Rain splashed down on more than a dozen tents late Friday morning that make-up a homeless encampment tucked in a wooded area of Berczy Park near downtown Barrie.
While some residents of the encampment came and went from the park, some on foot and others riding bicycles, it was hardly a beehive of activity, except for groups of people who milled about on the trails to show support for those experiencing homelessness.
They included representatives from Ryan's Hope, the Elizbeth Fry Society and the Busby Centre, as well as a former Barrie city councillor.
On Tuesday, the city issued bylaw infraction notices to individuals living in the park, giving them 72 hours to correct a number of infractions including placing debris on city property in contravention of the nuisance by-law, fouling the land by urinating and defecating, and camping within a public park, contrary to the parks use by-law.
As of early Friday afternoon, the status at the park remained unchanged. Barrie 360 reached out to City Hall for a response.
"The city continues to work with the County of Simcoe as the lead on housing and homelessness in Barrie. The information that the County provides on the status of the individuals and their housing offers will inform next steps," according to Dawn McApline, General Manager of Community and Corporate Services, who responded by email.
Sara Peddle, executive director of the Busby Centre, was at the park this morning and explained what the organization was doing to assist the encampment residents.
"We're just here to offer support. We want to make sure that people have resources for wherever they are at, and if they are looking to come into shelter, if they're looking to relocate or if they are looking to stay. We just want to make sure that people are supported and to make sure we're all here as communities to look after the people."
Peddle said the County of Simcoe, which has the responsibility for housing and homelessness services in Barrie, Orillia and the county as a whole, reached out to Busby late last week to say they wanted to increase capacity in the system by adding 20 additional shelter beds.
She confirmed that the additional beds are all in Barrie and that they were temporary.
"The challenge is that, you know, our shelters are very full right now. It's overwhelming for some people to stay in a space with so many people, and so I respect that it's not a space for everybody."
With that mind, Peddle said it is feasible that if some encampment residents at Berczy Park must leave the property that they will just go to another outdoor location.
In an email statement to Barrie 360 on Tuesday, McAlpine said encampment residents were advised that additional shelter space was being made available.
"The individuals in the Berczy Park encampment were advised of the offers of shelter last week. In light of the availability of shelter space and offers of shelter spaces being extended, the city is now in a position to enforce the Parks Use By-law’s prohibition on camping."
McAlpine went on to say that the city has had many complaints related to encampments.
"There have also been several fires in encampments this year. Camping in public parks is not safe for anyone."
Cities and towns across Ontario saw at least 1,400 homeless encampments in their communities last year, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), which is asking the province for guidance on how to handle them, as well as more help to house and support people.
The Canadian Press in a report last month said the number comes from an AMO survey of municipal service managers and is contained in a policy paper the association released in advance of their conference, which took place in August.
"While municipalities did not create the homelessness crisis, they are being forced to manage it without the resources or tools to sufficiently respond," the association wrote.
"Municipalities are often caught balancing the important needs of unsheltered people living in encampments, who deserve to be treated with empathy and respect, and a responsibility to ensure our communities are safe and vibrant places for all residents."
Barrie's municipal politicians approved $1.6 million in May 2023 to address chronic homelessness in the community.
In May of this year, Mayor Alex Nuttall hosted a news conference with the police chief and officials from the County of Simcoe to tout downtown safety and initiatives put forward to help those in need.
"The compassion and the hope that we're trying to offer in the city for those who are experiencing difficulties is there. The resources are being put behind it, and as we move forward, we need to make sure that we're both helping those that are in need as well as keeping a safe and secure community for folks in our city to be able to enjoy, Nuttall said at the time.
Some of the $1.65 million has been invested in warming and cooling centres for vulnerable residents, family reunification services, enhanced breakfast and meal programs, as well as a shuttle program to end the release and drop off of prisoners who leave the Central North Correctional Centre (CNC) and are left at the Barrie bus terminal.
The public is able to track the number of people housed in shelters in Barrie and in the region through a data dashboard managed by the County of Simcoe: https://gisportal.simcoe.ca/arcgis/apps/sites/#/county-of-simcoe-data-portal
With files from The Canadian Press
