By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A municipally sanctioned encampment for the unhoused is but one idea Chatham-Kent will probe this summer as it grapples with unwelcome encampments on municipal land.
That’s what elected officials heard recently at a June council meeting, following a staff presentation outlining C-K’s encampment protocol with regard to public and private lands.
The protocol – as outlined by C-K’s director of legal services Dave Taylor, and Polly Smith, head of employment and social services – provides a framework to deal with encampments while balancing the rights of the homeless against those of business and private citizens.
How to remove individuals and entire encampments from municipal land in Ontario isn’t clear, Taylor told council.
Because the laws surrounding encampments are rapidly changing within a “difficult” legal landscape, Taylor said municipalities have to evolve as case law changes.
Paring it down, the municipal solicitor said recent provincial court rulings have determined people need to be able to provide shelter for themselves as a necessity of life.
As well, Taylor said, a municipal bylaw prohibiting the homeless from seeking shelter may breach Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“It’s a complex issue, one that’s resulted in tensions between property owners and unhoused persons,” Taylor stressed.
According to Smith, it’s the right of every private landowner to have a person removed from the property. Property owners can call the non-emergency police line at 519-436-6600, or 911 if the matter is an emergency.
Smith said outreach workers will contact the individuals in question to help them preserve their belongings along with connecting them to service providers to help them find housing.
On municipally owned land, Smith said encampments are to be reported and dealt with by the manager of homelessness prevention. Outreach workers will visit the unhoused individuals and offer supports.
If an encampment is to be dismantled, affected people will be given the option of leaving voluntarily and being relocated with the help of staff.
The goal is for the homeless to become housed, Smith explained, adding outreach workers need to viewed as trustworthy.
“Rapport building is a very big part in building trust and relationships,” Smith told council, noting the majority of the work is carried out by R.O.C.K. Missions workers.
Both Taylor and Smith said solving the encampment issue will take more than a protocol.
“Only new housing and increased wages and supports for people will end this situation,” Smith stated.
But while sympathetic to the plight of the homeless, several councillors expressed dismay over the crime and drug use associated with encampments, questioning why the municipality can’t do more.
South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci said he has business owners reaching out to him, wondering what their rights are when the homeless scare their customers away.
Ceccacci said it’s difficult to convey the rights of the homeless against those experiencing “collateral damage” caused by encampments.
“There’s a lot of people who are at their wit’s end from a business perspective,” he said, adding some business owners are “treading the line” of becoming homeless themselves.
South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle, echoed Ceccacci, adding he’s stopped by the municipal parking lot encampment on Wellington Street in Chatham several times.
Doyle said if you visit, it doesn’t take long to witness a drug deal.
“I saw a guy shooting up not 10 feet from me,” Doyle said. “That’s not what we should be having in a parking lot right beside a business. Again, I feel for the people that want to get help, but there’s also the people who don’t want to get help. I think it’s come to a point that we have to do something. This just isn’t working.”
Jodi Guilmette, C-K’s general manager of health and human services, said the municipality will examine all angles and return a report to council in September.
“The challenge is the complexities of some of the people not wanting to receive supports from us, and how do we help them?” Guilmette said, adding that while she doesn’t think there is a “perfect solution,” things can be done differently.
Guilmette pointed out that homelessness encampments are a new and evolving problem that municipalities never faced in the past.
In his comments, CAO Michael Duben said an executive team comprised of staff from most departments, is meeting weekly to discuss the issue.
Duben said it will take time to investigate and evaluate, adding officials will be reaching out to places with municipally controlled encampments as part of the process.
“We will come back to council with what to do, specifically about the parking lot,” he said.
As of June 10, 89 homeless people declared they are sleeping outside in Chatham-Kent, but council learned the number fluctuates daily. Similar to the rest of Canada, encampments have taken root in most urban areas in Ontario with current rent rates reported to be at an all-time high.
