The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
New encampment site designated
HRM plan for addressing homeless population includes a civilian-led response team
A civilian-led response team and a new encampment site in Dartmouth are the cornerstones of HRM’S latest approach to addressing homelessness.
“We have to do something here,” said Coun. Sam Austin (Dartmouth Centre) during a long council meeting Tuesday evening.
“It’s impacting the people who live in encampments, it’s impacting people who live adjacent to encampments. It’s just awful for all concerned and we can’t ignore it.”
Designated encampments are overcrowded, cramped and dangerous. Of the four designated sites, 85 people are living in spaces meant for 30. And there are well over 40 people living in non-designated sites including seven on the Halifax Common, plus on the Dartmouth Common, Gladstone Park in Halifax, Walter Regan Park in Lower Sackville, Northbrook Park in Dartmouth and several provincial parks.
Austin said there has been a major fire at the Green Road site, a death and an incident where a woman who lives nearby witnessed a camp resident “stabbed in the neck, blood gushing.”
Should the growth rate of people sleeping rough continue at the same pace it did from the end of fall 2022 to the beginning fall 2023, Max Chauvin, director of housing and homelessness wrote in a report to council, HRM can expect to have more than 300 people sleeping rough by summer 2024 and more than 400 in 2025.
NEW DESIGNATED ENCAMPMENT SITE
Chauvin suggested clearing and levelling a four-acre, municipally owned property off Bancroft Drive for a designated encampment site.
It’s a good spot, said Coun. Shawn Cleary (Halifax West Armdale) since it can be easily cleared and accessible by transit. Council voted on the site to move ahead.
It will bring HRM’S designated encampment sites to five (HRM closed five sites this winter).
Council voted to spend $700,000 for encampment management for Green Road and University Avenue designated encampments.
A NO-ENCAMPMENT APPROACH
Chauvin floated a no-encampment approach. When there are suitable indoor options for people to stay, people will have to pack up their tents every morning so only overnight camping would be allowed.
“To me, the no encampment approach is simply PR. It’s about trying to make unhoused people invisible,” said Coun. Waye Mason (Halifax South Downtown).
“It’s cruel to say to people to pack up every day if they don’t have good options.”
Austin said HRM is very far away from a no-encampment policy.
“We’re closer to an encampment-everywhere policy than to a no-encampment policy. It’s just not feasible.”
DROP-IN CENTRE
Efforts to open a daily dropin centre, giving people a place to go during the day to access services, have been ongoing for more than a year. Shelter Nova Scotia had trouble finding a place to rent because landlords didn’t like what it would be used for but they have now secured their own building, said Mason.
Council supported matching the province’s contribution of $750,000 this year for renovations and setup costs plus contribute $750,000 a year for operational costs. It is expected to open next year.
CIVILIAN-LED RESPONSE TEAM
When police enter an encampment, it often doesn’t go over well. Chauvin said a civilian-led response team made up of social and outreach workers would make a huge difference both for residents of the encampment and the neighbours.
“It is the thing that would have the most impact,” Chauvin said.
They will need five teams of four people for 24-7 support.
But how to pay for it? A civilian-led response team is expected to cost $3.2 million a year.
There was debate over how much the city should spend on a provincial issue but in the end, it was decided to ask the province to pay for it.
It will be added to a long list that Mayor Mike Savage will send in a letter to the premier including:
■ Ensure new shelter and housing resources “adequately meet the needs of those currently sleeping rough.”
■ Prioritize opportunities for those “with the highest acuity.”
■ Accelerate the delayed Pallet shelter program.
■ Make sure everyone has an individualized case management plan with a “a clear housing plan.”
■ Increase mental health and addiction services.
■ Renovate and use available spaces to create more supportive housing.
■ Put together a housing summit this fall to create a long-term approach to eliminate the need for encampments.
■ Provide supports for managed encampment sites.
■ Kick in $180,000 to fund the winter sheltering for RVS in Shubie Park for a second season
Also Tuesday, the province announced a new supportive housing project in Westphal for Black and African Nova Scotians and another location for HRM Pallet shelters in Dartmouth for seniors facing homelessness.