THUNDER BAY — A suggestion that the city and social agencies establish and monitor new homeless encampments has drawn a cautiously positive response from Elevate NWO, an agency that's provided outreach services to individuals living in tents.
Susan Lester, a director of the Brookside Condominium Association on Algoma Street North, submitted the idea Tuesday in an email to members of council.
She proposed that the city look at the south end of Current River Park and at the green space behind the former Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital, owned by the provincial government, as potential sites.
Elevate NWO executive director Holly Gauvin called it a step forward.
"The thinking has shifted somewhat from 'They're a problem to hey, we need to do something here,'" Gauvin said on Wednesday.
At a city council meeting last week, Lester and another representative of the condominium pointed to multiple health and safety issues that were created last year when as many as 20 tents were established near the banks of McVicar Creek.
They also said seniors in the area were afraid to use the walking trail.
"There were no more young families picnicking along the creek and playing on the grass with their children or dogs,” they said.
In her note to council, Lester said Current River Park has a washroom facility on site, is located across Cumberland Street from the Salvation Army building, and is down the street from the Elevate NWO offices.
The green space on the LPH grounds, she said, could be used in conjunction with reopening and retrofitting one wing of the building to provide toilets, showers, laundry facilities and an eating area.
Lester suggested that the city work with organizations such as the Salvation Army and Matawa First Nations to provide services to encampment users and monitor the sites.
She declined to be interviewed by TBnewswatch, but submitted a statement saying the condo members believe these locations are more suitable for the provision of basic human needs.
"Also, by concentrating the encampments in one or two areas (north ward and south ward) it would make monitoring the encampments with social workers, housing and mental health workers easier," she wrote.
Lester described homelessness as "a very complex socio-economic issue," saying residents applaud the work that Elevate NWO and other social service agencies are doing.
In an interview, Gauvin said she's glad to hear residents making constructive suggestions, "and recognizing that we need community solutions...Whether it's the right suggestion, that remains to be seen, but I think it's a step in the right direction to stop vilifying people."
"I'm totally not opposed to creating sort of an organized camp that's safe for people to be in. There are some pros to it," she said, but added that there are also some concerns.
"One of them is the proposed locations. People were camped at those sites last year, and we received lots of citizen complaints about them too. Wherever we land, it's going to be somebody's back yard...I would hate to go and put all my eggs in this particular basket, go down the road of planning to be at one of these locations, only to have it withdrawn at the eleventh hour because another citizens' group comes forward and says this isn't going to work."
No one can be forced to go to a designated camp, Elevate NWO director notes
She said another key issue is that no individuals can be forced to go to a camp, so even if a planned, coordinated camp attracted a majority of those living in tents, some people would still prefer to set up elsewhere.
Gauvin feels it's essential, as well, to consult with the users first about where they would be willing to camp.
"The proposed locations have some great advantages. I won't deny it. It's intriguing, and I hope that if nothing else we really look at this as a potential option, but it's also very far from the services that are responding to them. You're taking the most marginalized group and putting them basically on the outskirts of town with no way of getting back and forth to access the services they need," she said.
Assuming that people were amenable to living in the camps, Gauvin said she feels it would be necessary to provide them with some form of transportation.
"Elevate is certainly on board for trying new ways of responding, but they also have to be respectful, dignified and well-thought-out. I don't know if this is the right solution but I also think it's too early for me to say it's the wrong solution."
Coun. Andrew Foulds, who represents Current River ward, also had a measured response to the condo residents' proposal.
"What I'm really interested in is solutions that reflect the science and the best practices that can be successful," he told TBnewswatch. "The City of Thunder Bay is asking for a report from its staff about how it can, with dignity and appropriately, deal with individuals who are really on the fringes and are struggling."
Foulds said he's unsure if a supervised camping area is a best practice, but he's open-minded to any solution.
He noted though, that city staff have indicated that encampments can often be unsafe for the occupants because they "get targeted, and I am not interested in the most vulnerable further being victimized."
Foulds echoed Gauvin's concern about the inappropriateness of forcing people to live in a specific location, no matter what part of the city it might be in.
"Ultimately I want to support solutions that make neighbourhoods feel better and safer, and provide resources for the individuals...Working with the experts and community stakeholders, we were able to get 100 people out of encampments and into housing. For me, that is the real success."
A spokesperson for the Salvation Army said the organization was unable to comment on the proposal that it provide support for an encampment at Current River Park.
David Paul Achneepineskum, CEO of Matawa First Nations, stated that Matawa is not prepared at this time "to partner to address encampments in Thunder Bay the way some people are currently recommending."
He said the new Matawa Wellness and Training Centre on Algoma Street North will be based on "a careful wrap-around and trauma-informed approach that addresses the issues that bring our people into homelessness. It will target our members who are ready to make the change and will support them from homelessness to being trained and job-ready."
But Achneepineskum added that Matawa First Nations has supported organizations directly involved with the homeless in the past, and will continue to consider requests for assistance in the future.
