THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay’s city council is set to discuss the municipal government’s handling of homeless encampments, considering whether to double down on a strategy that has moved to offer greater support to homeless residents, and discouraged evicting them from public spaces.
In a report that will be considered by council on Monday, staff recommend the city "adopt a human rights-based approach" to homelessness, expanding funding and building on a collaboration with local social service agencies – and displacing homeless campers only in “exceptional cases,” a term that has yet to be defined.
That would solidify and expand a strategy that's emerged in recent years under the leadership of social service agencies and city staff, but has sometimes been questioned by city councillors and members of the public.
Staff say the city’s approach is based in part on a 2020 report from the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, which proposed a "national protocol" for Canada on homeless encampments.
The protocol’s guiding principles include: recognizing encampment residents as rights holders, meaningfully engaging with them, avoiding forced evictions, ensuring encampments meet people’s basic needs, and that any relocations are "human rights-compliant."
The report from city staff also points to a review by Canada’s Federal Housing Advocate, which they said found "taking a punitive approach" through actions like forced evictions fails to address the underlying issues and can be counter-productive.
Encampments have always existed in Thunder Bay, but have increasingly been set up in more visible locations since around 2021, staff reported.
Since then, several organizations, citizens, and city councillors have expressed interest in designating officially sanctioned encampment sites in Thunder Bay, where supports like toilet facilities and outreach services could be offered in a central location.
Some hope the strategy could also reduce frictions with residents who have sometimes raised complaints over the impacts of nearby encampments.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation has suggested the city donate land dedicated "for safe encamping and land-based healing activities," and offered to collaborate on the plan.
The city's report suggests further study of the idea is needed, as well as consultation with the homeless, the public, social service agencies, and Indigenous leaders.
Citing Sudbury’s experience, the report states designated areas can serve as "false quick fixes," noting people can’t be forced to use them and encampments can still pop up in other locations. It also suggests operating costs for the sites "may be better invested into health, social, and housing services."
Staff propose returning with a report outlining consultation results and potential locations, service requirements, and costs for designated encampments by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The city’s current approach involves working with Elevate NWO, which has received encampment outreach funding and is designated as the city’s lead partner, to visit an encampment within two days after becoming aware of its existence.
Elevate outreach workers visit the sites regularly, offering items like health supplies, food, and tents to meet short-term needs, and working to connect encampment residents with other services including housing.
The organization is also able to accommodate a limited number of people in its own supported housing units, but has echoed widespread concerns there aren't nearly enough of those options in the city.
When encampments are abandoned, city crews are designated to arrange cleanup within three days.
That approach has connected over 100 people with housing since being launched as a pilot project in 2021, the city says.
It’s been guided by the city-led Response to Unsheltered Homelessness Task Force, which includes leaders from municipal government, social services, emergency services, and public health.
Under “exceptional circumstances,” the city can still step in to clear or relocate encampments as a last resort, the report states.
In those cases, city staff say they will work with partners to communicate with encampment residents and offer access to health, social, and housing services.
In response to a TBnewsatch inquiry, drug strategy coordinator Cynthia Olsen said the city has not set out a formal definition of what constitutes “exceptional circumstances” that would justify eviction.
If council approves the report’s recommendations on Monday, the task force “would work to determine those criteria,” she said in an email.
City staff declined a request for interview on this story, saying they preferred to reserve comment until after council's discussion.
Holly Gauvin, Elevate NWO’s executive director, says the new approach has marked a turning point, with local institutions embracing a compassionate and, she says, more effective response to homelessness.
“Last year, city council not only provided funding, but the acting police chief at the time got on television and said homelessness wasn't a criminal issue, that they weren’t going to be moving people out of encampments, but rather letting health and social services do their jobs,” she said.
“So we did just that, and over the course of 12 months, we were able to successfully house over 100 people. That’s not just moving people out of camps, that’s actually ending people’s suffering and doing things in a really good way.”
She added Elevate plans to address resident concerns this year by providing items like eco-safe soaps and, hopefully, access to bathroom facilities.
Gauvin said while her organization is open to the idea of designated encampment sites, she warned the strategy has met with mixed results in other communities, and won’t be a silver bullet.
"Elevate will continue to support people where they’re at,” she said. “Our big ask is if people set up in a community space or parks, that they not be removed."
"Every time somebody gets moved and gets shuffled along to another park, we lose contact with them. When we lose contact with them, it can sometimes be months before we reconnect with them, which only prolongs them staying out in somebody else’s neighbourhood."
She believes it’s already too late to properly implement designated sites this year, with people already beginning to encamp outdoors in greater numbers.
“If they pivot to a one- or two-camp solution in the city, there’s a lot of planning that has to go into that – that can’t happen with a couple weeks’ notice,” she said. “There has to be proper community consultation if you’re moving entire groups of people.”
Council will also vote Monday on a recommendation to include $20,000 in the 2024 budget "to provide and maintain amenities such as portable toilets, laundry services, access to shower facilities, [and] creating start-up kits for individuals who receive housing" for people living in encampments.
The recommendations come amid a shifting legal landscape, with some recent court rulings barring municipalities from moving people with a genuine need to shelter off of public lands like parks.
In February, council directed staff to assess the implications of an Ontario Superior Court ruling on the Region of Waterloo’s handling of encampments.
The ruling found the regional municipality's plan to evict homeless campers from municipal lands violated their constitutional right to shelter, given a lack of appropriate available housing in the area. The ruling followed similar case law in British Columbia.
City staff have advised council there is similarly insufficient housing available to meet the needs of Thunder Bay’s homeless population.
Gauvin said while Elevate is working closely with the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) to connect more people with housing, "we have a long way to go in this community."
Despite her enthusiasm over the changing approach to homelessness, Gauvin still described the progress as tentative, saying Monday’s discussion could be consequential.
“I’m really anxious to see what our city comes back with,” she said. “This is a new council for us, so we’re not quite sure what to expect, but I’m looking forward to the conversation.”
