The Town of Cobourg and Northumberland County are rolling out a “coordinated” response to address a growing homeless encampment near the west pier in the town.
Both parties say a number of community partners have been recruited to help the individuals who are tenting at Wests Beach to help work towards bylaw compliance.
Partners include Northumberland Hills Hospital Mental Health Services outreach workers, and the Cobourg Police Homeless Addiction Resource Project (HARP).
“Our collective goal is to support voluntary resolution of the encampment through offers of service,” stated Lisa Horne, the county’s director of community and social services.
“Outreach workers have been working directly with those tenting to connect them with supports in the community. Workers are attending the encampment regularly, making connections to emergency shelter, to the Help Centre for support with current rental listings, to social assistance registration, health, mental health and addictions support, food supports, and other essential services, depending on the needs of the individual.”
As of Thursday there were approximately 20 individuals living in tents near the Lake Ontario shoreline. A number of them were tenants at a Division Street rental property, which in late July was deemed unsafe for occupancy due to multiple fire, safety and public health concerns under the Ontario Building Code and Health Protection and Promotion legislation.
The town held an emergency meeting last week to discuss the tenting. However, town council received legal advice advising that due to an Ontario Superior Court ruling in Waterloo, encampment residents can’t be evicted unless alternate accessible accommodation can be provided.
This week, the town introduced a number of short-term measures at the encampment including garbage collection and portable washrooms as part of its Parks Department operations for management of the property.
“This is a temporary response to reduce environment and health and safety concerns and to reduce community impacts while work is underway to support voluntary resolution of the encampment,” said town chief administrative officer Tracey Vaughan.
The town says municipal law enforcement staff are conducting twice daily patrols of the area and will continue to enforce municipal bylaws related to nuisance, noise, and protection of trees and park lands. Regular updates are being provided to Council.
— with files from Robert Lothian/Global News Peterborough
Comments