Street culture camping conversation won’t be kicked to the curb with new bylaw amendment
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
People no longer have to fight for their right to camp.
The constitutional right for people to take shelter at night in Nelson has been passed — in a bylaw amendment to the Parks Bylaw on Aug. 20 — balanced with the ‘broader community’s interest in ensuring that any such camping is done in an appropriate and non-disruptive manner.’
In response to the numerous tent communities occurring across the city — including the highly visible occupation of City Hall’s front lawns — a bylaw amendment to the Parks bylaw was passed.
Brought forward by City staff, the bylaw amendment will create clearer regulations regarding where unhoused (homeless) individuals may shelter overnight. The bylaw had prohibited camping in all City parks and public lands — which would not be upheld by B.C. Courts.
The bylaw now designates specific areas that do not allow for camping — the same spaces where the City does not allow illicit drug use (already defined in the Parks Bylaw). The spaces were previously identified based on their frequency of use by children and proximity to schools. In addition, the bylaw would add the lawn around City Hall to the list of prohibited areas for both illicit drug use and camping.
With regard to time of day, the proposed bylaw would only allow temporary shelters to be in place from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m.
Coun. Rik Logtenberg was in support of the principle of the bylaw amendment, since it is “a municipality’s responsibility” to ensure people have a place to go.
“If you don’t have a place to go then you should be able to camp,” he explained during the regular council meeting on Aug. 20.
But the big challenge that the public has centres around the garbage and discarded needles that accrue around the campsites, Logtenberg said.
“If the campers were able to pick up their stuff, or even neatly organize it, then there would be a lot more public will or licence for social camping. The challenge is, really, around the needles and the garbage, with children and dogs and animals … stepping on needles,” he said.
“And, in general, if you did camp in a park overnight and you did clean up after yourself when you’ve moved on, we probably would just look the other way.”
The Parks Bylaw was not meant to criminalize homelessness, Logtenberg explained.
“It’s meant to provide reasonable guidelines so that, in part, the community doesn’t just turn against and continue to turn against our homeless community,” he said. “It’s not perfect and I understand that, but it at least helps us walk a middle road here to make sure that community understands that we are trying to find a way that respects and understands the challenges that our homeless community faces, and the needs of the people in those neighbourhoods that are dealing with the effects.”
Coun. Jesse Peneiro was not comfortable with the bylaw, noting the people camping don’t have another option or a choice.
“You have to ask people to do things they are capable of doing, or else you lose your authority,” he said. “Most of these people are not capable of finding another way of living, so they are going to camp.”
He said it was unrealistic to expect homeless people will pack everything up into a nice Tupperware container by 9 a.m. each day.
“So I feel we are setting ourselves up for just a giant headache because we are asking people to do things they are clearly not going to do, so then what is the next move? We are going to confiscate their backpacks and belongings?” he asked.
City manager of regulatory services, Sarah Winton, said the City tried to find a way to start the conversation with the street culture in drafting the bylaw amendment.
“I know that it doesn’t solve the problem, but it does give us a mechanism to work with people, and to get to know them and … then try and work with other groups to coordinate some other types of services for them,” she said. “So, it’s not perfect, it’s not bulletproof, but it is a way we can actually begin to start a conversation.
“It would be rare for us to move someone along, and get rid of their stuff, without reason. I think we get painted with this brush that we are out to be punitive at all times. But our bylaw officers are actually working really hard on the education part of things. So this bylaw opens the door for that, for some dialogue.”
Peneiro and Coun. Leslie Payne were both recorded as in opposition of the bylaw amendment on Aug. 20.
