An advocate for Hamilton’s homeless is speaking out about the city’s decision to block off the heating vents at the back of city hall as temperatures continue to be bitterly cold.
Roger Boyd, the founder of Men’s Street Ministry, said he’s been visiting a group of homeless residents that have been seeking warmth by the back entrance of city hall every weekend for several weeks now.
Those back doors are where the HVAC system for the municipal building expels hot air, and that’s where Boyd has been delivering dry clothing, tarps, sleeping bags, and hot food to about a dozen young people seeking shelter outdoors during the coldest nights of the year.
That is, until this past weekend, when city officials opted to board up the areas around the vents, effectively blocking anyone from getting near them.
Boyd said he was “ticked off” when he saw what had happened.
“It’s minus 30 out and … they know it’s going to be cold for the next few weeks. You know, deal with this a little bit later. Let them have this comfort.”
Rom D’Angelo, Hamilton’s director of energy, fleet, and facilities management, said the decision was made to erect the blockades due to concerns about safety around the back doors and an exit being blocked in the event of a fire.
“We’ve noticed fights and various altercations, drug use, and a number of other things that we needed to take immediate action on and to mitigate the situation,” he said.
The boards are a “stopgap measure” to deal with the situation, and D’Angelo said the city is in the process of retaining an engineer to see if there are other alternative solutions, but he said that may take some time.
He added that housing outreach workers had been visiting with the people gathered around the vents multiple times each day to try and convince them to seek shelter.
“The city’s primary goal is to connect those sleeping on the streets with safer and more humane housing options, and the key word is humane. What was happening at the rear of City Hall, it was pretty much a free for all. And that isn’t a designated warming centre, nor is it a shelter.”
However, there may not always be room in Hamilton’s shelters, which have been struggling with capacity and staffing challenges amid the Omicron wave. And not everyone who is living on the streets is willing to stay in a shelter.
“I encourage them to use the services,” said Boyd. “I truly do. I go, ‘You need to go in tonight. You really need to.’ ‘No, no, I’m good, I’m OK. I’m going to do this.’ And I just pray that I don’t go around the next morning, kick their boots, and there’s no movement.”
“I always say in Hamilton, you will not starve to death, but you will freeze to death.”
Right now, Boyd and his 40 or so volunteers with Men’s Street Ministry are distributing about 700 meals each week to Hamiltonians in need.
At the height of the pandemic, it was up to about 1,000 meals per week.
The Ministry was also recently called on to bring food to about fifteen men who were forced to self-isolate while staying at the downtown YMCA during a COVID-19 outbreak, an added expense of about $2,000.
Boyd said he understands the city’s position about encampments being difficult to manage, amid safety concerns from residents and additional costs related to clean-up in city parks, but he said it would be easier, and cheaper overall, for Hamilton to have a dedicated space for homeless people to live outside without being forced to constantly move around.
“What we need to do and understand is that there always will be people that will not come to shelters or go inside for many reasons. Some of them are not capable of making that decision to come out of the cold.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s medical officer of health has issued another cold alert effective for the night of Jan. 25.
During the cold alert, Bennetto Recreation Centre on Hughson Street North will be available as a warming centre from 5 p.m. to noon the next day.
The Hub on Vine Street has also extended operations beyond the regular hours of 5pm to 9pm, remaining open from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The Wesley Day Centre on Catherine Street North also has extended hours during the cold alert:
• Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. to midnight
• Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 7p.m. to midnight
• Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7p.m. to midnight
The following rec centres are available as daytime warming centres from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the cold alert:
• Dominic Agostino Riverdale Community Centre, 150 Violet Dr, Hamilton
• Huntington Park Recreation Centre, 87 Brentwood Dr, Hamilton
• Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre, 192 Wentworth St N, Hamilton
• Westmount Recreation Centre, 35 Lynbrook Dr, Hamilton
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