Barrie bylaw that outlaws homeless help perplexes those shaping London's response

Londoners working to shape the Forest City's response to homelessness, housing scarcity and outdoor encampments say they're appalled and confounded by the direction taken by councillors in Barrie, Ont., as that city north of Toronto faces similar challenges.

Barrie was considering a bylaw that would prohibit the distribution of food along with shelter items such as tents and tarps on public property without a permit. It would mean that outreach on public property, including parks, could trigger fines of up to $100,000.

On Wednesday, council in that city decided unanimously to refer bylaws 67 and 68 back to staff. The matter is expected to return to a general committee meeting later this year.

The bylaw is part of Barrie's response to growing problems providing services for people on the streets who often  struggle with a complex mix of mental health and addiction in a climate of increasingly unaffordable housing.

It's an approach that's earned Barrie some sharp rebukes, including admonishment from people in London who provide frontline care for people unhoused. 

"I think it's appalling," said Chuck Lazenby, executive director of Unity Project, a shelter in London's Old East Village. "It's something that's been proven time and time again to not be effective when it comes to solving homelessness, when you criminalize the experience of homelessness and poverty." 

Greg Nash is the director of complex urban health for the London Intercommunity Health Centre. He, like Lazenby, is working with city officials to construct a "whole of community system response" to London's challenges with homelessness. 

Nash said enacting a bylaw that would outlaw public efforts to pitch in and help could backfire. 

"I can't imagine this strategy could be effective," said Nash. "I can only see that increasing the problems of aggression, violence, crime, deprivation and continued suffering."

CBC News reached out to a spokesperson from the City of Barrie to get clarification on the bylaw, but did not receive a response. Councillors are scheduled to debate the bylaw on Wednesday night. At a Barrie council meeting in May, before the bylaws were drafted, Mayor Alex Nuttall said this type of move was "uncomfortable," but needed.

Meanwhile, some lawyers are arguing the bylaw violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

"It arguably violates Section Two of the Charter, which is the right to freedom of religion and conscience of people who donate these goods," said constitutional lawyer Sujit Choudhry. "It's inevitable that the court will strike this down."

The City of London is weeks away form releasing the full details of its "whole of community system response" to  homelessness and outdoor encampments. The plan will include setting up service depots that provide basic supports such as food, water and portable toilets at locations along the Thames River where encampments have grown in recent months.

The plan also will include 15 hubs scattered in various neighbourhoods to provide wraparound support for people who struggle on London's streets.

Cheryl Forchuk, a professor Western University and expert on homelessness, said by punishing those who are trying to help, Barrie's bylaw will only lead to more isolation for those already suffering. 

"Whatever the motivation is for this, it's certainly very misguided," said Forchuk. "It should be a human right on both sides, both in being able to receive a bottle of water on a hot summer day as well as being able to offer that to a fellow human being."