NCC urged to clean up abandoned encampment on Rideau River island
Natalia Goodwin | CBC News | Posted: May 1, 2023 8:00 AM | Last Updated: May 1, 2023
Garbage, rotting material has made island 'extremely unhealthy,' says resident
An Old Ottawa South resident is trying to get the National Capital Commission (NCC) to clean up an unused, garbage-strewn encampment in the middle of the Rideau River.
Clifford Allen Island has often been home to the unhoused, according to Sean Burges, who lives nearby.
He said over the six years he's lived in the neighbourhood, there have been people living on the island from time to time, people he considers neighbours.
"Usually we don't notice. But this spring everything is melted off and … there is just this massive accumulation of garbage and it is an extraordinarily unhealthy site right now," he said.
"There's rotting vegetation. There's rotting fabric, cloth, disassembled machines. It's just your worst nightmare [as a place] for someone to live."
Burges kayaks on the river most days and said he doesn't see anyone living there right now. He said he understands that some people without a permanent home might find the island appealing and feels something needs to be done.
"The NCC has a responsibility and a duty to look after the properties it manages," said Burges, adding he doesn't support getting rid of anyone who does live there.
"[What] we want to make sure is that the environments where people may choose to live because they have no other option are safe. And part of that means making sure that that island is cleaned up."
Permanent solutions needed
In a statement, the NCC said it was aware of the situation and was "working on a safe access plan to address the cleanup."
Remote places like Clifford Allen Island are often destinations for people without homes as they're at greater risk of both assaults and illnesses, said Kaite Burkholder Harris, executive director of Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa.
"I think people try and do the thing that they feel is safest," Burkholder Harris said.
She said the number of people sleeping outside in Ottawa is around 200, more than twice the number before the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are also working full-time, she said.
To prevent future encampments and to help people living in them, there needs to be a focus on long-term solutions like increasing the stock of permanent housing, she said.
"A lot of the time they're being offered a shelter bed, and that's in part why they're probably not in the shelter in the first place," she said.
"We have to ground ourselves in that reality: housing as a human right. We have to give people real options to leave encampments, not more temporary solutions."
Burkholder Harris said she'd like to see more of a focus on building non-profit affordable housing using city-owned land. The definition of "affordable" should also be based on individual household income, rather than the current market rent, she added.