Mayor directs staff to deliver plan on sanctioned encampments offering tiny homes to unhoused Hamiltonians

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath is spurring city staff to figure out how sanctioned encampment sites filled with cabin-like shelters could be ready for people experiencing homelessness when the cold weather hits later this year. 

The mayor issued a directive Tuesday for staff to come up with a plan in time for the general issues committee to consider in September.  

"It's time for the rubber to hit the road and a plan to come forward," said Horwath at a news conference Tuesday. "Not another discussion, not another list of opportunities, but an actual plan." 

Sanctioned sites on city-owned property would provide residents a range of mental health, substance use and housing services on site and reduce the number of encampments in parks. There'd also be waste collection and washrooms. 

The idea has been considered by staff and council several times in recent years but has never been enacted.

Last summer, council passed the current encampment protocol — a set of rules that stipulate where people can and cannot pitch tents in parks — but didn't explore the feasibility of sanctioned sites in depth. 

However, a year later, the protocol has faced a range of criticisms.

In June, housed residents raised concerns about safety, open substance use and garbage in parks at a committee meeting. Police and city staff said they're using a tremendous amount of time and resources just to respond to complaints and enforce the rules.

These groups raised sanctioned sites as a possible temporary solution. 

Sanctioned sites not a 'forever solution'

Kim Ritchie, a social worker with the Substance Overdose Prevention and Education Network, told CBC Hamilton Tuesday that the current protocol means encampment residents are spread out across the city, which makes finding them and offering support difficult.

Sanctioned sites would be an improvement as long as unhoused people are consulted in the process, said Ritchie.

The sites also must be temporary and not a "forever solution" that replaces efforts to build more affordable housing or offer more harm reduction services, she said. 

Some encampment residents told CBC Hamilton they need more support than is being offered — and more shelter options. 

After recently becoming homeless, Andrew Gram and Jennifer Duffie pitched a tent in a quiet spot at a north end park so they could continue living together, which isn't possible in the city shelter system. 

They said they didn't mind living in the encampment, but would like to find shelter before winter.

A sanctioned site would work if it was safe and they could stay together, Duffie said.

Locations to be determined

In July, a motion by Coun. Tammy Hwang directed staff to report back with information. But Horwath's new directive means staff will also need to provide recommendations for councillors to vote on in September. 

"I've walked through our communities, I've spoken to our most vulnerable folks and it's clear to me, as it is to everyone in Hamilton, we must do more," Horwath said Tuesday. 

She's directed staff to find out: 

• How much time will be required to buy and install shelters. 
• If the shelters will be able to accommodate couples and pets, and provide privacy and safety. 
• How to offer centralized, on-site support and services with input from hospitals, community organizations and police.
• The estimated cost of creating and running sanctioned sites.
• Where the money could come from in terms of municipal and provincial sources.
• If legally sanctioned sites could replace encampments in parks.
• What infrastructure needs to already exist on possible sites. 

A sticking point has been where sanctioned sites should be located, with many councillors not wanting them in parks or properties in their wards. 

When asked if Horwath would use her mayor powers to push through site locations, she said she'd first give council "the benefit of the doubt" that they'll support staff's "professional" recommendations.