Neighbour relieved Meagher Park is clear after more than a year next door to homeless camp

After 58 weeks of noise, needles and violence at the Meagher Park homeless camp, one neighbour says the return to quiet has been a "nice change."

Halifax Regional Police quietly cleared out the park last week, nearly a month after telling people they must leave.

 "Initially all of the neighbours, you know, we really felt for everyone who was experiencing homelessness or was housing insecure," Emily Keast told CBC's Information Morning Halifax on Monday.

"And those feelings started to shift when we were being woken up multiple times a night from noise and fighting [and] when needles started showing up in the area. So it put us in a very difficult spot."

At one point, Keast said she was being woken up upwards of five times a night because of the noise. She said the noise wasn't people having conversations, but "from people fighting and threatening each other."

There was a period of time when Keast said she was blocked from entering or leaving her home because intoxicated people were coming on to her yard.

"I had an ongoing understanding with my supervisor at work that if I was late, I just needed to let her know and this was the reason again and that I would make up that time later in the day. And that was an ongoing arrangement for 13 and a half months," Keast said.

Some people ended up moving away from the neighbourhood because of issues with the encampment, Keast said.

"Some of my neighbours were having so much trouble with having everything from objects being thrown at their houses to being threatened, to having stolen property and dirty needles on their property," Keast said.

Keast said she was on edge about potential protests at the park. She said she didn't want to see a repeat of Aug. 18, 2021 — when Halifax Regional Police pepper sprayed protesters as an encampment next to the former Spring Garden Road Memorial Library was dismantled.

Keast said she shut off her outdoor power and water tap after people at the park were coming over to use it so frequently, but she turned it back on when police were given the green light to shut down the park.

"No one wants pepper spray. No one wants tear gas. We all just wanted everyone to find safe, affordable housing. And that includes ourselves because we really were not feeling safe," Keast said.

When it comes to how the city and police handled shutting down the encampment, Keast said, "There's a lot of grey."

"It's sticky. It's messy because for the longest time, it felt like everyone was passing the buck, giving responsibility to someone else. But we weren't seeing action. And I think we can all do better," Keast said.