Most people who were living in the five de-designated encampment sites in Halifax have since left to live elsewhere, according to the municipality.
Halifax first began designating encampment locations where people could tent in the summer of 2022, in response to a growing population of unhoused people.
Last month, Halifax decided to de-designate five of its 11 sites, saying “better options now exist.”
Eviction notices were pinned to tents on Feb. 7 at Victoria Park, the Geary Park green space, Saunders Park, Grand Parade and the Cobequid Road ballfield, telling residents that they had to leave by Feb. 26.
Some people stayed in the encampment sites past the eviction date, including one woman at Victoria Park who refused to leave despite fencing going up Monday.
Most encampment residents gone
Max Chauvin, Halifax’s director of housing and homelessness, told council Tuesday that all residents at Geary Park and Saunders Park have since left, with Geary Park requiring “significant remediation” before it reopens to the public.
The Cobequid ballfield, which previously held about 25 people, is now empty, Chauvin said. The residents are now living in emergency shelters, the recently opened Pallet shelter community in Lower Sackville, temporary housing or other designated encampment sites.
The Barrington Street green space, Green Road Park, Lower Flinn Park and the University Avenue green space remain open for people to tent.
As of Monday, two people remained at Grand Parade, which held eight to 12 at the time of de-designation.
Victoria Park, which had 15 to 18 residents at the time it was de-designated, had six people remaining as of Monday. Five have since moved to another encampment a short distance away on University Avenue, while there’s one person left “that we continue to work with,” Chauvin said.
“Right now, our focus is on completing the work in Victoria Park,” he said.
Chauvin said some of the sites will need to be cleaned up before they can be reopened to the public.
In terms of shelter space, Chauvin said there were 14 beds available at the Halifax Forum Tuesday morning, five of which were reserved for people living in encampments.
Chauvin said Green Road Park, one of the remaining designated encampment sites, has become “quite crowded” as more people leaving other encampment sites move there instead.
“One of our things going forward — as soon as we’ve closed these encampments — will be to look at how do we support people there,” he said.
“The goal is to eliminate encampments and find people options that they can be indoors where they feel safe and can get supports like running water, food and things like that.”
He said the municipality is working with the province and service providers to find more long-term options for people living outside.
Encampments were ‘a temporary measure’
Waye Mason, the councillor for Halifax South-Downtown, told Global News Tuesday that encampments were never meant to be a long-term solution to the housing crisis.
“Camping in parks has always been a temporary measure,” Mason said.
He said when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shelter capacity was greatly reduced and people were forced to sleep outside. Since then, “hundreds” of beds have been added to the shelter system, and there are more temporary housing options for those who need it.
“The path is to get people into permanent housing,” he said. “Tents are only for the worst emergencies…. Those aren’t somewhere we want people to live for the rest of their lives.”
Mason said he’s generally pleased with how the encampment evictions went forward. He said the municipality is trying to “take an entirely different approach” than it did in August 2021, when police-led encampment evictions turned violent after protesters turned out en masse to push back against the removal of shelters.
At the time, council claimed that all those evicted were offered alternative housing, but later admitted that was not the case.
This time around, Mason said the municipality took a “human rights-based approach” to find residents accommodations that worked for them.
“We have to make sure we’re treating people with dignity, even while we are changing our approach and accepting that camping in parks is no longer something that we want to see happen,” he said.
In a statement, department of community services spokesperson Christina Deveau said the province is working with Halifax Regional Municipality to help find available options for those sleeping rough.
As of Feb. 29, there were a total of 399 shelter beds in Halifax, which includes 94 at the Halifax Forum’s multi-purpose centre.
“The occupancy rate at shelters can vary from day to day, but there are still beds available at the Multi-Purpose Centre reserved for people who are currently in encampments, to ensure that if they choose to come in, there is a spot for them,” she said.
“Service providers and housing support workers would then work with people to find the next step in moving towards permanent housing.”
All of the recently opened Pallet shelters at Beacon House in Lower Sackville are occupied, she added.
According to the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, there were about 1,164 homeless people in Halifax as of March 5.
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