Cash for needle returns? Homeless Winnipegger says incentives, help from city could clean up camps

Just steps behind an elite Winnipeg girls' school, needles, other drug paraphernalia and ripped pages from a porn magazine litter the ground of a homeless encampment. In the distance, on the banks of the Assiniboine River, are shopping carts, children's toys and more paraphernalia.

Raymond Dunn, who lives in a tent in a neatly kept area behind Balmoral Hall, a short walk from the main encampment, wants help to get it cleaned up.

He'd like the City of Winnipeg to work with homeless people like him to clean up the mess he says others are leaving behind.

"Having the tools and resources and the freedom of movement to actually do something is what we need."

Dunn, who wakes up early in the morning to collect beer bottles he turns in for cash, thinks the city should give the same financial incentive for needles left behind by meth addicts.

"I know some people that are, you know, happy drunks, and they get drunk here. We collect their empties, and you don't hear people complaining about the empties being left behind because those are worth something," he said.

"If the syringes were worth a nickel a piece, I'm sure you wouldn't find a single one here."

Dunn, 37, says he cleaned up the area in the spring, but the mess returned as more people began camping at the site. The problem has gotten worse in recent weeks, as river levels have spilled over into the camp, ruining belongings.

The camp near Balmoral Hall is one of several along Winnipeg's riverbanks and under bridges. CBC News visited four of the encampments in recent days.

A few blocks from Balmoral Hall, another camp has set up under the Maryland Bridge, just north of Wellington Crescent — where some of the city's wealthiest residents have their homes.

Suitcases sit on the cement under the bridge, while a sea of garbage, clothes, drug paraphernalia and a laundry basket float in the unusually high river.

In one shopping cart, there's a note from someone named Barbie.

"Do not touch till I get back," the piece of paper says.

'We're willing to do the work'

The city had planned to hire a private contractor to clean up messes like this — and dismantle homeless camps — but scrapped the proposal early last summer after strong backlash from people living on the streets and advocates for the homeless.

It says it now has an agreement with Main Street Project and End Homelessness Winnipeg to clean up encampments when their conditions pose a public safety risk.

City crews can also clean up a site if the Main Street Project has confirmed it is no longer inhabited, said city spokesperson Julie Horbal Dooley.

Crews will be going to both the Maryland Bridge camp and one under the Osborne Bridge to clean up the messes there, she said, but high river levels have complicated and delayed the cleanup.

Dunn, who lives in a tent with his boyfriend, doesn't think the current agreement is good enough. He's been on the streets off and on for a decade, and with nowhere else to go right now, he just wants to live in a clean campsite.

"We need shovels, rakes, garbage bags and a bin to put it in without getting charged," he said, noting there's a fear of fines for illegal dumping.

"We're willing to do the work but we haven't got the resources or anybody that's actually willing to help us."

The encampments are becoming more than just a mess, says one Osborne Village resident — they also affect the sense of security in the neighbourhood.

Haley Babyak lives on Roslyn Road, right in front of the encampment under the Osborne Bridge. She was recently awoken by screams from a man she thinks was suffering psychosis.

"It's not the greatest thing being woken up at seven in the morning to someone screaming behind your apartment building," she said. 

"The man clearly needed help. It's just scary that I have to be the one to call for someone to help him."

Seeing drug users behind her apartment in psychosis wasn't something that happened three years ago, when she moved into her apartment, she says.

Now it's become common to find used needles in her parking lot, or see people relieving themselves behind it.

"I don't feel safe being around here at night, which is really a shame."

Back at the encampment behind Balmoral Hall, another person who calls the site home wants the mess cleaned up.

"I just see a bunch of garbage all over, and when I come back there's usually people in my tent and … needles are lying around all over," said Deanna Moore, who was staying in an encampment under the Osborne Bridge before a recent fire there.

"People shouldn't be doing that, because they should have respect for others … that want to keep their area clean," she said.

"It needs to get cleaned up."

Homeless camper gives inside perspective

5 years ago

Duration 1:50

Raymond Dunn lives in a tent in a neatly kept area behind Balmoral Hall. It's a short walk from a large homeless encampment littered with garbage and needles, which he wants cleaned up.