Homeless in Hamilton: Out of parks but still on the margins

When the strangers approached late one night to ask her to break a $50 bill, dog and owner alike sensed danger.

Henry was not having any of that. He wasn't even interested in them sticking around for a short conversation," Alana Sim recalls.

So Henry, her 90-pound Rottweiler, let them know, mustering his most menacing growls and barks.

They actually took off running down the street because he sounded so vicious," says Sim, 40.

It could have been worse without Henry at her side that night outside the YWCA in downtown Hamilton.

The three-year-old is a beloved security blanket for Sim amid the perils of street life.

At night, I'll tie him to my leg or whatever and be able to fall asleep."

Sim is among the ranks of local residents struggling to survive a homelessness crisis - layered overtop an opioid epidemic - that shows no sign of abating.

Due to its fluid and sometimes hidden nature, homelessness can elude hard numbers, but by more than one account, the problem deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, according to the latest available city figure, Hamilton's byname list of people who used shelters and other sector services numbered 1,596.

That was up from 1,375 in September, which at that point was higher than any other time in 2021 or the year before.

The city and its agency partners expanded the at-capacity shelter system by tapping into provincial pandemic-response funding. As of May, there were 693 beds.

But now that the taps have turned off - with the need no less urgent and amid yet another pandemic wave - the city finds itself at a crossroads.

That COVID funding has ended. So we now need to take a look at our demand and capacity," said Angie Burden, the city's general manager of healthy and safe communities.

This gradual shift includes winding down a reliance on hotel rooms to serve as overflow spaces, for instance.

I think we are facing a reality for the future where we will not have a shelter bed for every individual who may be unsheltered," Burden told The Spectator.

In August, healthy and safe communities staff are expected to present city councillors with scenarios for the shelter system, including financial implications.

Part of the context will be finance staff's sobering year-end forecast earlier this month that predicted Burden's department faces a roughly $35-million budget hole.

In particular, for housing and shelters, including isolation services, drop-in programs and hotel rooms, the expected unfunded pressure" is pegged at $22.7 million.

At first blush, the city's struggles with homelessness may seem less dire this summer than in previous years, when tents dotted parks throughout the city.

The city estimated 90 people were living in encampments last August, but now staff know of roughly 30 people living outside.

I think we do have individuals that have been housed, either from an encampment or having access to emergency shelter," Burden said.

From there, some have left the city and others are couch-surfing" in temporary accommodations.

But ramped-up enforcement of a bylaw that bars tents pitched overnight in parks has also been a factor.

In March, council backed an enhanced" seven-day-a-week process designed to move people out of parks within 72 hours.

The rules are different than they were last summer, and so the community is adapting to that," Burden said.

The upshot has been fewer tents in concentrated, high-profile locations such as city parks.

But for some who can't or won't stay in shelters due to a variety of factors - including mental illness, addictions or not wanting to separate from partners - life has become even more transitory and isolating.

People definitely aren't staying in visible places, or places where people are going to come across them very often," said Dr. Tim O'Shea, who is with the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team.

So that means more off in the woods, off in trails, off in more secluded areas," O'Shea added.

The folks that are doing that, amongst my patients, are the ones that would really benefit the most from being in one place."

When people are constantly on the move, it can frustrate outreach efforts - a key element of the city's encampment response - that ultimately aim to find people housing.

Overwhelmingly, the common experience is that they end up getting lost and all the good work has to start over again," said O'Shea, who sees roughly 25 to 30 patients with complex needs in a two-month span.

Patients who were housed or directed to shelter have ended up back on the street amid the stepped-up bylaw enforcement, he said.

There's not been a material change in their lives at all. It certainly hasn't led to any improvement."

But health continues to erode.

It's led to emergency room visits, increased use of health care, mental health breakdowns ... The overall cost of the system, I'm almost certain, has gone up because people are just worse off and desperate."

Back on our feet'

Some barriers can be lifelines at the same time.

For Alana Sim, it's Henry - whose full name is Oh Henry, one of her favourite snacks.

He's all I have."

But because shelters don't accept pets, it means she can't get into one, despite suffering domestic abuse, Sim said.

If they could stay in a bachelor-style accommodation together for a time, she could get her life back on track and find work again as a pet groomer, Sim said.

We would just go for our walks and we would be good. We'd be able to get back on our feet."

Since losing her rented home amid a property sale in September, she has couch-surfed, but also slept outside, snuggling up with Henry under a tarp if it's raining.

Sim has turned to charities, including a local church and pet-rescue group, to help ensure Henry is well fed.

A meeting the city is hosting with agency partners and people with lived experience in coming weeks will explore barriers to shelter and ways to respond to encampments, Burden noted.

We know we have to do better," she said.

Restrictive policies that focus on substance-use disorders are one of the main obstacles to shelters, said O'Shea, who pointed to the YWCA's new safer drug-use program as a positive change that could be replicated elsewhere.

I think for sure that would make a huge difference in other places in the city."

Meanwhile, in hidden corners across Hamilton, there's no shortage of desperation.

Take Justine O'Donnell, who recently found a patch of woods near Highway 403 after surviving the colder months bouncing from one park to another.

O'Donnell, 36, says someone swiped her cellphone but she meets an outreach worker periodically at a nearby shopping plaza.

She says it would be better if everyone could stay put.

Because now we're all walking around pushing shopping carts, not knowing what to do."

Every move means starting over again, she said.

And it's not fun lugging all that (stuff) around. Trust me."

Elsewhere, Nichole lives in a tent pitched beside railway tracks.

An abusive ex-boyfriend has been a major factor in her homelessness, says the 31-year-old, who declined to give her last name due to safety concerns.

I almost thought I wasn't going to wake up a couple of mornings. It was so cold."

On the site of a demolished glass factory, a couple is hoping for a break.

Michelle Audet says she and Alan Laufman, who are in their 30s, became homeless after an apartment fire in November.

So ever since, we've been stuck on the street because we lost everything," Audet says.

He has the horrific scars to prove it; after surgery, he has limited flexibility in his left arm.

If I'm falling and I straighten my arm, it will split and bleed."

With every passing day, the apocalyptic landscape of the barren property wears on Audet.

You know how scary it is being out here?"

Just a few days after Audet spoke with The Spectator, police launched a homicide investigation into the death of a 32-year-old man who'd been living in a tent by the CN tracks just north of the former industrial site.

Due east, motorists might spot Mathew Naylor panhandling on a narrow traffic island at the corner of Kenilworth Avenue North and Barton Street East.

Naylor has lived with his girlfriend in a tent on a grassy slice of land behind the Canadian Tire at the Centre on Barton but is regularly on the move.

All the while, the 33-year-old says he has racked up a considerable liability in $65 tickets for panhandling and trespassing.

I ignore it now. At first, it was bugging me."

In an email, Hamilton police said ticketing people is a last resort when all other supports have failed."

The police, through its Social Navigator partnership with paramedics, continues to take a holistic approach" with those who are struggling with homelessness, addiction and mental health, spokesperson Jackie Penman said.

Coun. Jason Farr pushed for the stepped-up bylaw enforcement earlier this year amid complaints from constituents over tents in his downtown ward.

As the ward councillor, I have heard from a lot of those folks who are pleased that they're able to get back to some normalcy and feel more comfortable - for whatever reasons they have - to utilize their parks again."

The change in approach has been successful considering the number of people living in tents is down considerably from last summer, Farr says.

But the Ward 2 councillor says it's not lost on him that some remain outside in less conspicuous parts of the city.

We know where they are. I'm not at all pressing or pressuring the new encampment (team) to get them out of there or any of that. We'll, in our own time, hopefully be successful mitigating that number."

But Farr says vandalism remains an issue at John Rebecca Park, where people gather to access Wesley Urban Ministries' day centre.

We can't even turn our spray pad on because of the damage from stolen parts," he said, adding the city is not replacing steel furniture, either, after parts were swiped for scrap metal.

Wesley is aware of particularly strident" apartment dwellers' complaints about people in the park, but ultimately they want the day centre gone, executive director Don Seymour says.

So obviously, we're not negotiating."

Seymour focuses on what he considers the overriding factor for many who are chronically homeless and rely on Wesley's day centre: a lack of health services to keep them housed.

And the consequences of gaps in the system are devastating, he says.

They die ... We lose people."

Burden also says provincial health dollars are a significant missing piece of the puzzle.

When you combine mental health and addictions and significant needs, it's a very challenging situation to solve. I would say that we have not arrived at a solution."

So far, a $5-million pitch the city and local institutional partners made to the province in January to provide such services to house roughly 100 people in subsidized units has yet to land funds.

Right now in Ontario, there's a huge focus" on housing supply, Burden says.

But if we don't figure out how to provide services and supports, it doesn't matter how many units we build."

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com