Hamilton council bans encampments in 7 parks nearest new shelter beds

Hamilton city council has voted to ban encampments from seven green spaces in Ward 3, just east of downtown, once 123 new shelter beds open up in the area in the coming weeks.

Councillors gave unanimous final approval to the motion, proposed at last week's general issues committee meeting, on Wednesday. It will remove the following parks and green spaces from the city's encampment protocol once the shelter beds are ready:

The encampment protocol, adopted in 2023, is a set of rules dictating where people can live outside. 

Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann put forward the seven-park ban last week in an effort to ease the impact of the new shelter beds on the area, which will house the majority of the 192 total new beds coming to the lower city. 

Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson, who missed last week's discussion at committee, said Wednesday he's hopeful some of those living in parks will move to the new shelter spaces. 

"At the end of the day, [the ban is] predicated on the shelter beds being open up and running," he noted. "We're talking about less than 30 homeless who hopefully will find their way to the new shelter beds."

While all councillors supported the committee's recommendation this week, two were not in favour at last week's meeting: Ward 2's Cameron Kroetsch and Ward 13's Alex Wilson.

Last week, Kroetsch said it would be premature to make changes before seeing the outcome of the new shelter beds.

"I think we need more time before we make a decision like this that would have a severe impact on people," he said.

The ban follows another council decision to prohibit encampments within one kilometre of an outdoor shelter site destined for a swath of vacant land at Barton and Tiffany streets in Ward 2. That means encampments will no longer be allowed at Bayfront Park and other nearby waterfront sites.

Ward 7 Coun. Esther Pauls told council Wednesday that she'd like to extend the ban throughout the city and end the protocol for good, now that council has committed to so many new shelter beds. She put forward a notice of motion Wednesday that would "prohibit encampments in all City of Hamilton parks, once the sanctioned site [at Barton and Tiffany] is available." 

"I have a lady who is very upset because it's less than 30 feet from her fence," Pauls said, describing resident complaints about encampments. "She could literally hear them and know what they are doing. She was just beside herself."

Nann pointed out that council is awaiting a staff report about "sunsetting the encampment protocol," suggesting an appropriate time to discuss this issue would be when councillors receive that report.

The city's general manager of healthy and safe communities, Grace Mater, confirmed Wednesday it is expected in the first few months of 2025.