In August, the Mayor directed (MDI-2-24-02) City staff to research and prepare options for Winter shelters to present to Council by the end of September 2024. Following the staff's presentation to the General Information Committee meeting on September 18, the majority of City Council asked staff to move forward with an 80-bed outdoor shelter site at Barton-Tiffany and the addition of 192 temporary shelter beds as part of Hamilton’s continuing efforts to address a growing homelessness crisis. The outdoor site will offer insulated units, wrap-around support services and onsite amenities, including toilets, showers, and laundry. Professional staff and security services will be on-site 24 hours daily, seven days a week. The site operator will be Good Shepherd. The site will operate as a shelter.
Once operational, encampments will not be permitted within 1 km of the outdoor site, which includes the already prohibited locations of Victoria Park, Central Park, and the grounds of Dundurn Castle. It will also remove the previously permitted location, Bayfront Park, from the list of prohibited locations.
Staff recommended this location for several reasons. The site is:
- owned by the municipality;
- fenced;
- essential site services can be made available (hydro, water, sewage, electrical hook-ups);
- development permissions are not required;
- readily accessible by essential service providers and;
- is close to public transit.
The goal is to have the site running before the end of 2024.
The 192 extra shelter beds will be actioned over the next six weeks, and capital and operating funding will be provided to external shelter operators across Hamilton.
I understand the growing frustration with how long it takes to enforce the existing protocol and remove encampments from non-compliant sites. The impacts of encampments in our parks are real for housed and unhoused residents. Given these conditions, the Hamilton Police Service recommended that Council consider an outdoor site. In response, Mayor Horwath instructed staff to report how and where a site could be operationalized.
Several individuals are currently bringing a Canadian Charter of Rights court case against the City. At the heart of the dispute is whether the City must allow tents in public parks when insufficient affordable housing and emergency shelter space is available.
Hamiltonians clearly wish to prohibit encampments near outdoor spaces designated for children’s play. The encampment protocol was a way to protect the public’s right to limit where tents could be located. The outdoor site, with wrap-around services and additional shelter beds, protects the city’s authority to govern the use of public space while providing humane shelter alternatives with access to support.
Once the outdoor shelter site is operational and the additional emergency shelter beds are in place, Council will revisit the encampment protocol and the city’s park bylaw, which does not permit overnight tenting in any public park.
Council understands that a temporary outdoor site and emergency shelter beds are not substitutes for permanent, suitable housing. These are short-term measures until appropriate housing is available.
The City follows a strategic plan to build new affordable and supportive housing and secure existing affordable units in the private and non-profit housing market. Details on these actions have been set out in previous Ward 1 newsletters. As stated many times, the City needs the provincial and federal governments to come to the table with real investments to address this humanitarian crisis. At present, the City of Hamilton is investing close to $200 per capita in housing, significantly higher than other municipalities and more than double the investment of the provincial and federal governments combined.
Residents are asking legitimate questions about the outdoor site. To ensure matters are addressed, I have already shared all resident questions and concerns to date and will continue this action.
I have submitted several questions to the director leading the program.
- What is, when and how will the operational plan be delivered?
- What is the role of the shelter operator, if any, in community liaison efforts?
- What is the role of Hamilton Police Services and Hamilton By-law regarding the level of service within the 1 km enforcement area?
- How can community experience be recorded, and who will respond? How will these experiences and responses be recorded and reported?
- What staff reports can the community and Council expect to receive in the upcoming General Issues Committee?
I know people want answers today. City staff, in partnership with the shelter operator and the Hamilton Police Service, are working on the operational details. As the details become available, they will be posted on the City's Homelessness Emergency Shelters & Drop-ins Temporary Shelter tab. Community members can access information and register concerns, feedback, and experiences through the webpage and by directly emailing the Ward 1 office.
In April 2023, Hamilton Council unanimously declared a state of homelessness-related emergency. In the absence of support from higher levels of government, Hamilton created a plan.
Join your neighbours in telling the Government of Ontario they need to lead a plan to help the people of our city and all cities solve the humanitarian crisis. Solve the crisis.
