Homeless tents in the middle of the street in California, USA
Unlike the US, which is “sweeping” people off the streets, Halifax has taken a temporary step to experiment with regulating the encampments of its hundreds of homeless people.
Halifax’s shelters have reached capacity, and in the parks there are people who are afraid to let their children play for fear of “stepping on needles”, explains Clarissa, mother of three children and resident of Halifax to .
“Some of us are really trying to get our lives back together and work,” he says. Samantha Nickersonwho lives on the street with her husband. Still, complains another homeless man, Andrew Goodsellrent prices are so high that it is becoming impossible for some to pay rent.
O Canada is above the USA and England in the number of homeless people, around 235 thousand (or more) individuals in this situation across the country. In Halifax, there are around 200, for a population of 518 thousand inhabitants.
As the BBC points out, this city adopted a measure that is quite different from the system that the USA generally opts for: in Californiafor example, more than 12 thousand campsites have already been eliminated through a ban on camping in public spaces, in what is already dubbed a “street sweeping”.
Even though several Canadian cities, including Halifax, have attempted to remove homeless encampments in the past, recent court rulings in British Columbia and Ontario have ruled that people without a home can camp outside if there are no indoor shelters adequate, as is the case in this city, which has already reached maximum capacity in shelters.
“The approach until a few years ago was to eliminate them, but now it is no longer possible to deny that this does not solve the problem,” he told the BBC Stepan Woodprofessor of law at the University of British Columbia.
There are then 9 designated camping spots, but only 5 are open. According to residents, the Chamber provides portable toilets, and there are people who leave weekly bottled water and check on people, some people told the BBC.
Sometimes they bring things residents need, like acoat or sleeping bag warmer for winter. Supporters of the policy also guarantee that reserving a place in the city for the homeless reduces crime.
It seems to work, since the measure is provisional and just wants to put a band-aid on an issue that the City Hall recognizes is more complex and needs to be resolved urgently: the creation of a affordable housing stock and increasing shelter capacity. Even so, There are several inhabitants of the camps themselves who do not agree with the idea.
“We don’t want to be here. We don’t want to be in that situation”, says Samantha Nickerson, who adds that “This is a monstrosity and that no one wants it.” In fact, inhabitants complain about a feeling of insecurity and sparse conditions: “In winter, fBeing outdoors in a tent anywhere is not safe“, disse Goodsell.
Even a city councilwoman, Trish Purdy, commented to the BBC that you oppose the measure: “I’m sure residents who live close to any of the camps can say no received any empathy or compassion when the camps were placed at their door.”
Clarissa, who has a new camp next to her house, agrees, and guarantees that she and her neighbors were not consulted about the location camp and believes the location was chosen because his neighborhood is low-income. But there are also residents who are less fearful.
“It’s a big mess that people have to live in parks as their only accommodation option,” said another resident, Ames Mathers. “We are in the middle of a housing crisis and our province and our city are dropping the ball”, he laments, agreeing with the measure.
Still, the city knows that legalizing and regulating camps cannot be a long-term measureand the solution is much more difficult to achieve — and the Chamber will have to mitigate a situation that, as Goosell adjectives, is “depressing”.
