ENCAMPMENT RESPONSE
The presence of encampments in our community is a sign of failure, representing a lack of affordable and supportive housing options for Edmontonians. Encampments do not meet the needs of those living in them and they have significant impacts on surrounding residents and businesses.
The presence of encampments in our community is also a reality, and increasingly prevalent in recent years. In 2018, 311 received 790 encampment-related calls. In 2021, that number was over 6,200. All signs point to the 2022 season being even worse than in years past. This is due to the combination of an ongoing increase in people experiencing homelessness with a decrease in funding from other orders of government to address it.
I've heard from surrounding communities that the burden of reporting encampments, and associated disturbances and fire risks, has become too much. During our May 9th Council discussion on the City’s response to encampments, I successfully moved to provide an additional $860,000 towards these efforts.. This money will go toward providing dedicated resources to known hot spots for encampments like Dawson Park and Kinnaird Ravine, evening and weekend service coverage, and a higher level of encampment clean up and response. There will also be two new outreach workers activated to help connect those living in encampments with services.
While I'm hopeful that this funding will make a difference, I don't feel it's enough, particularly for those living in encampments. During the conversations, I was concerned to learn that 65% of encampments are assessed as high risk, meaning that residents are moved on within 1-3 days. This doesn't provide enough time for outreach workers to connect with residents or move people into housing, meaning that people truly are just shuffled along. This can be traumatic for those being moved and does little to help the affected residents and businesses as new encampments re-emerge in short order.
As part of our conversation on Wednesday, I pushed to ensure that social service agencies are invited to join the assessment process, something I've heard has worked successfully in the past to provide more balance. City staff will be reporting regularly on the assessment statistics and I hope to see a shift in the numbers as a result of a more multidisciplinary approach. I'm also pleased to know that City staff are working on a review of the assessment criteria to consider a more holistic range of factors, and I've encouraged that the evaluation framework be made available to those living in encampments. This would allow individuals to make informed decisions about where they set up their shelters, which in turn could potentially reduce the cycle of set-up and eviction which is so prevalent in areas like Chinatown.
I was pleased to support a related motion from my colleague Councillor Tang that asks City staff to work with residents of encampments and surrounding communities to come up with innovative approaches that will lead us to new ways of thinking and addressing this issue. I look forward to seeing the ideas generated when this report returns to Council in the fall.
Ultimately, the only lasting response to encampments is building and operating the affordable and supportive housing our community needs. This is the true solution that I will continue to work to advance.
