In a report to City Council, the City of Hamilton’s Housing First Team states that people living in the 47 identified encampment sites across Hamilton are increasingly declining offers of space in emergency shelters.
The report comes as City Council prepares to vote on two encampment motions.
One calls for an end to the City’s permitting of encampments.
The other directs City staff to resume enforcing the City’s encampment protocol, which limits the size of tents and prohibits the storage of hazardous items such as propane tanks and other materials.
This follows the December 23, 2024, ruling by Ontario’s Superior Court upholding the City’s parks bylaw and confirming that Ontario municipalities are required to permit overnight camping when there are inadequate indoor shelter spaces.
Number of Encampments Decreasing With Cold Weather
The number of encampments decreases each winter, a trend repeating in 2024.
There were 80 encampment sites in October, and 47 sites in December.
The decrease in the number of encampments has resulted in a decrease in the number of complaints the City is logging.
“The volume of complaints and service requests has continued to decline since peaking at 1,464 in September 2024, decreasing to 889 in October 2024, 791 in November 2024, and further to 671 in December 2024,” reads the report from Director of Housing Services Division Michelle Baird.
Encampment Residents Declining Shelter Spaces, Or Restricted from Shelters
The City states it made 116 shelter space offers to encampment residents in December.
Twenty-six offers were accepted, 48 were declined, and 42 referrals could not be accepted for other reasons, including that the individuals were restricted from shelters due to their past behaviours.
The City’s new ‘low-barrier’ tiny outdoor shelter is designed to address the needs of service-restricted individuals.
City Providing Harm Reduction Supplies As Some Drop-Ins End this Service
Baird’s report states the City’s Housing First Time is facing “additional pressures” to supply harm reduction products.
“The Cathedral Café drop-in no longer distributes harm reduction supplies, putting additional pressures for these goods on the Housing Focused Street Outreach team.”
Encampment Fires from October to December
In her report, Baird writes there are “no significant trends” regarding encampment fires and that only one location had more than a single fire during a month.
“The only location that had multiple structure/tent fires in one month was the location of Sherman Access and Charlton Avenue East, which had two (2) tent fires during the month of November.”
During the past week, Hamiltonians have posted images on social media of large encampment fires at The Delta, Gage Park, and along the Sherman Access.
The City of Hamilton states there were four encampment fires in October, nine in November, and six in December.
251 People in Encampments in December
The report states the Housing First tent “engaged with 251 unique individuals” during December.
Council to Discuss Report on Wednesday
The report will be presented to City Council during the Wednesday, January 15, General Issues Committee meeting.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: January 12, 2025
Last updated: January 12, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
It seems to me that council is looking at two extremes when neither are beneficial. How about revising the protocol rather than scrapping it?