"We have all simply run out of time," said Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall as he declared a state of emergency in the city on Tuesday to deal with homeless encampments.
Standing on the driveway at the Barrie courthouse on Mulcaster Street, with several tents on the boulevard behind him and the Busby Centre shelter across the road, Nuttall said the city would "reclaim its streets, parks and public spaces."
The mayor added that Barrie residents have had enough.
"Since day one, I have been clear that encampments are not acceptable in the City of Barrie. We are here to help those who want help and there are resources available today. If you refuse that help, you cannot stay in these encampments. Our city will not allow lawlessness to take over our community. Barrie will protect its residents, its neighbourhoods and its public spaces. It's time to take responsibility, accept that help is there or move on," Nuttall said.
The mayor justified the state of emergency declaration due to "the increase in severity of lawlessness in our city."
"In the last two months, we've had a double homicide, e-coli levels reaching almost five times the failure concentration in our streams leading down from the encampments to our beaches, a major increase in tents along city streets with the closure of the encampment, and multiple fires being set last Wednesday alone."
The emergency declaration follows a lengthy police investigation at the site of an encampment in the area of Anne, John, and Victoria Streets that led to a man being arrested last month for the murder and dismemberment of two victims.
Police said the victim and the suspect, who is also facing weapons and drug charges, had all lived at the same encampment.
Nuttall said over half of the individuals who are homeless in Barrie are not from the city and not from the County of Simcoe.
With the declaration, the mayor said they would immediately be testing all water and waterways near encampments, removing encampments beginning with those near the most critical infrastructure and public spaces, and creating a position to oversee the implementation of social services and coordination of services between the various agencies that work with those experiencing homelessness.
A task force will be established to oversee the response to illegal drug use, encampments and social services.
The city will also request the County of Simcoe open access to additional shelter spaces and provision of services for the transition of unsheltered individuals, including the repatriation of individuals to their home communities and to review the current provision of services to the municipality by ensuring that sufficient social housing and supports are being provided to offer and assist individuals at these sites.
Under the state of emergency, city staff will explore infrastructure opportunities either individually or together with the County of Simcoe to expand services and shelter space for the transition of individuals to "safer, more humane and legal accommodations."
The city will ask the province to review the provision of social services, including shelter options and funding to the community, to allow a more immediate response to remove encampments.
The mayor went down memory lane at the news conference to March 2019, when he was a Conservative Member of Parliament, and reminded everyone that at that time he requested the mayor and council declare a state of emergency to manage the use of opioids and the impact of homelessness properly.
"Through COVID, the City of Barrie decided it would create a sanctioned encampment at Milligan's Pond where those who are homeless would be able to erect tents and create a village. Alongside the existing encampment along Anne Street, there came a mass of people and corresponding structures. While the sanction ended, the camping did not."
He said that just over two years ago, city council tried to bring more effective controls into the community to address rampant homelessness, organized criminal behaviours, drug use and panhandling.
"Following activist intervention, council decided to have faith and provide one more chance to local social services to get it right. Our faith has not been rewarded and neither has the provinces."
The mayor said the Ontario government responded to his request for more funding.
"We've had an 86 per cent increase in homelessness prevention funding in this city."
Clearing encampments has already happened in Barrie, including the removal of one from Berczy Park last September, which the city said was necessary due to rehabilitation work. The city says 75 per cent of the individuals who were removed remain in services or have found housing options.
At Tuesday's news conference, the mayor was flanked by several city councillors and the federal Members of Parliament for the Barrie area, John Brassard and Doug Shipley.
Nuttall said he and/or the Deputy Mayor had spoken to all members of council and they support the state of emergency declaration.
The County of Simcoe is responsible for providing social services to its member municipalities as well as the cities of Barrie and Orillia, including social housing, homelessness prevention and support.
When residents of the Anne Street homeless encampment were removed because of the police investigation, the county opened an emergency shelter at a former paramedic station on Tiffin Street and at the former Barrie police headquarters on Sperling Drive, although neither location offered beds for people to sleep on.
The county said in a statement on August 11 that support services at the temporary sites included: '
- homelessness outreach services
- wellness checks
- connection to services including the HART of Simcoe County navigators
- temporary storage of personal belongings
- transportation between the sites from the City of Barrie
- food
- cooling options
- temporary 24-hour access to the indoor evacuation site
- access to shower facilities at the Tiffin location
At the time, the county said it was abiding by City of Barrie fire code regulations at both Tiffin and Sperling locations, and beds were not available.
Since then, the county said it is going to open a 40-bed modular facility in Barrie sometime this month.
It also has a 10-point homelessness prevention strategy https://simcoe.ca/homelessnesssystem/, and the public can track access to real-time shelter usage data https://gisportal.simcoe.ca/arcgis/apps/sites/#/county-of-simcoe-data-portal.
As of Thursday night, 138 individuals were in emergency shelters in Barrie, with an emergency capacity for 142 people, and 46 were being housed as part of the motel voucher program.
