HRM removes fencing from parks that were formerly homeless encampments
Fencing around Meagher, Victoria parks was taken down this week
After more than two years, residents of Halifax's west end can use a local park again.
Meagher Park, at the corner of Chebucto Road and Dublin Street, was home to a prominent homeless encampment that advocates and volunteers dubbed People's Park. In July 2022, Halifax Regional Municipality issued a notice telling everyone living in the park to relocate.
The park was emptied and fenced off a month later, and has been surrounded by a chain-link fence and closed to the public since then.
But Monday morning, the fencing came down and the park reopened, along with Victoria Park in the city's downtown, which was fenced off in March 2024 when a large encampment there was closed.
Since the parks have reopened, Max Chauvin, Halifax's director of housing and homelessness, said he's received emails from people happy about progress at the parks.
"People are happy, they're hoping to be able to get in, I've got a mom who told me that their junior high-aged child is really excited to go to Meagher and be able to have lunch in the park," Chauvin said.
"I've also got a couple of people who walk their dogs at Victoria Park who reached out and said 'Great, thanks so much, we're really looking forward to using it.'"
At the time of closure, the municipality said the parks needed extensive remediation because people had been living there for months on end.
According to the municipality's website, the parks were fenced off while this work was ongoing. This included installing lighting, benches, a shrub bed, sod and a new paved pathway in Meagher Park, and sodding and fertilizing Victoria Park.
"And that actually took a couple of seasons just based on the timing of when the encampment site closed and when that work could be done," Chauvin said.
The cost of the fencing at both parks was approximately $794,000, and the cost of the restoration was around $274,000. Chauvin said he doesn't have details on why the fencing cost was so high, as that doesn't fall within his department's responsibility.
Municipality says parks won't become encampments again
According to HRM's website, overnight sheltering is prohibited at both Meagher Park and Victoria Park.
Chauvin says municipal staff, like homelessness co-ordinators and compliance officers, will monitor the sites every day to see if any tents have been set up there. If someone sets up, staff will help them relocate to a designated site.
"Those sites are prohibited for tenting so you can't set up a tent there, but if somebody does, we'll have a compliance officer that will come and visit and they'll make sure you know that you can't be there," Chauvin said.
"And they'll also make sure that you know that if you need help moving or you need storage, things like that, then they can connect you with one of our navigators or outreach staff to help you do that, but you won't be allowed to tent in the park."
HRM now has five designated encampment sites: Green Road Park and Geary Street green space in Dartmouth, and the Barrington Street green space, Cogswell Park and Lower Flinn Park in Halifax.
As of Jan. 9, there were 40 tents at designated encampment sites and 13 trailers at Shubie Park. In a count done before Christmas, there were 41 tents in non-designated locations.
Four additional sites have been earmarked to be opened if required.
Chauvin said he hopes new measures by the province will decrease the number of people at the encampments. Two new shelter villages recently opened in the Halifax area and Chauvin said he anticipates people living in tents would accept offers to move there.
"And then they'll be off the street, they'll have heating, they'll have cooling, they'll have access to food and food preparation and storage spaces, running water, bathrooms, laundry — a whole host of services that will really give somebody an opportunity to take the next step in their life and get off the street," he said.
Chauvin said the goal would be to reduce the number of designated encampment sites.
"Encampments aren't good for anybody, they're not good for the people who live in them, the people who are there do not want to live in them and they're not good for the community around them … but we have to see how this goes, how people settle in and then work from there," he said.
