Focus on housing amid rising death toll — not tents, advocates tell Hamilton council

Shelter beds in Hamilton are chronically unavailable or occupied.

Adequate, safe affordable housing is in short supply.

Health-related support services to keep people with complex needs housed are lacking.

That should be the city's focus - not breaking up encampments amid the COVID-19 pandemic, says a diverse alliance of advocates on the front lines of an enduring homelessness crisis.

I don't think anybody here really supports encampments," Don Seymour, executive director of Wesley Urban Ministries, told a rally outside city hall Thursday.

What we don't support is them being dismantled in the absence of any other service out there."

The call to pause enforcement of a bylaw that prohibits tents in public spaces comes a month after city council abruptly scrapped a protocol that allowed encampments to remain at sites for 14 days and made provisions for people with acute challenges, including mental illness.

That decision without consultation drew her extreme disappointment," said Audrey Davis, executive director of the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, noting Indigenous people are disproportionately represented in the homeless population.

We're still in the midst of the pandemic and affordable housing stock is not improved; it's only getting worse," Davis said.

Street outreach workers and doctors also worry the resumption of regular bylaw enforcement will frustrate efforts to care for already vulnerable people who may be dispersed to farther-flung locations.

Meanwhile, shelter spaces are chronically full (especially for women-identifying and nonbinary people), periodically limited due to coronavirus outbreaks or unavailable for those who have service restrictions often linked to mental illness and drug use.

In recent weeks, the death toll has been devastating, said Marcie McIlveen, outreach co-ordinator for Keeping Six, a local harm-reduction group that helps people living in encampments.

We've lost at least nine people that I've known and worked with as a direct result of lack of support, lack of services and lack of understanding."

In an emotional address, Rita Morrison told the rally how her son, Brian MacLean, 44, was found dead last week in a tent pitched outside Central Park.

They all have families and they're loved," she said, through sobs, about people who experience homelessness.

Morrison, who doesn't yet know how her son died and has questions about the timing of the emergency response, told The Spectator he had spells on the street due to struggles with addiction and mental health.

Until I saw his body, I did not believe he was gone, because I'm used to him going for short periods of time."

Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk said she's in terror" contemplating what might happen when winter hits with the shelter system at capacity.

Sometimes, I have to say, I hope you're alive tomorrow,'" Wiwcharuk, a doctor with the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team, told councillors Thursday.

Some of her patients end up with frostbite and others are sexually assaulted, she added. It's devastating."

That's a collective failure," Coun. Maureen Wilson responded. It's not yours. It's ours."

Hamilton's shelter system, which the city expanded using millions in provincial pandemic-relief funding, has about 470 beds including spaces in hotel rooms.

In an email, city housing services director Edward John noted the network has witnessed increasing challenges over the last several weeks with regards to access and availability of beds, related to several issues including outbreaks, staffing levels and lack of outflow."

Echoing concerns at the rally, John told councillors a gap" in health-focused support services poses significant challenges when it comes to keeping people housed.

City staff also explained the six-step process that makes bylaw officers the first point of contact" for complaints, rather than housing outreach workers, with the resumption of anti-tent rules as of Aug. 30.

There are 39 known" encampments in Hamilton, said director Monica Ciriello, noting a goal to respond to complaints within 72 hours.

If there's no voluntary compliance," officers contact the outreach team and Social Navigator, a partnership with police and paramedics, who are to help arrange for housing or shelter, notes a staff report.

Bylaw officers then return to issue a verbal trespass notice" if people remain and notify police, who respond under the Trespass to Property Act.

But just how much outreach can be achieved between the law enforcement steps is questionable, suggested Stephanie Cox, a lawyer with the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, noting police have authority to ticket and jail people.

It seems as though we're just trying to check a box here."

The duration of the process may differ" depending on the case, said Grace Mater, acting general manager of healthy and safe communities. Some may be very quick ... Some may take some time."

John also said the city's outreach team will have likely attended" sites before bylaw services flag complaints.

But Coun. Nrinder Nann also expressed concern that bylaw officers aren't trained in non-violent crisis intervention. I think it would be a baseline requirement."

Coun. Brad Clark shared his biggest fear" is a replication of the clashes with police during encampment teardowns in Toronto this past summer.

Hamilton's protocol - which had been in place since October 2020 - was not perfect," but it was a reasonable middle ground" that emphasized human rights and adequate affordable housing, the legal clinic says.

The agreement with lawyers, doctors, outreach workers and encampment residents was the product of a legal settlement after the coalition of advocates secured an injunction barring the city from forcing people to move from encampments.

However, some city politicians have voiced frustration with the protocol and blamed the proliferation of tents on outreach workers while citing constituents' complaints.

What do you say to the people that live near a beautiful park and there's people camped right behind their backyard, and they're taking drugs, they're using the facilities outside? And these families have little children that look at it," Coun. Esther Pauls said during this week's emergency and community services meeting.

The staff report also noted a litany of concerns, including instances of verbal and physical aggression, waste management costs and growing calls for firefighters, paramedics and police.

While the protocol was in place, the legal clinic periodically contacted the city to flag breaches of the agreement and to signal shelters were full or in outbreak, Cox said. In fact, in early August, the legal clinic emailed the city to set up a meeting, but unfortunately," council revoked the protocol not long afterward, she said.

In a recent interview, Mayor Fred Eisenberger defended that decision, which was made during a hastily called emergency meeting after a closed session involving legal advice.

It was the preponderance of the amounts of tents and gatherings of people living rough in our park spaces throughout the city. That really was the issue."

There's genuine concern" for encampment residents but also about parks that are completely overrun by tents and people living there," Eisenberger said.

Cox, however, argued Thursday park space for recreation can't outweigh the fundamental" human rights of encampment residents amid the layered crises of opioids, housing and coronavirus.

Scheduling the protocol discussion for a regular public meeting to allow for feedback wasn't desirable, Eisenberger also told The Spectator.

To be fair, the last time we dealt with this, we were slapped with an injunction," he said. And there was no desire to get caught in that precarious situation as a municipality, so I think that was part of the reason why we did some quick action on this."

Throughout the pandemic, the city has successfully directed hundreds of people into shelter or housing, Eisenberger said. And that is the focus of the effort going forward."

Since January 2020, city-funded agencies have housed roughly 440 individuals and families, Thursday's staff report noted. Since March 2020, more than 70 people have been housed directly" from encampments.

That included private rentals, supportive housing, transitional housing and subsidized units, with 91 per cent still housed, John wrote in an email.

Critics of council's move to scrap the protocol, meanwhile, are asking for dialogue with the city to collaborate on a new approach.

Listen to the experts. The experts are the people trying to survive every day in those parks," Wiwcharuk said.

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.comv