The mayoral candidates in Peterborough, Ont., all agreed that living in tents is not a solution to ongoing homelessness issues but there wasn’t a consensus on the city’s bylaw prohibiting camping in city parks.
The topic came up during an all-candidates debate on Wednesday evening hosted by the United Way Peterborough and District, featuring candidates Jeff Leal, Brian Lumsden, Victor Kreuz, Stephen Wright and Henry Clarke – the latter two current city councillors.
One of the questions during the 90-minute debate at All-Saints Anglican Church focused on a city bylaw enacted in August 2019 which prohibited camping in the city’s public parks. The bylaw came in the wake of a “tent city” that formed that summer at Victoria Park in the city’s downtown — a park owned by Peterborough County which first enacted its own bylaw and the city followed suit.
United Way president Jim Russell, one of the debate moderators, noted the bylaw has since seen people being vacated from a park under the threat of police action.
He inquired whether the candidates support the continued eviction of people experiencing homelessness from city parks. As well he inquired if they supported a provision in the bylaw that allows municipal leaders to designate particular parks as permissible camp sites when homeless shelter capacity is deemed to be insufficient.
Leal was first to answer, noting housing people in tents in city parks is not a viable medium or long-term solution to homelessness.
“Of course we don’t want people living in tents but without viable solutions, they have nowhere else to go,” he said. “There is a clause — community organizations agree this bylaw is harmful — it puts our most vulnerable neighbours at a greater risk. As a community, we have a responsibility to treat everyone with respect and to address their needs. The goal should not be to evict people but to house people. The responsibility for this rests with the mayor, council and our broader community.”
Leal said more services are needed to assist people with addiction, mental health, food insecurity and permanent affordable housing.
“We need to remember that people living in tents have important concerns that must be addressed by providing shelter space, ensuring their belongings will be safe and to be able to maintain the relationships and they can also care for their place,” he said.
Lumsden agreed that tents are not a solution and said additional shelter beds are presently needed.
“Sleeping in the park is not a solution,” he said. “Having restrictions as far as which parks, for sure. I think we should even look back at why they’re ending up on the street — we’re not a very big city. We should be able to house these people. We have lots of buildings that could be retrofitted that could be used for people that don’t need to be out — especially in the middle of the winter.
“These guys (Clarke and Wright) have the advantage as far as knowing the different properties that are out there — I don’t. Once I become mayor I will be finding out which properties we can use; which ones we can retrofit and get people into them and out of the parks. The parks are for families and for everyone to enjoy. They’re not meant for camping. Where are these people coming from? That’s what we have to figure out.”
Wright noted he voted in favour of the 2019 bylaw. He echoed the sentiment that tent living is neither housing nor safe housing. He says a keys focus should be on using city-owned properties as additional housing resources.
“The most recent was the DelaFosse Library being sold to the private market — in solving this particular problem, we have go back to the fact we do have the facilities, we do have buildings and we do have the capacity to house anybody who finds they need a tent in the park,” said Wright.
Wright also advocated the increase in funding to support services needed for individual to help solve their problem that is the cause of them being unhoused.
Kreuz retorted that he would be in disbelief if an individual asked a homeless person to pack up their tent without an alternative offered.
“In terms of the bylaw that allows us to use a park or more than one park if there’s no other place to go, of course I would use that,” said Kreuz. “Make whatever park is designated the safest and cleanest possible.”
He noted the challenges of getting an individual to relocate to a shelter. He cited the city currently only has one outreach person hired, urging the need for more.
“A lot of people think one person is ridiculous — and it is,” he said. “So instead of hiring 15 more police, I’d like to see — probably at the same amount to hire 15 police — we could hire more than 30 social workers with training for dealing with people on the street. And have teams 24 hours a day going around helping people, being nice to them and doing their best to help them.
“And if the best they can do is make them feel comfortable in their tent — because that’s their choice at the time — that’s the only moral thing to do,” he added.
Clarke, who also voted in favour of the 2019 parks use bylaw, said the city only has one designated campground — Beavermead Park — and it’s in full use all summer. He said now is the time to formulate plans of action before the winter months arrive.
“Do I support evicting people when they have no place to go? Of course not,” he said. “I support having a safe place for people to live. As your mayor, I would be laser-focused to make that happen. I believe we must turn our attention to viable alternatives to camping — even if it’s only on a temporary basis. Camping just isn’t an answer.
“I’ve been exploring plans that would suit the mandate and vision of PATH (Peterborough Action for Tiny Homes) — sleeping cabins with washrooms and laundry. Their model has the potential to offer temporary to permanent housing. There’s still an awful lot to overcome but I’m committed to working hard on that vision.”
The debate was open to the public and was also streamed live on the church’s YouTube channel and featured audience questions. The debate in its entirety can be found here:
The debate was hosted in partnership with the One City Peterborough, the Research for Social Change Lab at Trent University and All Saints’ Anglican Church.
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