Halifax Regional Municipality says it is closing and “de-designating” five of its 11 designated encampment locations “because better options now exist.”
The city first designated four sites in June 2022, then added more in October 2023 as the number of unhoused people continued to grow.
The affected sites are the Geary Park green space, Saunders Park, Victoria Park, Grand Parade, and the Correctional Centre Park in Lower Sackville, also known as the Cobequid Road ballfield.
Residents of those encampments have until Feb. 26 to leave.
Beaufort Avenue Park in Halifax and Martins Park in Dartmouth are also being de-designated because nobody was using them.
In a news conference Wednesday, Mayor Mike Savage said the city is working with encampment residents to get them into “safe, secure, warm accommodation.”
“Designated encampment sites have always been intended to be a stop-gap measure until better fixed-roof options were available for people.”
A number of initiatives, such as modular units in Halifax and Dartmouth, as well as the recently-opened shelter at the Halifax Forum, means that there are now other options, Savage said.
As of Jan. 30, there were 1,112 people that self-reported as being actively homeless in the Halifax area, and Nova Scotia says there are 355 shelter beds in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
The homelessness numbers also include people who are staying in shelters and couch-surfing. The municipality says there are currently about 100 people living in encampments.
‘Empathetic’ approach
The city tried to assuage concerns of a potential repeat of the tent encampment evictions of August 2021, when dozens of police officers descended on parks across the municipality to remove unhoused people staying in tents and crisis shelters.
Hundreds of people poured into downtown Halifax to protest the shelter removals, resulting in police deploying pepper spray into crowds of people and more than two dozen arrests.
Cathie O’Toole, Halifax’s CAO, said she hopes “we don’t get to that point,” but noted that if people refuse to leave after Feb. 26, the city does have the legal authority to remove them.
“However, our approach is going to be not one of laying hands on people, and we’re not going to have police involved,” she said.
“Police may be present just to observe to make sure there is no physical altercation … but it’s going to be basically a multi-skilled team of compliance or enforcement officers, probably some representatives from service providers, our street navigators, who would be working with individuals.”
O’Toole said staff will be working with the residents in the nearly three weeks leading up to the deadline, issuing reminder notices and notices of the supports that are available.
“And then after that we would be starting to ramp up the conversation and dialogue, and taking action to remove tents and stuff like that,” she said.
Savage said they’re “going to try to work with this in an empathetic and human rights way, and try to give people some solutions.”
“Give us a chance to work with them,” he said.
Shelters not working for everyone
The move to clear the encampments comes shortly after some encampment residents turned down an offer to stay at the new $3-million shelter that recently opened at the Halifax Forum.
“You’re lying beside someone you’ve never seen before,” Rick Young, a resident of the Grand Parade tent encampment, said last month. “You have no idea what’s going on in their head, and they’re lying five feet away from you.”
On Wednesday, Young told The Canadian Press that he doesn’t intend to leave when the Feb. 26 deadline comes.
“I’m staying. We’re all staying. They’re going to have to try to kick us out of here,” he said.
The shelter, which is in an auditorium-like space with cots and yellow curtains between beds, doesn’t provide the same level of safety, comfort or support afforded to people tenting at the downtown square, Young said.
Matthew Grant, a volunteer at Grand Parade, said he has “multiple stories” about why people don’t want to stay in shelters.
“There’s no privacy, there’s no security, there’s no dignity,” he said.
Multiple other unhoused people who spoke with Global News Wednesday said they do not want to leave the parks.
Neil Pundick, another resident of Grand Parade, said he’d much rather stay at the square than in a shelter.
Getting the eviction notice, he said, ruined his day.
“I mean, I saw it coming, but it was so harsh,” he said. “I like it here … the community, the support.”
Victoria Park resident William MacQueen said he doesn’t know where he’ll go, as he’s previously been kicked out of shelters.
“I pay taxes, I’m allowed here,” he said.
During the news conference, HRM’s director of housing and homelessness, Max Chauvin, acknowledged that shelters “don’t work for everybody,” but said the city and province will work with people to find a place to stay that works for them.
“The goal is to sit down and explore what somebody needs and then find an option that matches for them,” he said.
“It has to be a case-by-case basis, because no person is the same.”
— with files from The Canadian Press and Amber Fryday