London looks to keep people from sleeping under Adelaide St. bridge

London’s civic administration says it has hired security guards to keep people from sleeping under the Adelaide Street bridge.

The bridge, which juts over York Street, has seen the removal of concrete slabs in recent weeks, said London’s manager of homeless prevention Craig Cooper.

Vehicle traffic has also raised safety concerns for those sleeping under the bridge, which led the city to begin evicting people from the area as of Sept. 13.

“We are looking at a longer-term solution on the site for a preventative barrier, probably a fence of some sort,” Cooper said.

In the meantime, those sleeping or camping under the bridge are being asked to leave the area.

Those being evicted are provided aid in finding housing through London Cares Homeless Response Services.

Cooper added that the city has recently opened 10 more daytime ‘resting spaces’ to help people who have nowhere to go to
have access to a safe space to sleep or shower.

“It isn’t our first step on this matter… It’s just in this instance, we found it got to a point where we did have to limit the access to the site for health and safety reasons.”