2023 RESPONDING TO ENCAMPMENTS

I posted a blog last spring reviewing the City's encampment response. As many across O-day'min see on a daily basis, encampments haven't gone away since then. I hear from many of you about the stress encampments can cause - not only in terms of practical challenges like noise, waste,  fire, and ecological impact, but also in terms of the deep frustration many Edmontonians feel at the lack of housing for so many of our neighbours. 

I wanted to update you with some of Council's more recent decisions on encampments and how we've adjusted our response to the reality on the ground.  

It's important for me to start by saying that I think that current conditions are unacceptable. Encampments don’t provide safe, dignified, and adequate shelter for people. My ultimate goal is to no longer have encampments in our community. To achieve this goal, we first need to understand why encampments exist and persist in Edmonton. 

There are some very stark numbers we need to be aware of. The first is that homelessness has doubled over the past three years, now at around 3,000 Edmontonians. At the same time, we have only 627 permanently funded shelter spaces in our city (compared to 1800 in Calgary) and about 190 bridge housing units - clearly not enough for the people who are in need of them. The ability of these limited spaces to meet the needs of individuals is also mixed. As highlighted in an excellent report by MAPS Capital Alberta Region called Staying Outside is Not a Preference, people often turn to encampments as a last resort in the absence of shelter options that are safe, dignified, and welcoming. 

While a lack of appropriate housing drives encampments, their presence has a significant impact on surrounding neighbours and businesses. Between 2016 and 2022, encampment-related calls to 311 increased a thousand-fold. We added hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional enforcement resources in 2022 to deal with encampments and yet saw no appreciable improvement in the number of reports. 

My own inbox showed the impact of increased encampment removal very clearly: two days after tents were removed from one area of the ward, I started hearing concerns from the next neighbourhood over. The approach of removing encampments without meaningfully changing the life situation of those staying in them results in displacing the challenge rather than solving it.

Most of my Council colleagues and I weren't prepared to continue seeing this cycle continue. During our budget deliberations in December, we asked City staff to come up with a new approach to managing encampments. In April, City staff presented Council with an Enhanced Encampment Strategy that has two primary goals: 

• Provide clear, rapid, and consistent access to housing for those living in encampments.

• Ensure encampments do not diminish individual and/or public safety.

While not a huge departure from previous approaches to encampments, these principles provide important focus to the work the City is undertaking. 

A pilot running this summer is looking to place 100 individuals in encampments into appropriate housing that can meet their needs, including various levels of health and social supports they need to stay housed successfully. These efforts go hand in hand with the work City Council has been doing to expand the number of affordable and supportive housing units in Edmonton. This year saw the opening of 500 new permanent supportive housing units which are currently being filled up, with an active priority list for those currently living in encampments. 

We have also made large investments to secure even more permanent supportive housing moving forward. In the 2023-2026 budget, we approved $18 million annually for ongoing housing and homelessness programs. We also earmarked $26 million in 2023 capital funds to build affordable and supportive housing.  In total, we set a housing investment of $91 million through 2026. Council has continued to support Boyle Street Community Services and the Bissell Centre with $4m in funding. These organisations provide for both the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness and also connect them to services and supports they need to be housing-ready.  

At the same time as we work to address the root causes of encampments, the City is looking to better manage the impacts and risks associated with them. Making sure encampments don't diminish personal or public safety is done in a few different ways. The first is continuing to use the Risk Matrix assessment so that encampments that pose dangers to the inhabitants or surrounding community are remedied or removed. This includes Fire Rescue Services enforcing fire bans, increasing patrols, and doing educational outreach about reducing fire risk. 

Ensuring public safety is also about providing people with the facilities they need. Council has funded a public washroom strategy and installed water access points to ensure everyone has access to these basic needs even if staying in an encampment. This provides dignity for folks experiencing homelessness, improves cleanliness, and helps reduce pressure on surrounding residents and businesses. Council is further exploring the potential for a small-scale managed encampment, something I've been advocating for and hope we can see happen. 

Council has approved funding to increase resources towards cleaning up debris and litter, including $1.17m for encampment clean-up across Edmonton. A new pilot being introduced this summer looks at providing waste bins and other clean up materials to enable people staying in encampments to keep sites as clean as possible. 

None of these actions will lead to overnight changes but I believe this is the best approach we can take as we work to build the affordable and supportive housing units our community needs. In the meantime, please continue calling 311 when you see encampments or come across public property litter, overflowing garbage cans, or any other concerns. This is vital to capturing the true extent of the challenges and ensuring we can put the right resources into place to end encampments in Edmonton. 

More on the City's strategy is available here.