BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon didn’t pull any punches over the City of Prince George’s decision to remove the Millennium Park encampment on 1st Avenue and George Street on September 9th.
The city is citing a “serious safety [concern] for both responders and occupants of the park as the result of increased density.
Back in June, the provincial government and local mayor and council signed a memorandum of understanding that formalized their commitment to support un-housed people in Prince George – an agreement that has now hit a snag.
This included implementing the new Homeless Encampment Action Response Teams and Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing programs
In an interview with Vista Radio, Kahlon told MyPGNow.com. the idea of simply shifting people around isn’t a solid plan.
Kahlon issued a statement shortly after the city’s decision to shut down the encampment, expressing disappointment with the move.
He noted the province had offered Prince George new resources like dedicated encampment response staff and deployment of temporary housing units to the community.
Kalhon mentioned, that despite this, the council has chosen not to access those resources to assist people living in Millennium Park to move indoors and to move unilaterally with this decampment – in the absence of appropriate resources.
“In the end, we agree that encampments aren’t safe for the people living there, they are not necessarily safe for members of the community but just moving people out of there is not solving the problem. It’s just moving people from one part of the city to another.”
“What’s vitally important was the work we were doing. Let’s find locations that are close to the amenities that people need and that are safe so that we can get people indoors and the support they need so that we can have a safer community and have more safety for the individuals that are in those situations.”
Kahlon’s statement also disagreed with a comment councillor Kyle Sampson made saying council has made this decision “in the absence of appropriate resources.”
A statement from a Ministry of Housing spokesperson told MyPGNow.com that in addition to the new resources the Province had offered the city, the government has additional projects underway such as the 20-bed Fraser Inn, which is expected to be ready by December along with the Lotus Inn, which currently has 14 tenants and will add capacity for nine more next spring.
This is in addition to a 52-unit supportive housing development.
Furthermore, Kahlon stated the MOU reached between the governing NDP and the City of Prince George was a way to avoid any legal challenges in court – this has now been put in jeopardy according to the housing minister.
“The courts have ruled that you have to have some sort of shelter available for people before you decamp them. So, this is likely to go to court and what we were offering was a way to avoid that and for people to get support services and to make the city a safer place.”
Following the city’s decision to close the Millenium Park encampment, Sampson along with fellow councilors Trudy Klassen and Cori Ramsay felt those being impacted would shuffle off to the Lower Patricia encampment better known as Moccasin Flats suggesting it’s a much safer setup than their current living arrangement.
However, Kahlon shot back at that notion suggesting such a migration was less than likely.
“If people wanted to be at the other site they would have just gone there. What likely will happen is that those individuals won’t go to the other site and they will find another place within the city. Again, moving people around just for the sake of moving them without having some shelter and other supports available it just hasn’t proven to work at other communities.”
“The numbers at that encampment were higher before this decision, they are a little bit lower now and so, to the core we have agreed with communities when they say they don’t believe encampments are safe. We don’t believe encampments are places people should be living – that is an agreement between us and the city. But where the disagreement is that it is better to have supports for people than moving to another part of the city.”
Kahlon estimates between 35 and 50 residents currently reside at the Millenium Park encampment.
BC’s Housing Minister made the point that messaging between his office, PG Mayor Simon Yu, and his representatives isn’t trickling down the way that it should, leaving some important points getting lost in translation.
“When we speak to the mayor and staff, everything is going well. For some reason, when it goes to council it comes out in a different way – but I can’t speak for council, I will leave that to them.”
When asked if the abrupt closure of the Millenium Park encampment makes mitigation efforts more difficult when tackling the homeless situation, Khalon stated that is a distinct possibility.
“It does put a little bit of a strain on our relationship that’s for sure but at the end of the day, it’s not about council, me, or government, it’s about the individuals who really need the support in that community and we will be putting that first ahead of our hurt feelings.”
“To suggest there weren’t efficient resources is utterly false. To be surprised by a call on Wednesday morning that council made a decision the night before on-camera after all the work was happening is frustrating. When you move people without shelter, you are moving a problem to a different part of the city, you are not addressing the core issue.”
According to Khalon, the province offered a rapid team that would assist health care professionals and meet with local bylaw officers and the Prince George RCMP stating those pieces were key elements of the MOU.
“We thought we were making progress down that road and now here we are.”
In June, a 10-unit complex care housing unit on Ontario Street. The complex was defined complex care as “an innovative approach to trying to interrupt homelessness.”
However, this is only the first of three phases for the project, however, ground has not broken on the second building site nearby and the timeline has not been set yet.
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside noted more will be coming in that second phase using part of the $174 million dollars budgeted provincially for more complex care facilities across BC.
All personal items from Millenium Park need to be removed by September 9th, after which the city said the park will be closed and everything remaining will be thrown out.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
