Life, liberty, security of the person, and Waterloo homeless encampments
January 31, 2023 5:38 AM Subscribe
A Canadian judge has denied a request to clear a homeless encampment, ruling that doing so went against the residents' Charter rights to life, liberty and security of the person because of the lack of shelter space in the region. The region has not indicated whether it will appeal. Full text of the ruling [PDF]. Resident of the encampment quoted in the ruling say they prefer it to the shelter system because "we respect each other, we consider each other family and we don’t touch each other’s stuff. I have privacy here and no one steals from me."
The ruling quotes briefly from neighbours of the encampment:
The ruling quotes briefly from neighbours of the encampment:
[50] As far as the adjacent property owners are concerned, those who testified admitted that they had not personally witnessed much behaviour that troubled them. They were more concerned with the potential dangers of the Encampment and the fear of the unknown....and extensively from a doctor who works with the homeless population:
[54] In Dr. Sereda’s opinion, there are many health risks associated with homelessness. Dr. Sereda explains these risks as follows:After picking apart the regional governments claims about how many shelter spaces are actually available and accessible, the ruling concludes:
- a) The forced transience faced by unhoused people, which includes eviction from encampments, interrupts the ability of healthcare teams to complete diagnostic and treatment plans.
- b) Other healthcare problems created by encampment evictions include:
- i. the inability to locate patients once they have been forced to leave can lead to their discharge from programs which require regular attendance;
- ii. acute conditions such as frostbite, exposure, and heatstroke due to the loss of tents, clothing, and medications;
- iii. the exacerbation of such mental health conditions as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and panic disorders; and
- iv. increased substance use and fatal overdoses.
c) For individuals experiencing homelessness, most of each day is spent on survival living, including accessing food, shelter, and hygiene. Because most of the day is consumed with securing these basics, acute and chronic health conditions are often not prioritized by patients experiencing homelessness.
d) Physically locating a patient who is homeless can be very difficult which often results in a delayed diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic conditions.
e) “People who have nowhere to sleep commonly have profound sleep deprivation, which can impact physical and mental health but also contribute to a greater risk of death through mechanisms like overdose.”
f) Because of the persistent onslaught of environmental factors such as heat, cold, rain and snow, individuals living unhoused are subject to injuries and acute illnesses. In these circumstances, it is difficult for healthcare providers to help the homeless move beyond the treatment of the acute illness at the cost of not addressing chronic conditions. The focus on acute care rather than preventative care for chronic conditions “increases morbidity and mortality from those chronic conditions.” [55] In contrast, Dr. Sereda describes the advantages of living in an encampment as compared to living in a public space in this way:[56] Dr. Sereda also opines with respect to the advantages of living in an encampment over a shelter. She explains those advantages as follows:
- a) Encampments decrease forced transiency which increases the odds that the unhoused can maintain a connection to such outreach services as healthcare, street outreach for basic needs (food, clothing), delivery of medications and harm reduction supplies.
- b) Encampments decrease isolation and risk of fatality. By being forced to move into the margins, people place themselves at greater risk of harm because they are alone and disconnected from routine services. This places them at greater risk of violence, overdose, and loss of connection to medical services.
- c) Encampments give people sense of community. The benefits of this include increased mental heath stabilization, increased chances of being helped during an overdose, and emotional support.
- d) Encampments minimize sleep deprivation. Many unhoused people with nowhere to sleep need to stay up all night due to fear of violence and theft if they sleep alone in the open.
- e) Encampments provide physical and mental rest. It is both physically and mentally exhausting to have to constantly move and search for new places to shelter. Being able to remain in one place gives people a chance to rest and focus on recovery.
- a) In encampments, couples or “survival partners” can remain together. Almost always, there is insufficient shelter options for couples.
- b) Shelter stays are inherently unpredictable and precarious. Many people can find themselves abruptly evicted in any weather condition.
- c) Shelter spaces are often abstinence-based with policies that refuse to adopt a harm reduction approach to provide increased safety and support for people who are experiencing homelessness and using substances.
- d) Encampments provide relief from the physical burden of leaving and entering shelters every day. Additionally, when people must leave the shelter each day, they are left with nowhere to rest or decompress until they return at night.
- e) Shelters can be re-traumatizing for people with a history of trauma or abuse. People with this history may be triggered by a congregate setting of strangers.
[97] Because the By-Law prohibits the erection of shelter protection that is necessary to protect homeless individuals from risk of serious harm, and there is currently inadequate shelter beds in the Region, I conclude that it violates the Charter protected right to life.
[101] In these circumstances, creating shelter to protect oneself is, in my opinion, a matter critical to any individual’s dignity and independence. The Region’s attempt to prevent the homeless population from sheltering itself interferes with that population’s choice to protect itself from the elements and is a deprivation of liberty within the scope of section 7.
[104] At the end of the day, the By-Law’s prohibition to the erection of temporary shelter exposes the homeless of the Region to risk of significant health problems, both physical and psychological in nature. The evidence before me is clear in that respect. Just as in R v. Parker, the state’s action has deprived the homeless of access to shelter required for adequate protection. I therefore find that the Region’s By-Law amounts to a deprivation of the security of the person.
This is a huge ruling amongst my circles, and feels like a tipping point that could go either way. The big worry is if the region appeals and wins it's going to embolden the cop-lovers to bulldoze every tent they find. However, if it stands, or even better if the region appeals and then a higher court rules similarly, it will change how homelessness is handled in this country which FUCK YES. It's about time that people without homes were treated as people and not litter to be swept aside.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:54 AM on January 31, 2023 [35 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:54 AM on January 31, 2023 [35 favorites]
Believe me, we here in Kingston are watching this too. The city had planned evictions of the tent camps near the ICH (Integration Care Hub) last month, and were set to resume this month (because winter in Canada is such a good time to do this), but now the city council is watching this.
My city bulldozed a tent city this past summer in a nearby park. It was fucking heartbreaking.
posted by Kitteh at 5:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
My city bulldozed a tent city this past summer in a nearby park. It was fucking heartbreaking.
posted by Kitteh at 5:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
Just to follow up, we already know it's much, much cheaper to house people than to shove them around and deal with their medical/social/emergency needs on the street; homelessness is not and has never been a financial issue, it's one of prejudice and politics.
If the law makes it impossible for the homeless to be shoved aside there will be no wishywashy excuses left. God I hope so. So much.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:58 AM on January 31, 2023 [23 favorites]
If the law makes it impossible for the homeless to be shoved aside there will be no wishywashy excuses left. God I hope so. So much.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:58 AM on January 31, 2023 [23 favorites]
You definitely get a sense of who your neighbours are when it comes to homeless issue if you sit in on city council meetings. And it's fucking depressing.
posted by Kitteh at 6:03 AM on January 31, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 6:03 AM on January 31, 2023 [16 favorites]
I still maintain a little corner of hope that there's a plurality of housed people who just don't know that encampments are better than scattering people and that enough publicity will at least create a critical mass on this.
It really is true that every time an encampment is broken up, the fragile network of services fail. If Canada is the least like the US in this regard, a lot of the services are either volunteers (including many formerly unhoused people and precariously housed people) or a mixture of volunteers and part-time or low-paid professionals. You can spend a huge amount of time asking if anyone has seen so-and-so who has an ongoing medical issue because so-and-so's encampment got broken up and everyone scattered in multiple directions.
Logistically, it's a lot easier to say "we've gathered a lot of supplies, we're going to drive a couple of cars over to X and hand stuff out" than figure out where everyone is, try to figure out what people need and get it to them.
~~
I wish that the average housed person understood that we are all closer to living in a tent than we are to being millionaires. This really could be us, if things continue to go to shit. Half of us could be working (like a number of street-level unhoused people are) while living in a tent in ten years. If the state and the cops will do this to them, they will do it to you. If no one cares about unhoused people now, no one will care about you later.
posted by Frowner at 6:04 AM on January 31, 2023 [40 favorites]
It really is true that every time an encampment is broken up, the fragile network of services fail. If Canada is the least like the US in this regard, a lot of the services are either volunteers (including many formerly unhoused people and precariously housed people) or a mixture of volunteers and part-time or low-paid professionals. You can spend a huge amount of time asking if anyone has seen so-and-so who has an ongoing medical issue because so-and-so's encampment got broken up and everyone scattered in multiple directions.
Logistically, it's a lot easier to say "we've gathered a lot of supplies, we're going to drive a couple of cars over to X and hand stuff out" than figure out where everyone is, try to figure out what people need and get it to them.
~~
I wish that the average housed person understood that we are all closer to living in a tent than we are to being millionaires. This really could be us, if things continue to go to shit. Half of us could be working (like a number of street-level unhoused people are) while living in a tent in ten years. If the state and the cops will do this to them, they will do it to you. If no one cares about unhoused people now, no one will care about you later.
posted by Frowner at 6:04 AM on January 31, 2023 [40 favorites]
I have to throw a third comment in: the ruling is tremendous also because it lays out a specification for creating supportive housing that actually supports. People need community, they need friends, care and love from people they trust. They need the freedom to associate with people they like, and the freedom to avoid people they don't (this is a huge problem in the shelter system). They need pets, they need their own private space with a door that locks, they need to feel safe enough to sleep soundly when they're home, and trust that their things won't be fucked with when they are not. I want to bang on the damn desk. Please let this be a change.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:05 AM on January 31, 2023 [30 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:05 AM on January 31, 2023 [30 favorites]
I wish that the average housed person understood that we are all closer to living in a tent than we are to being millionaires. This really could be us, if things continue to go to shit. Half of us could be working (like a number of street-level unhoused people are) while living in a tent in ten years. If the state and the cops will do this to them, they will do it to you. If no one cares about unhoused people now, no one will care about you later.
When people get nasty or dismissive on my local subreddit about this issue, I tell them the same thing. They complain about the rising costs of living and I am like, "Buddy, this could be any of us at any time. Let's not fool ourselves."
posted by Kitteh at 6:07 AM on January 31, 2023 [21 favorites]
When people get nasty or dismissive on my local subreddit about this issue, I tell them the same thing. They complain about the rising costs of living and I am like, "Buddy, this could be any of us at any time. Let's not fool ourselves."
posted by Kitteh at 6:07 AM on January 31, 2023 [21 favorites]
I feel like a large faction within the municipality might be relieved? I know people who work in policy for govt and they tend to be highly community minded and generally pretty left-of-centre. They tend to be continually frustrated because good policy around things like housing, mental health and addictions, and effective community policing is so hard to enact, politically.
posted by sid at 6:23 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by sid at 6:23 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just to follow up, we already know it's much, much cheaper to house people than to shove them around and deal with their medical/social/emergency needs on the street; homelessness is not and has never been a financial issue, it's one of prejudice and politics.
That's always been the weirdest part to me, that we are willing to spend more in order to be punative, rather than spending less and being supportive.
As far as the adjacent property owners are concerned, those who testified admitted that they had not personally witnessed much behaviour that troubled them. They were more concerned with the potential dangers of the Encampment and the fear of the unknown.
This surprises me a bit and makes me wonder if this is a different, less troubled, more organized type of encampment than the ones I used to live near. My last apartment was near a medium sized encampment that got established during the covid moratorium on camp clearings, so it was able to become very well established, with some people transitioning from tents to elaborate huts with doors and windows. It was a very troubled spot, with a couple of murders as well as other more accidental deaths like overdoses, and a certain level of associated property crimes. So there was a lot of pressure from nearby homeowners to clear it and as soon as the moratorium was lifted it was the first local camp to get cleared out.
But despite the issues, it was still better for the people living there than the alternatives of more scattered, less stable camps; shelter spaces were more theoretical than real since the capacity was so low; and though the city was building a "tiny house village" that also had capacity for just a fraction of the unhoused population. The harm reduction outreach workers preferred having a stable location where they could work with people and establish trust, too.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:35 AM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
That's always been the weirdest part to me, that we are willing to spend more in order to be punative, rather than spending less and being supportive.
As far as the adjacent property owners are concerned, those who testified admitted that they had not personally witnessed much behaviour that troubled them. They were more concerned with the potential dangers of the Encampment and the fear of the unknown.
This surprises me a bit and makes me wonder if this is a different, less troubled, more organized type of encampment than the ones I used to live near. My last apartment was near a medium sized encampment that got established during the covid moratorium on camp clearings, so it was able to become very well established, with some people transitioning from tents to elaborate huts with doors and windows. It was a very troubled spot, with a couple of murders as well as other more accidental deaths like overdoses, and a certain level of associated property crimes. So there was a lot of pressure from nearby homeowners to clear it and as soon as the moratorium was lifted it was the first local camp to get cleared out.
But despite the issues, it was still better for the people living there than the alternatives of more scattered, less stable camps; shelter spaces were more theoretical than real since the capacity was so low; and though the city was building a "tiny house village" that also had capacity for just a fraction of the unhoused population. The harm reduction outreach workers preferred having a stable location where they could work with people and establish trust, too.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:35 AM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
That's always been the weirdest part to me, that we are willing to spend more in order to be punative, rather than spending less and being supportive.
Well, duh, if we give money to support people, we'd just be enabling them to keep doing bad things like (checks notes) not having money!
(tongue is so far inside my cheek it has entered another zip code, by the way)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:54 AM on January 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
Well, duh, if we give money to support people, we'd just be enabling them to keep doing bad things like (checks notes) not having money!
(tongue is so far inside my cheek it has entered another zip code, by the way)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:54 AM on January 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
seanmpuckett nails it. Shelter for the unhoused should meet their needs. Not the needs of those who just want the homeless to disappear.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:04 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Artful Codger at 7:04 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
the state’s action has deprived the homeless of access to shelter required for adequate protection. I therefore find that the Region’s By-Law amounts to a deprivation of the security of the person.
Just echoing hell yeah. Housing First.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:11 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
Just echoing hell yeah. Housing First.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:11 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
Nostalgia time! Oh man, when I was in law school back in the day, there was hot gossip about how a supreme court justice (might have been binnie, can't recall) was lured away from the court with a sweeter gig so that he couldn't keep on interpreting the charter to have positive obligations on the state. Wild that this is years and years later, still interpreting the charter as only offering negative protections, but still seen as dangerously subversive.
posted by LegallyBread at 7:12 AM on January 31, 2023
posted by LegallyBread at 7:12 AM on January 31, 2023
That's always been the weirdest part to me, that we are willing to spend more in order to be punative, rather than spending less and being supportive.
I’m convinced that the attitude of “nobody is going to get something ‘extra,’ ever, for any reason” is rooted in people needing some kind of help in early life, but not getting it. People fear, on some level, that if help goes to people who need it, either their own struggle will be invalidated, they won’t be helped if they have needs one day, or that terrible feelings of being abandoned at a time of need will overwhelm them. They want people to learn through punishment, as they did.
I work in special education and the only teachers I’ve encountered who fight against our services (no, really) have all eventually revealed to me that they struggled terribly with something in school and never received support. It’s not a far leap to see how emotions crowd out logic when people’s deepest fears are exposed and they’re afraid that someone is getting a piece of pie they feel that they should have gotten.
posted by corey flood at 7:22 AM on January 31, 2023 [19 favorites]
I’m convinced that the attitude of “nobody is going to get something ‘extra,’ ever, for any reason” is rooted in people needing some kind of help in early life, but not getting it. People fear, on some level, that if help goes to people who need it, either their own struggle will be invalidated, they won’t be helped if they have needs one day, or that terrible feelings of being abandoned at a time of need will overwhelm them. They want people to learn through punishment, as they did.
I work in special education and the only teachers I’ve encountered who fight against our services (no, really) have all eventually revealed to me that they struggled terribly with something in school and never received support. It’s not a far leap to see how emotions crowd out logic when people’s deepest fears are exposed and they’re afraid that someone is getting a piece of pie they feel that they should have gotten.
posted by corey flood at 7:22 AM on January 31, 2023 [19 favorites]
This is amazing. Following the awful politics around homelessness in Seattle I’d almost forgotten it was possible for institutions to go in the direction of NOT being massive shitheads around encampments.
posted by Artw at 7:26 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 7:26 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Too many people in Toronto (where the city spent two million dollars last year destroying an encampment in the most violent, confrontational way possible) talk about the unhoused like they're raccoons or something. Even a lot of the people who weren't just straight-up inferring that they should be thrown in jail or wishing they'd just die were like "Well, it's a problem, gotta do *something*." Yeah, we could have put all of those people in apartments, even in Toronto, for quite some time for less than two million dollars, but that wouldn't have punished anyone and the cops wouldn't have had an opportunity to beat up protesters.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:48 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:48 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
That's always been the weirdest part to me, that we are willing to spend more in order to be punative, rather than spending less and being supportive.
A lot of (especially older) people in my circle have very little trust of the govt. I've had conversations with educated, rational, mostly compassionate people who say things like "there's no way that can be true, I bet that's someone in the govt trying to make money off of building these apartments for homeless people".
posted by sid at 7:57 AM on January 31, 2023
A lot of (especially older) people in my circle have very little trust of the govt. I've had conversations with educated, rational, mostly compassionate people who say things like "there's no way that can be true, I bet that's someone in the govt trying to make money off of building these apartments for homeless people".
posted by sid at 7:57 AM on January 31, 2023
Too many people in Toronto (where the city spent two million dollars last year destroying an encampment in the most violent, confrontational way possible) talk about the unhoused like they're raccoons or something. Even a lot of the people who weren't just straight-up inferring that they should be thrown in jail or wishing they'd just die were like "Well, it's a problem, gotta do *something*." Yeah, we could have put all of those people in apartments, even in Toronto, for quite some time for less than two million dollars, but that wouldn't have punished anyone and the cops wouldn't have had an opportunity to beat up protesters.
When this happens in the local subreddit I mentioned (which I assure you is not awful all the time), I like to reply things like: "Are there NO workhouses??" or "Getting the round them up and dump them in the countryside vibe here"
posted by Kitteh at 8:00 AM on January 31, 2023
When this happens in the local subreddit I mentioned (which I assure you is not awful all the time), I like to reply things like: "Are there NO workhouses??" or "Getting the round them up and dump them in the countryside vibe here"
posted by Kitteh at 8:00 AM on January 31, 2023
Too many people in Toronto (where the city spent two million dollars last year destroying an encampment in the most violent, confrontational way possible) talk about the unhoused like they're raccoons or something.
When I lived in Ottawa fifteen years ago, the (one-term) mayor straight up declared that the homeless were like pigeons, in that if you stopped feeding them, they’d go away.
Classy.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:05 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
When I lived in Ottawa fifteen years ago, the (one-term) mayor straight up declared that the homeless were like pigeons, in that if you stopped feeding them, they’d go away.
Classy.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:05 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
corey flood: I’m convinced that the attitude of “nobody is going to get something ‘extra,’ ever, for any reason” is rooted in people needing some kind of help in early life, but not getting it. People fear, on some level, that if help goes to people who need it, either their own struggle will be invalidated, they won’t be helped if they have needs one day, or that terrible feelings of being abandoned at a time of need will overwhelm them. They want people to learn through punishment, as they did.
I've wondered if something similar applies to visceral reactions to trans people. "When I showed the tiniest sign of femininity as a kid I was mercilessly punished, so they should be, too."
Maybe our whole economy for the past couple of centuries has been organized around producing that sense of deprivation during childhood, thus driving the steady grind needed for industrialism and squelching the more natural "irregular paroxysms of diligence". Break their wills betimes. Begin this work before they can run alone, before they can speak plain, perhaps before they can speak at all. Whatever pains it costs, break the will if you would not damn the child. Let a child from a year old be taught to fear the rod and to cry softly...
posted by clawsoon at 8:32 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
I've wondered if something similar applies to visceral reactions to trans people. "When I showed the tiniest sign of femininity as a kid I was mercilessly punished, so they should be, too."
Maybe our whole economy for the past couple of centuries has been organized around producing that sense of deprivation during childhood, thus driving the steady grind needed for industrialism and squelching the more natural "irregular paroxysms of diligence". Break their wills betimes. Begin this work before they can run alone, before they can speak plain, perhaps before they can speak at all. Whatever pains it costs, break the will if you would not damn the child. Let a child from a year old be taught to fear the rod and to cry softly...
posted by clawsoon at 8:32 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
I wish that the average housed person understood that we are all closer to living in a tent than we are to being millionaires.
If I ever end up old enough, and in Canada, that will almost certainly be me.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:58 AM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
If I ever end up old enough, and in Canada, that will almost certainly be me.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:58 AM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Even a lot of the people who weren't just straight-up inferring that they should be thrown in jail or wishing they'd just die were like "Well, it's a problem, gotta do *something*."
Often if you can help people to understand what else is happening they will get behind it somehow (although probably not always if it's right next door.) WoodGreen is a great example of an org that is getting housing, including transitional housing for hard-to-house and supportive housing for longer-term needs, built in the city - bit by bit. They've developed quite a bit of housing over the last 60 years.
It's not enough but that is what I love about this decision for Waterloo - it orients the responsibility clearly. What you see on the news is "tent city vs. police action" but society has responsibilities all along the chain that leads to that.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:00 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Often if you can help people to understand what else is happening they will get behind it somehow (although probably not always if it's right next door.) WoodGreen is a great example of an org that is getting housing, including transitional housing for hard-to-house and supportive housing for longer-term needs, built in the city - bit by bit. They've developed quite a bit of housing over the last 60 years.
It's not enough but that is what I love about this decision for Waterloo - it orients the responsibility clearly. What you see on the news is "tent city vs. police action" but society has responsibilities all along the chain that leads to that.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:00 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
That's always been the weirdest part to me, that we are willing to spend more in order to be punative, rather than spending less and being supportive
Very similar to the abortion debate: birth control is incredibly cheap next to unwanted pregnancy, but then you'd be "letting them get away with it "
I suspect also that people worried about not being able to pay their mortgage feel jealousy at the idea that someone would get free housing.
posted by emjaybee at 9:04 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
Very similar to the abortion debate: birth control is incredibly cheap next to unwanted pregnancy, but then you'd be "letting them get away with it "
I suspect also that people worried about not being able to pay their mortgage feel jealousy at the idea that someone would get free housing.
posted by emjaybee at 9:04 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
Sometimes I wonder if some of us typical Canadians, most of whom have never even met our neighbours, see the tight, cooperative communities of un-homed people and react out of jealousy and spite. How dare they, who have nothing, enjoy the one thing we don't have!
posted by klanawa at 9:08 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 9:08 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
What are Canadian police unions like? In Minneapolis, the tail wags the dog on these things - encampment evictions mean easy work and lots of overtime plus the thrill of brutalizing weak and frightened people. I'm not saying that every single Minneapolitan has good views, but a lot of people would take their lead from the city.
As I think I've mentioned before on here, there was a large encampment down the street from me for much of last summer and early fall which was evicted with extreme brutality as soon as it started to get cold. (Encampment evictions have been going on all December-January, which is extremely dangerous around here.) Obviously there were the brutalizer cops, but there must have been forty or fifty cops just standing around for hours because the city had blocked off the streets for a quarter mile in every direction. I saw this with my own eyes.
I don't know if it's an American thing or a deterioration-of-Minneapolis thing or a sign of the times but I have long, long reached the point where I expect the city not just to do nothing good at all but to be actively malicious and harmful. Like, it would never occur to me to expect the city to do anything for homeless people - I just occasionally hope that they can be driven back from doing their worst to them. It's really depressing to feel this pervasive sense of enmity. I feel like I have the choice of living where I do and just feeling that I am in enemy territory or moving somewhere else and knowing that things are as bad as ever but largely invisible to me.
posted by Frowner at 9:26 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
As I think I've mentioned before on here, there was a large encampment down the street from me for much of last summer and early fall which was evicted with extreme brutality as soon as it started to get cold. (Encampment evictions have been going on all December-January, which is extremely dangerous around here.) Obviously there were the brutalizer cops, but there must have been forty or fifty cops just standing around for hours because the city had blocked off the streets for a quarter mile in every direction. I saw this with my own eyes.
I don't know if it's an American thing or a deterioration-of-Minneapolis thing or a sign of the times but I have long, long reached the point where I expect the city not just to do nothing good at all but to be actively malicious and harmful. Like, it would never occur to me to expect the city to do anything for homeless people - I just occasionally hope that they can be driven back from doing their worst to them. It's really depressing to feel this pervasive sense of enmity. I feel like I have the choice of living where I do and just feeling that I am in enemy territory or moving somewhere else and knowing that things are as bad as ever but largely invisible to me.
posted by Frowner at 9:26 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
It really is true that every time an encampment is broken up, the fragile network of services fail.
It has ripple effects too, such as having to resort to inadequate shelter in dangerous weather. Here in Winnipeg we've had a large spike in people that don't fit into the shelter system taking refuge in uninsulated bus shacks, porta-potties, or makeshift lean-tos. This week we're facing an extended cold snap with evening temps feeling like -36 (at that level of cold, the Fahrenheit and Celsius numbers are almost the same).
Unsheltered people die in weather like that. One person died in a bush shack two blocks away from me, around Christmas time; a 27-year old woman. There is no amount of blankets to keep people from freezing in a glass-walled shack with metal seats.
The root cause of those deaths can be traced right back to camps being broken up. Dismantling camps also leads to things like people with frostbite released early from hospital, but unable to be in shelters.
In Canada people experiencing homelessness are 8-10 times more likely to experience early death than the general population. Moving people out of encampments just adds to their risks. Protecting the right to exist safely outside of failing systems is crucial.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:32 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
It has ripple effects too, such as having to resort to inadequate shelter in dangerous weather. Here in Winnipeg we've had a large spike in people that don't fit into the shelter system taking refuge in uninsulated bus shacks, porta-potties, or makeshift lean-tos. This week we're facing an extended cold snap with evening temps feeling like -36 (at that level of cold, the Fahrenheit and Celsius numbers are almost the same).
Unsheltered people die in weather like that. One person died in a bush shack two blocks away from me, around Christmas time; a 27-year old woman. There is no amount of blankets to keep people from freezing in a glass-walled shack with metal seats.
The root cause of those deaths can be traced right back to camps being broken up. Dismantling camps also leads to things like people with frostbite released early from hospital, but unable to be in shelters.
In Canada people experiencing homelessness are 8-10 times more likely to experience early death than the general population. Moving people out of encampments just adds to their risks. Protecting the right to exist safely outside of failing systems is crucial.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:32 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
What are Canadian police unions like?
Same shit, different flag. That's the only difference.
My city bulldozed a tent city this past summer in a nearby park. It was fucking heartbreaking.
There's a small park around the corner from me here in Toronto where they used about a dozen cops and a backhoe to remove a single tent in which a guy had been living quietly in the back corner of the park for about a year. To get the backhoe in there, they chewed up large swathes of grass, leaving half of the park an unwalkable mess of mud and upturned earth. Almost as a bonus "fuck you."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:33 AM on January 31, 2023 [9 favorites]
Same shit, different flag. That's the only difference.
My city bulldozed a tent city this past summer in a nearby park. It was fucking heartbreaking.
There's a small park around the corner from me here in Toronto where they used about a dozen cops and a backhoe to remove a single tent in which a guy had been living quietly in the back corner of the park for about a year. To get the backhoe in there, they chewed up large swathes of grass, leaving half of the park an unwalkable mess of mud and upturned earth. Almost as a bonus "fuck you."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:33 AM on January 31, 2023 [9 favorites]
in which a guy had been living quietly in the back corner of the park for about a year
Note: as far as I can tell, under Canadian law occupying property for one year is not long enough in any province for adverse possession (squatter's rights) laws to apply.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:50 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Note: as far as I can tell, under Canadian law occupying property for one year is not long enough in any province for adverse possession (squatter's rights) laws to apply.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:50 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
In re evictions: If someone is starting from scratch after being evicted, this is a starter pack for what they need:
Tent, ideally three or four person because tents are small - ~$50 at Walmart
Tarp - $3 - $5
Sleeping bag - $35
Camping lantern and batteries - $5 - $7
Blanket or blankets - price is all over the map
Pillow - price all over the map
Buddy heater and propane - the biggest expense at ~$80 plus propane
Misc toiletries - $5
Sundries such as batteries, cord, tent locks, handwarmers, foot warmers - $5
Gloves, hat, thermal underwear, regular underwear, wool socks - $20
Coat and other clothes - all over the map, depends on what they were wearing when the cops came
Backpack, other bags - again, depends on what they had time to grab
Ideally you would also get them a camping pad, additional lights, a good selection of snacks and drinks, a battery powered phone charger, a bus card, etc. It would be nice if they had a trike or a wagon to move stuff around, and some kind of additional lock, and a second one or two person tent for storage since as I said tents are small.
And of course there's the prescriptions and paperwork that will need to be replaced.
So anyway. When the cops evict people they inevitably bulldoze and destroy a minimum of about $300 worth of stuff per person. For most people that's the very lowest end, since they will have lost more clothes and blankets and miscellany.
That $300 is fucking nothing to the city. The city just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cop overtime. But it's another $300 that has to be found from the loose coalition of people - housed, unhoused, precariously housed - who donate that stuff. The regular citizens of Minneapolis donate hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and goods every year to replace things that just get bulldozed or burned every couple of months. That's money that doesn't to to anything that will last.
This is all utterly vile and relatively new. This wasn't happening before about 2012, and wasn't happening at a high volume until about 2015. The idea that you spend a huge amount of city money running a cop army to brutalize a large population of homeless people - people who used to be able to afford rent, even if just in a horrible flophouse - that's new. We didn't used to do this. But we've all adjusted to these military clearance operations. It takes so little time to get used to things.
This is fascism in operation, this is fascism at the street level. There's a population of people, mostly people of color, who are violently hounded from place to place and who are de facto killed by the city. Even on the most selfish level, people must understand that they're softening us up for worse repression to come - when we're homeless targets of the state, they'll paint us as addicts and reprobates too.
posted by Frowner at 10:06 AM on January 31, 2023 [30 favorites]
Tent, ideally three or four person because tents are small - ~$50 at Walmart
Tarp - $3 - $5
Sleeping bag - $35
Camping lantern and batteries - $5 - $7
Blanket or blankets - price is all over the map
Pillow - price all over the map
Buddy heater and propane - the biggest expense at ~$80 plus propane
Misc toiletries - $5
Sundries such as batteries, cord, tent locks, handwarmers, foot warmers - $5
Gloves, hat, thermal underwear, regular underwear, wool socks - $20
Coat and other clothes - all over the map, depends on what they were wearing when the cops came
Backpack, other bags - again, depends on what they had time to grab
Ideally you would also get them a camping pad, additional lights, a good selection of snacks and drinks, a battery powered phone charger, a bus card, etc. It would be nice if they had a trike or a wagon to move stuff around, and some kind of additional lock, and a second one or two person tent for storage since as I said tents are small.
And of course there's the prescriptions and paperwork that will need to be replaced.
So anyway. When the cops evict people they inevitably bulldoze and destroy a minimum of about $300 worth of stuff per person. For most people that's the very lowest end, since they will have lost more clothes and blankets and miscellany.
That $300 is fucking nothing to the city. The city just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cop overtime. But it's another $300 that has to be found from the loose coalition of people - housed, unhoused, precariously housed - who donate that stuff. The regular citizens of Minneapolis donate hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and goods every year to replace things that just get bulldozed or burned every couple of months. That's money that doesn't to to anything that will last.
This is all utterly vile and relatively new. This wasn't happening before about 2012, and wasn't happening at a high volume until about 2015. The idea that you spend a huge amount of city money running a cop army to brutalize a large population of homeless people - people who used to be able to afford rent, even if just in a horrible flophouse - that's new. We didn't used to do this. But we've all adjusted to these military clearance operations. It takes so little time to get used to things.
This is fascism in operation, this is fascism at the street level. There's a population of people, mostly people of color, who are violently hounded from place to place and who are de facto killed by the city. Even on the most selfish level, people must understand that they're softening us up for worse repression to come - when we're homeless targets of the state, they'll paint us as addicts and reprobates too.
posted by Frowner at 10:06 AM on January 31, 2023 [30 favorites]
Also all this assumes that you're buying the cheapest stuff in bulk - it would be nice for people to get something that isn't, like, the cheapest blanket humanly possible to make.
posted by Frowner at 10:09 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 10:09 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I suspect also that people worried about not being able to pay their mortgage feel jealousy at the idea that someone would get free housing.
This is absolutely a thing. It's even a thing for people who aren't worried about paying their mortgage, or own their house with no mortgage. It doesn't make a lot of sense (I mean, how many people who are living in their own house would want to give it up and move into the kind of converted motel or tiny home village that are being used now for transitional/supportive housing?) but it is a very strongly held feeling by a lot of people.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:46 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
This is absolutely a thing. It's even a thing for people who aren't worried about paying their mortgage, or own their house with no mortgage. It doesn't make a lot of sense (I mean, how many people who are living in their own house would want to give it up and move into the kind of converted motel or tiny home village that are being used now for transitional/supportive housing?) but it is a very strongly held feeling by a lot of people.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:46 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
This feels similar to the Martin v. Boise ruling in the US, which feels seems to have not had much effect on actual homeless services or, in fact, the ability of municipalities to clear encampments. (typically by working around the corners of the ruling which only over blanket "anti-camping" laws, but still allows banning "camping" in specific areas: near schools, on sidewalks, etc).
posted by 3j0hn at 11:08 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by 3j0hn at 11:08 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I suspect that the by-laws made it impossible to build homeless shelters because the city's actual plan was for all the homeless people to go to Toronto instead, but without being so obvious about it by doing something like buying one-way bus tickets. For most cities in the province I'm ok with this because we've (Toronto) taken pretty much all the high paying jobs so we ought to take the people left behind as well but KW's got a pretty decent tech and financial sector, not to mention all of the employment through the Provincially funded universities, so they can definitely do their part.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:36 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:36 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Waterloo Region's politics are even more stupid than usual for Canada because each city has a level of mayo/council/politics/self administration, and then the region as a whole has an entire layer with a regional chair/council/police services/social services/other crap, and then outside of the big cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge there are the smaller townships with their own mayor type deals. And then there's the province and it's own bullshit. Getting anything done in WR that isn't politically expedient is an exercise in can kicking from city to city and from level of government to level of government. It's broken intentionally, of course, otherwise that half-million+ people with all the high paying jobs would have way too much self governing ability. It's like Toronto's amalgamation causing us to fight with our own suburbs instead of the province, except with an extra layer of Fuck You mixed in.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:47 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:47 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
"a level of mayo" is a typo, I meant mayor, but fuck if just about everyone running everything in WR isn't white. So I'll let it ride.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:48 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:48 AM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
I suspect that the by-laws made it impossible to build homeless shelters because the city's actual plan was for all the homeless people to go to Toronto instead, but without being so obvious about it by doing something like buying one-way bus tickets. For most cities in the province I'm ok with this because we've (Toronto) taken pretty much all the high paying jobs so we ought to take the people left behind as well but KW's got a pretty decent tech and financial sector, not to mention all of the employment through the Provincially funded universities, so they can definitely do their
I hear this a lot. Kingston is convinced that Toronto puts their homeless people on a bus to send to us, instead of the other way around.
posted by Kitteh at 11:50 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I hear this a lot. Kingston is convinced that Toronto puts their homeless people on a bus to send to us, instead of the other way around.
posted by Kitteh at 11:50 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
You definitely get a sense of who your neighbours are when it comes to homeless issue if you sit in on city council meetings. And it's fucking depressing.
This encampment is in my neighbourhood so... yeah you really do. The father of my kid's friend didn't want them to bike ride around in our neighbourhood and wanted to drive them somewhere else to ride their bikes. It didn't occur to me until later why he wanted to do that - he thought his kid was gonna be jumped by one of the unhoused at the corner of Victoria and Weber. Baffling. It is worth mentioning there is also an encampment in our park as well. That one has a much more pointed political aim.
But yeah it is the local bylaws are what's at issue with the creation of shelters in KW. Church groups have tried to fill the gap but, despite being well meaning, they are largely unprepared to deal with the volume and the needs of the clients. During the municipal election last year, the majority of the candidates for the ward councillor were both empathetic and willing to come to a reasonable solution. Some of the Regional councillors as well. One of the solutions locally they are pushing is this one "A Better Tent City".
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
This encampment is in my neighbourhood so... yeah you really do. The father of my kid's friend didn't want them to bike ride around in our neighbourhood and wanted to drive them somewhere else to ride their bikes. It didn't occur to me until later why he wanted to do that - he thought his kid was gonna be jumped by one of the unhoused at the corner of Victoria and Weber. Baffling. It is worth mentioning there is also an encampment in our park as well. That one has a much more pointed political aim.
But yeah it is the local bylaws are what's at issue with the creation of shelters in KW. Church groups have tried to fill the gap but, despite being well meaning, they are largely unprepared to deal with the volume and the needs of the clients. During the municipal election last year, the majority of the candidates for the ward councillor were both empathetic and willing to come to a reasonable solution. Some of the Regional councillors as well. One of the solutions locally they are pushing is this one "A Better Tent City".
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
KW's got a pretty decent tech and financial sector
Again to help maybe put this into perspective, Google's KW offices are down the road from the encampment.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:03 PM on January 31, 2023
Again to help maybe put this into perspective, Google's KW offices are down the road from the encampment.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:03 PM on January 31, 2023
Cambridge residents would argue that Kitchener and Waterloo dump all of their problems (and homeless) in Cambridge and take up all the resources. (Toronto only takes the jobs, not problems, and Toronto/GTA commuters buy up Cambridge real estate, forcing the prices to skyrocket.) To understand Waterloo Region politics, you have to realize that in terms of city population it's Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo, but K-W are more likely to act as a unified entity, leaving Cambridge out in the cold (see almost any regional decision, but especially transit plans).
While it's easy to say that breaking up camps is wrong, camps aren't really a solution, even if they're the best one available. They're dangerous to the residents in the camps and the people and businesses in the nearby area. Fires are a particular danger, especially in colder climates. Recently there have been fires in both Cambridge (the 401 is the province's major highway) and Kitchener.
We have to do better as a society.
posted by sardonyx at 12:09 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
While it's easy to say that breaking up camps is wrong, camps aren't really a solution, even if they're the best one available. They're dangerous to the residents in the camps and the people and businesses in the nearby area. Fires are a particular danger, especially in colder climates. Recently there have been fires in both Cambridge (the 401 is the province's major highway) and Kitchener.
We have to do better as a society.
posted by sardonyx at 12:09 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not for the first time on The Blue, Anatole France has something, bilingual because Canada, to say:
La loi, dans un grand souci d'égalité, interdit aux riches comme aux pauvres de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain.
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:23 PM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
La loi, dans un grand souci d'égalité, interdit aux riches comme aux pauvres de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain.
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:23 PM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
From the Toronto Star: Clearing homeless tents is unconstitutional, says Ontario court. Is Toronto listening? Good to see at least one newspaper is in favour of actually helping the homeless although I expect opinion articles and editorials coming out of the other papers will see things differently.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:36 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:36 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
We've got billionaires in Canada doing the voler du pain thing and seemingly getting away with it.
I saw a fire truck attending an encampment on fire by the Gardiner Expressway near Marilyn Bell Park today in -5° weather. I hope that this compassionate ruling reaches Toronto.
posted by scruss at 1:39 PM on January 31, 2023
I saw a fire truck attending an encampment on fire by the Gardiner Expressway near Marilyn Bell Park today in -5° weather. I hope that this compassionate ruling reaches Toronto.
posted by scruss at 1:39 PM on January 31, 2023
Slight derail: a reminder we should be hunting Galen Weston Jr for sport
posted by Kitteh at 2:21 PM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 2:21 PM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
A local council in my city created an official space for homeless people to camp, but ended up having to close it due to a high level of physical assaults and sexual assaults. :(
The problem was there was no staffing - just "you can legally camp here, there's running water and electricity, but other than that you're on your own."
The state government in my city bought a building that used to be a YHA youth hostel (walking distance from the city centre, and walking distance from a major hospital), and is converting it into housing for up to 100 people experiencing homelessness.
The state government also bought a building that used to be a for-profit youth hostel (very close to the city centre, walking distance from the central business district), and is converting it to provide accommodation and wrap-around case management support for to up to 30 people at one time including couples, families with adult children, and single men and women.
The state government also bought a hotel near the city centre,
and is converting it into emergency housing - a 30-bed supported accommodation service for people sleeping rough in the Central Business District.
I'd love to see more cities doing initiatives like this - people get a private bedroom, with a door that locks, but they also get access to support services to help them find longer-term housing.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 2:45 PM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
The problem was there was no staffing - just "you can legally camp here, there's running water and electricity, but other than that you're on your own."
The state government in my city bought a building that used to be a YHA youth hostel (walking distance from the city centre, and walking distance from a major hospital), and is converting it into housing for up to 100 people experiencing homelessness.
The state government also bought a building that used to be a for-profit youth hostel (very close to the city centre, walking distance from the central business district), and is converting it to provide accommodation and wrap-around case management support for to up to 30 people at one time including couples, families with adult children, and single men and women.
The state government also bought a hotel near the city centre,
and is converting it into emergency housing - a 30-bed supported accommodation service for people sleeping rough in the Central Business District.
I'd love to see more cities doing initiatives like this - people get a private bedroom, with a door that locks, but they also get access to support services to help them find longer-term housing.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 2:45 PM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
Part of the problem is that there is nowhere to go! My niece* is not able to live independently and there just aren't any options (they are, for various reasons, no longer welcome to live with their parents). We have looked and looked for resources and even "permanent supportive housing", which is very difficult to get, requires that you be able to live independently and they can't, so they're homeless and sleeping outside. They're unwilling to go to shelters for very good reasons and there are no long-term options. There's nowhere to go. I'm terrified for them and support them as much as possible, sometimes even beyond what I feel I can reasonably do (with the understanding that they absolutely cannot live with me, something they agree is a Bad Idea), but what are we supposed to do? Where are they supposed to go? There is nowhere for people who need support in their day to day lives.
*not actually my niece but that best describes the relationship
posted by an octopus IRL at 3:11 PM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
*not actually my niece but that best describes the relationship
posted by an octopus IRL at 3:11 PM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
The BC Court of Appeal upheld a ruling to this effect in Victoria (City) v. Adams, 2009 BCCA 563 , and there's a substantial body of BC case law on the subject. If the Ontario Court of Appeal straight up overturned this case, it would set up a clear case for leave to the Supreme Court of Canada to resolve the split. I don't think it's likely though. This is a really straightforward s. 7 (right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice) issue in my opinion. Courts have yet to hold that this grants positive rights, like a right to shelter, but it does prohibit the government from taking things away except in accordance with principles of fundamental justice.
The main point of contention around these cases is what properly qualifies as accessible shelter spaces, an evidentiary point for each municipality implicated. Those against these things are most likely to target that issue rather than the overall principle which I think will be difficult to dislodge.
posted by lookoutbelow at 4:45 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
The main point of contention around these cases is what properly qualifies as accessible shelter spaces, an evidentiary point for each municipality implicated. Those against these things are most likely to target that issue rather than the overall principle which I think will be difficult to dislodge.
posted by lookoutbelow at 4:45 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Further to that this decision appears to be a very good foundation for this jurisprudence to now develop in Ontario in respect to accessible shelter beds:
posted by lookoutbelow at 5:08 PM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Furthermore, I accept that it is simply not a matter of counting the number of spaces. To
be of any real value to the homeless population, the space must meet their diverse needs, or in
other words, the spaces must be truly accessible. If the available spaces are impractical for
homeless individuals, either because the shelters do not accommodate couples, are unable to
provide required services, impose rules that cannot be followed due to addictions, or cannot
accommodate mental or physical disability, they are not low barrier and accessible to the
individuals they are meant to serve.
posted by lookoutbelow at 5:08 PM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm reminded that when the Canadian government wanted to spend as little money as possible on schooling for First Nations, it mostly handed the job over to religious institutions, with bad results.
Is something similar going on here, where governments want to spend as little as possible on homeless people so they encourage religious institutions to provide the services, and religious institutions tend to have not-great ways of dealing with mental health and, especially, addiction?
posted by clawsoon at 10:45 PM on February 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Is something similar going on here, where governments want to spend as little as possible on homeless people so they encourage religious institutions to provide the services, and religious institutions tend to have not-great ways of dealing with mental health and, especially, addiction?
posted by clawsoon at 10:45 PM on February 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
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