Your questions answered on encampments and Hamilton's proposed plans

More than 1,000 people attended a meeting at the Hamilton Convention Centre Tuesday to hear about the city's proposed encampment protocol, ask questions, offer feedback and share their own stories.

The gathering was the second of three in-person public consultation sessions the city is running as it develops its encampment strategy. An online survey is also open until June 30. The city said Tuesday it had already received more than 6,000 responses.

The plan, according to the city, is to gather feedback from the meetings, as well as feedback from community groups and people living on the streets that will help inform the strategy. City staff will take that feedback and send recommendations to councillors in August, who will decide how to proceed.

Michelle Baird, Hamilton's director of housing services, said the meetings aren't meant to be a debate on whether or not there will be encampments in the city, but rather, how to best implement them.

The city live-streamed the two-hour meeting. Many community organizers were present, as were local politicians, past and present, including the mayor, most councillors, as well as local member of provincial parliament Sarah Jama and member of parliament Matthew Green.

Here are some of the main themes and questions that came up — from the safety of parks to the use of vacant buildings — and how the city and others responded to them. 

What has led to encampments?

Baird said encampments aren't going anywhere without help from the province and federal government.

The city says factors that lead to encampments include:

• A lack of affordable housing, particularly with supports.
• Limited emergency shelter space and the opioid crisis.
• A lack of mental health support and a lack affordability.
• Insufficient resources at the municipal level to address the problem.

She noted the city has declared states of emergency related to homelessness, opioid addiction and mental health.

It has also invested in housing and created an opioid action plan.

How bad is the homelessness situation?

A rally with roughly 100 people was held before the meeting, led by some people who said they didn't like the city's approach to the community meetings. The rally had numerous people living on the streets share their experiences.

Amanda Clarke was one of them. She said she's been in and out of homelessness since 2017 and, as of late, has been living at an encampment near Barton Street East and Sanford Avenue North after being renovicted in February.

She gets roughly $800 per month from Ontario Disability Support Program and struggles to find affordable housing, she said.

Clarke said she has had trouble accessing services to help her and also said people in encampments face violence daily — from people who are homeless and people who aren't.

The city-hosted meeting also included stories from people in Hamilton, including some on the brink of homelessness.

Tim Wilson, 39, said he was born and raised in Hamilton but lives up north. His father, who lives in the city, is in a long-term care home after a stroke.

Wilson said he can't afford both his father's place and his own, and doesn't want to abandon his father. He said he spent months looking for an affordable spot in the city but can't find one.

"I don't know what to do," he said.

Baird said there's no solution for Wilson's situation right now and that's why the community meetings are underway.

What's the city's proposed plan?

Baird said the proposed plan has two main components — an encampment protocol and sanctioned encampments.

The encampment protocol is a set of rules that would govern how small encampments could exist in the city, separate from possible sanctioned sites for larger encampments.

Baird said the protocol would be led by the housing department and would implement a limit of five tents per encampment cluster.

There would also be distance limits.

For example, an encampment cluster must maintain a five metre distance from private property, and sites with environmental or heritage designations.

They also must stay 50 metres away from schools, daycares and recreational assets like pools.

Fifty metres is the size of a conference room at the centre, plus another 10 metres.

There can't be any tents on highways, paths, bridges and sidewalks, Baird said.

When asked how this would be enforced, Baird said that is in development.

She emphasized none of this is final and the community meetings be part of what is considered by city staff, who will bring recommendations to councillors in August.

What are sanctioned encampments?

Sanctioned encampments would be managed sites on city-owned land. 

The city and service providers would give residents services like sanitation, electricity and storage for their belongings.

Baird said tiny homes, rather than tents, could also be in the sanctioned sites.

Baird stressed sanctioned encampments is a short-term solution to deal with the growing number and size of encampments.

It's unclear if people would have to register to be part of sanctioned sites, how enforcement of the sites and protocol would work and what would be done to protect vulnerable groups, such as LGBTQ people, in encampments — a question that came up from the audience Tuesday.

What about location, safety of sanctioned sites?

Baird said there are no specific sites in mind yet, but said the sites will need to be able to accommodate between 30 to 50 tents, need to be near services (like a transit route), and need to offer some privacy.

While the sites will be spread out, they won't be evenly distributed across the municipality.

That said, they would also be areas that offer some privacy, she said.

When asked about how the city would balance these sites with the safety of others, Baird said if a sanctioned site is in one of the city's larger parks, it would have physical separation from the rest of the park.

When asked if there may be sites where drinking or drug use is allowed and some sites where it isn't, Baird said it was a "fantastic suggestion" and it could be an option.

Some members of the audience criticized the idea of sanctioned sites, saying it may cause disruption in neighbourhoods, may lead to more surveillance of unhoused people or may have rules that are too rigid.

What about vacant buildings?

Some people also asked about using vacant buildings like the Sir John A. Macdonald high school site on York Boulevard or the former CityHousing Hamilton site near Bayfront Park.

Baird said the site of the vacant school belongs to Hamilton's public school board.

She said the board was working with the Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters, but the school board said the school site is "not an appropriate solution."

Meanwhile, the CityHousing Hamilton site near Bayfront is before the Ontario Land Tribunal and the city can't make a move until the tribunal makes a decision on what to do with it.

Raven Bridges, a member of Hamilton Tenants in Unity who said he was previously homeless, was one of the people who asked the city to incorporate vacant sites.

He also said the city needs to focus on creating affordable, geared-to-income housing where no more than 30 per cent of someone's income goes toward paying rent.

What's happening between now and August?

Baird said there's a "gap" between now and council's decision in August when it comes to supporting people's basic needs like access to washrooms and access to water.

She said there aren't immediate solutions right now.

The city's final meeting on the topic will take place at the Harry Howell Arena Community Room in Flamborough on Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.