More questions were hurled toward Hamilton’s housing director at a very well-attended public consultation Tuesday touching on what to do an estimated 100 homeless encampments across the city.
Director Michelle Baird answered basic queries as well as a few hardball questions at the downtown convention centre, a follow-up to a Mountain session held just over a week ago.
“There was a feeling that engagement needed to be broader, that it was time to listen to the whole community,” Baird said in her opening Tuesday evening.
“That’s why we find ourselves here tonight, we are here to listen. We do want to hear the different perspectives, the different ideas to move us forward.”
Baird’s division has been tasked with public engagement over the next few months to bring back a human rights-based approach to how the city will “work with encampments.”
City councillors and mayor Andrea Horwath were among some of the 1,000 that turned out for the two-hour talk which also included city staff, residents and people experiencing homelessness.
Tim Wilson, 40, was one of the several Hamiltonians facing homelessness who spoke Tuesday night, revealing he’s looking for an affordable place in the city to stay close to a father in care after a recent stroke.
Wilson moved back to Hamilton from Sault Ste. Marie around Christmas and said he’s about to relinquish his dad’s apartment since Wilson can’t take on rent that is the same amount as the disability income he receives.
“His rent’s $1,200 a month. That’s what I get, so I can’t keep it. We had to give it up,” Wilson said.
“I got three days to get everything out, and yeah, I’ll be in a tent.”
Since December 2021, the number of actively homeless people in Hamilton has hovered around 1,600 with approximately 165 individuals “truly finding themselves unsheltered,” according to Baird.
Similar to the Mountain town hall last week, clear calls for action were communicated by several residents which included a desire for support from the province, particularly regarding addictions.
Still on the table is a housing services idea seeking the creation of sanctioned encampment zones, including sites that would be up to 22 to 50 tents across some five locations around the city.
What that might look like in terms of supports, enforcement, and most importantly locations, are topics city staff hope to settle via surveys and consultations in the months ahead.
Councillors have also been seeking a revised encampment protocol, with the possibility of allowing up to five tents in parks and other city properties with restrictions, keeping them at least 50 metres away from playgrounds and private property.
Baird said without one, it’s hard to determine what staff can do with encampments deemed to be in unfavourable spots in the city.
“We don’t know where we can ask people to locate, where people can be compliant,” she explained.
“When people live in encampments, they’ve certainly experienced a lot of traumas throughout their lives. When we move them, when we disrupt encampments, … it again disrupts that stability for people.”
Prior to Tuesday’s town hall, Premier Doug Ford wasn’t warm to the idea of sanctioned encampments in Hamilton, saying it wasn’t feasible for families living near them and that residents in tents needed to “move on.”
After reiterating new homelessness prevention funding for Hamilton, about $27.8 million in each of the next three years, the premier said encampments “taking over communities” and “taking over parks,” is not acceptable.
“All you have to do is go into the community, start doorknocking, … ask them if they want these folks living in their parks where their kids go and play. The answer is, overwhelmingly, no, they don’t.”
But Baird said a protocol will be needed since sanctioned sites will not work for all unhoused individuals who simply won’t fit in with others.
“So the protocol would offer guidelines for where those other … compliance sites would be,” she said.
Questions about using vacant properties like empty schools was brought up by some residents at the meeting, suggesting running water and other amenities are already available at the locations.
East Hamilton (Ward 4) councillor Tammy Hwang says those properties are owned by the school boards and the province thus not easy to expropriate for use as a shelter or living space.
“If we did find a suitable property that we could expropriate, the sale process will take a little bit to retrofit the school,” said Hwang.
“It would take a little bit to ensure that we have all the services in place … so that’s also not an overnight solution.”
She goes on to say a separate issue is the mobility of services, like mental health aid, and how to get it to those who need it.
“How do we actually potentially get services out to a specific location?” Hwang explained.
“We’ve got to ensure there are adequate sidewalks (and) parking available … we need to make sure that we have some of that infrastructure available so services can actually get in there.”
Meanwhile, the city’s shelter system remains overwhelmed, housing some 300 people on average every month, according to city data.
There are currently 265 individual beds and 62 family rooms on a given night in the city’s shelter supply.
The executive director of Good Shepherd in Hamilton said the lingering effects of the pandemic have kept the system “overcapacity,” despite the recent addition of a 20-bed women’s shelter and the opening of supportive housing for up to 73 women and non-binary and transgender individuals.
Brother Richard MacPhee said increased costs to housing and rentals, the opioid crisis, and inflation appear to be contributing to the “precariousness of the situation.”
“And then on top of it, any kind of government income support has not in any manner, shape or form responded to the needs of people’s real cost of living,” MacPhee said.
“It’s become really, really difficult for people to make a choice of whether they feed their families or put a roof over their head.”
Jim Dunn, chair of McMaster University’s department of health, aging and society, suggests those supports are critical as just building more units won’t fulfill the needs of those coming off the streets.
He said he believes that adding some 100 to 150 more “siloed” social housing units with supports could ease pressure on Hamilton’s system since it would also provide built-in water and sewage that encampments don’t have.
“We do have a shelter system that functions very well. Most people need it just for a short period of time,” Dunn said.
“They visit it once and then they’re never seen again.”
The city’s next community meeting is set for the Harry Howell Arena in Flamborough on Thursday night. It’s expected a smaller crowd will attend, with capacity set at about 100 people and seating limited to first come, first served.