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.