was no soup kitchen providing 3 meals per day and no groups running around coming to you, finding you on the streets with sandwiches and water or free clothing. We made the choice to do what we did in our travels and accepted and appreciated what we were given.
Do you expect us to put you up in the Sandman Signature hotel? When we grew up we worked to provide our necessities, but you expect us to give you everything for free and thank you for the honour!
I have been fully engaged in the addiction and homeless issues for 7 years and I know that what we have been doing isn’t working and we need to change how we respond and use tough love to resolve these issues. There are plenty of jobs out there and companies will be patient and work with those recovering from addictions or other issues to get them back on track. There are plenty of treatment choices now, including the addictions helpline. People have a choice! Their destiny is in their own hands!
I have worked in extreme conditions, in several areas in the world and have been without food and water, living in the elements without shelter and other times living in tents or converted sea-cans we called our ISO’s. It was our choice to do what we did and we accepted it.
I also have filed complaints against Alpha House and want it gone and replaced by a locally operated organization that will respect not just it’s clients, but the city, the citizens and the business community! I have noticed that Alpha House has made to positive changes recently after people grew tired of their operation, so I will them that.
I would suggest that if you are not happy with Alpha House, go home or go back to the community you left and appreciate what you had there.
The taxpayers pay tens millions of dollars out every year in this city to support 100-150 people that seem to think they have a right to not work and expect everything for free, while they slowly kill themselves. I have watched too many die and have tried to stop this madness.
So . . . yes I have been in there and yes I am fully aware of the situation.
‘ are we liable as a city that we did not do anything to clean up this site?” ‘
That is a great question and when, not if, one of the people trying to walk through the area to get to the Seniors center or off to work, we will find out when their lawyers sue for the injuries.
The city has a responsibility to protect the citizens and their property!
Our Parks Bylaw – 5651 and some of the breaches:
There is also the new bylaw all encompasssed, which includes:
Threats, vandalism, gaffiti, littering, loitering $300
Just to name a few! If the fines are not paid there should be community service or jail! We need to increase our drug court capacity and treatment associated with these courts and utilize this.
We can do better!
Your solution is to fine people who don’t even have a home? And then throw them in jail when they can’t afford to pay? Run them through the court, clog up our already-stressed justice system for a petty sentence? The mind baffles!
If you’re so generous as to want taxpayers to fund all these pricy, do-nothing expenditures, you should really educate yourself & consider supporting a Housing First policy. Not only would it be cheaper, it would actually address the problem, not compound it.
More policing, tearing down tents & petty fines cost much more than they “cure”. Decades of bad planning, ineffective drug policies and inadequate social supports have created this mess. More of the same simply kicks the can further down the road.
So what is your solution. DTES???? How about you kick in a couple of thousand and take someone home. Now there is a solution!!!
What drugs are you on? I do not see anywhere that Say What brings up major expenditures or talks about supportive housing.
Let me guess “dancin” . . . you are from BC! If not, you have been drinking their harm reducion supportive housing kool-aid that has had 19 years to work, but has failed miserably and spread like cancer across BC and now you are trying to force it on Lethbridge.
I have walked the alleys of East Hastings in the DTES and seen the devastation, with people overdosing behind their safe injuction sites, just like they did here when the large SCS was open.
Fines are a deterent, police would not be needed if people didn’t break laws and BC is one example of NOT what we should be doing.
Myself and others who often comment on this platform are well informed on the issue. I am not sure who Say What … is but agree with some of what they say.
The Vancouver DTES is about 7,000 people, while the greater DTES 19,000, yet they have spent for years over $360 million on housing and social supports to what has grown to over 300 organizations, most of which are non-profits and none of the issues have been resolved, but continue to grow. All the supports draw people to Vancouver and they get further into their rut and die there. Canada lost over 7,500 Canadians, mostly young adults last year and this has to end.
I agree that we must change and use tough love principles, which is very much a tool in addiction issues, and get these people off the streets and working. When you work it increases self esteem and mental health.
Today I decided to take a walk downtown and see what is happening with this encampment of tents next to City Hall.
Are we really going to allow this to happen? The number of tents have almost double since I drove by 2 weeks ago. As I walked beside the track that as a teen, our junior highschool use to use for tack and field at the end of the school year and what a joke. It had a very large pile poop, now maybe it was left by a very large dog, but I doubt it. I saw open drug use and as I walked by an old white minivan saw an old white guy getting sexual favors by a young indigenous girl. His eyes were all glassey, maybe from alcohol and maybe from drugs.
Then I almost got ran over by some non-encampment resident going by on one of those electric scooters who seemed to think I should move all the way off the sidewalk so he could go by on his electric scooter.
What a great peaceful, relaxing walk in our downtown! I am disappointed and disgusted that our leadership in this city has allowed it to slide into the abyss further after we were recovering from the Supervised Consumption Site.
Maybe we need to call another election! I thought we had a great Chief of Police, but my hopes have turned into disappointment. It appears that we are going to allow the downtown to be completely taken over by the addicts and homeless as they move in from other communities to live on our hard worked for dollars!
Where can I sign to fight for change in our city! Once upon a time we had true leaders! Can you imagine where we would be if Sir Winston Churchill said, well Hitler has taken over all the other countries so it is inevitable the United Kingdom will fall!
We are losing a once great nation! How is it that less than 100 people can be allowed to cost us millions of dollars and break multiple laws with impunity?
Are there any true leaders with backbone who care for the citizens of this city and it’s business community left?
How is it we are continually being charged high taxes to pay for these addicts and deviants that when tallied up have only been less than 200 people in total? That Supervised Consumption Site costover almost $30 million in the end once you add up additional costs in shutting it down, such as the Review Panel and it was only open for 2 years!
I am tired of this and I am tired of people we pay and elect not doing their jobs!