Hamilton councillors and the mayor have voted overwhelmingly to end the city’s encampment protocol, rules that have allowed some people living in tents to stay and not be forced to move.
The 13-2 vote at council’s general issues committee meeting will see the former parks bylaw, which forbids overnight camping, enforced again starting March 6.
It will now go to council for a final vote, which is needed to pass formally.
Wednesday’s vote was on a motion by Ward 14 Coun. Mike Spadafora. The motion noted a recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice finding that clearing encampments from parks doesn’t violate Charter freedoms.
Spadafora’s motion quoted Justice James Ramsay’s assessment that encampments are “lawless, dangerous and unsanitary,” and resolved that bylaw and parks staff “be directed to dismantle all encampments as well as clean and restore parks to the inviting, safe, and green recreational spaces they once were, to be enjoyed by City of Hamilton taxpayers and their families.”
The motion called for city staff to bring a report to the committee Feb. 26 that details “the necessary resources and staffing needed to transition from the current Encampment Protocol to the City of Hamilton Parks Bylaw.”
Decisions made that day would be ratified by council at its March 5 meeting, and the protocol would be rescinded as of March 6.
On top of new shelter beds, city has new rent supports
Ward 8 Coun. John-Paul Danko said Wednesday’s vote was in the city’s best interest, adding public opinion on encampments has swung away from supporting them.
He recalled council meetings years ago where the chamber would be full of encampment supporters, a group that did not materialize on Wednesday. Now, he said, other citizens are feeling more empowered to speak their minds against encampments.
Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch, who was joined only by Ward 13’s Alex Wilson in voting against the motion, echoed what several unhoused people have told CBC Hamilton, saying banning encampments will change very little.
It will simply “wind the clock back to a time … where people were being chased from park to park,” Kroetsch said. “Chasing homeless people around the city is harmful and for some people, it leads to their death.”
Brad Clark, councillor for Ward 9, was one of many who felt council’s significant investments this term on housing and homelessness — which include new rent supports and subsidies to keep people in their homes, added shelter spaces and plans for more affordable housing — amount to a fair balance to ending park encampments.
He also noted the encampment protocol was a way of keeping the city on the right side of the legal process.
“It’s important the public understand that council has been addressing the issue of homelessness while also defending our position in the courts,” he said. “We didn’t approach it from a hard line; we approached it from what we could defend in the courts.”
It’ll take time to clear parks after ban starts: city staff
Upon request, Michelle Baird, director of housing services, gave councillors a list of current shelter spaces:
- 410 permanent beds.
- 178 temporary beds, including 40 for asylum seekers.
- 208 beds “in the overflow hotel room system,” used for families.
Fifty-four more temporary beds are expected to open in the coming weeks, and 80 spots in tiny homes in the new outdoor shelter are opening soon.
Grace Mater, the city’s general manager of healthy and safe communities, said it will be important for residents to know the parks won’t be immediately cleared out on the first day of the return to enforcing the parks bylaw.
“This will take some time as we roll this out,” she said. “It will be important for council and the community to understand … there will not be everyone gone from parks when we wake up.”
‘It’s throwing them off a cliff’
Several delegates attended the meeting to speak out about the strain encampments have put on their neighbourhoods.
Ralph Baigent, who presented a petition of 61 signatures supporting Spadafora’s motion, described the encampment protocol as a pass for unhoused people to set up camp wherever they wanted and “wreck the lives” of people living nearby.
“Many people said they used to enjoy walking their dog in the city path along the ravine. They no longer go there because of the garbage, the needles,” Baigent said. “When our children are no longer safe to play in green spaces, we need to change some direction…. It gives the taxpayers the feeling that we’ve lost our voice.”
Brad Evoy, executive director of the Hamilton-based Disability Justice Network of Ontario, said in his delegation that the housing doesn’t exist to end encampments all of a sudden.
“We all want to live in a world where encampment protocols are no longer necessary,” he said, noting the “vast majority” of the province’s unhoused population is disabled and most often end up homeless due to financial hardship.
Jammy Pierre, one of the proponents in the recent court case against the city’s tent ban, said Thursday that moving people from parks means more of them will fall through the cracks of the system, and could result in more time on the streets than they might spend if they were staying somewhere stable.
“It just seems we’re abandoning people and throwing them to the wolves at this point,” said Pierre, who now has housing after spending significant time on the streets.
“It’s throwing them off a cliff, and it’s so much harder to climb back after you’ve fallen off.
“I hope that we can rise with resiliency together and show people we’re not turning our backs on them and leaving them to fend for themselves, because it feels like that’s what we’re doing,” she said.
How they voted:
Yes: Mayor Andrea Horwath, Maureen Wilson (Ward 1), Tammy Hwang (Ward 4), Matt Francis (Ward 5), Tom Jackson (Ward 6), Esther Pauls (Ward 7), John-Paul Danko (Ward 8), Brad Clark (Ward 9), Jeff Beattie (Ward 10), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11), Craig Cassar (Ward 12), Mike Spadafora (Ward 14), Ted McMeekin (Ward 15).
No: Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2), Alex Wilson (Ward 13).
Absent: Nrinder Nann (Ward 3).
