Recent encampment evictions raising questions about methods and timing

As municipalities continue to find ways to address the growing number of homeless encampments in cities, the eviction of two camps in the area is again pushing the issue to the forefront.

This week, the City of Cambridge dismantled an encampment at 415 Dundas St. N. and the City of Guelph took down an encampment in St. George’s Square.

Shannon Down, Executive Director of Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, told 570 NewsRadio the tents and shelters may be gone but not the people.

“The reality is, when a municipality decides to evict people, they’re still going to be homeless. It’s not solving the problem, it’s just moving people from one place to another.”

While millions of dollars have been spent on adding and improving shelters, the system remains inadequate. Down said some people choose to avoid the shelters altogether.

“While they (shelters) are part of the answer to the problem, they certainly don’t work for everyone who is experiencing homelessness. There are people who have been in and out of shelters for years who don’t feel safe there, which is why they turn to encampments,” she said.

Down said the shelter system was never designed to accommodate people long-term, that’s why there needs to be deeply affordable housing options. She said some of the ideas being floated aren’t very efficient.

“All those requests we’ve seen come out of the Big City Mayors’ motion and the letter recently, are really expensive solutions to a problem that would be much cheaper to solve with providing people with affordable housing subsidies or subsidized housing.”

In the end, Down believes that there needs be increased collaboration and cooperation between all levels of government. They need to stop the finger pointing and invest additional funding into solutions that will address the short term need while facilitating long-term solutions.