The premier offers Prince George a bit of moral support over homeless camps
And mixed signs on spring
The city has found itself between a bit of a rock and a hard place when it comes to homeless camps. It was just last month that it was trying the hands off approach, telling the Citizen there was nothing it could do about the proliferation of tents along 1st Ave. arguing it has “limited jurisdiction… in matters pertaining to the unhoused population,” as proven by back-to-back court decisions. However, as I pointed out at the time that wasn’t strictly true: Though it has been prevented by the courts from evicting people from Moccasin Flats, those rulings said nothing of the city’s (in)abillity to shut down camps elsewhere — in fact, one explicitly said it would be ok for the city to tell people to move off of one lot and head over to Mocassin Flats. Now, the city seems to have remembered that and is taking exactly that approach, endorsing a move towards a centralized homeless camp as it tells people to move from elsewhere in the community and set up at Mocassin Flats.
Not surprisingly, though, that plan also has its own backlash. People living in the Millar Addition who want Mocassin Flats gone feel like they are being abandoned. People who are homeless who don’t live in Mocassin Flats say they’re being forced to move there. One person I talked to in Mocassin Flats said they don’t want people who aren’t there moving in because they have to. And the federal housing advocate also got involved, comparing the plan to corral people in one spot to an open-air prison.
Now, part of this is a bed the city made for itself when it decided to try and aggressively crack down on homeless camps, first seeking a court injunction to evict people and then, after they failed to get that injunction, demolishing shelters anyways, resulting in a shaming from the courts. By taking these steps, it was the city that created the court-protection for Mocassin Flats, limiting their options. No one else was filing court orders to make Mocassin Flats a permanent fixture — that was something the city did to itself by trying to eliminate homeless camps without a plan for eliminating homelessness. Yes, councillors were right when they said the city’s hands are tied on their ability to move people away from the Millar Addition, but they tied their hands themselves with the first injunction and then tigheted the knot by demolishing shelters, sending them to court a second time.
But — it is true when the city says it’s really not its place to be ending homelessness. That falls on the shoulders of the province and B.C. Housing, as well as the federal government. It’s not cities that are supposed to take on the job of housing people, it’s higher levels of government.
And on this, as I’ve written here before, the city has been a willing partner. Anytime another level of government has wanted to take an old motel and turn it into supportive housing, the city has approved it. When partner agencies have applied to have land rezoned for shelters or housing, be it downtown or in residential neighbourhoods, council has voted yes, even in cases where there was significant backlash from the surrounding residents. Any opportunity to get housing, shelters or transition units into the community, the city has done what it can to make it happen.
That willingness to cooperate has not gone unnoticed by key people, most notably the housing-minister-turned-Premier David Eby. When he was in Prince Rupert last week for an infrastructure announcement he was asked about the city’s new strategy of a centralized homeless camp, the backlash to it, and whether the province might be intervening to prevent the plan from moving forward. Here’s what he said:
I do struggle a little bit to hear that kind of criticism of Prince George, a city where they’re trying to do what they can to respond to a crisis…
We have to, absolutely, need to be careful about this, make sure we’re reacting with compassion — lots of folks struggling with trauma, addiction, mental health issues — to do this properly, respect their human rights. But far more constructive to come to the table, be part of the disucssion, offer solutions…
We’re not coming into Prince George or other cities in the spirit of dictating to them, unless there’s some kind of major issue, and we did face that issue in Penticton…
That’s not the case in Prince George. The city council is very willing to make appropriate zoning available, work with us on sites, B.C. Housing to acquire buildings.
So that’s at least one person offering some moral support for the city which they may appreciate — on April 12 they plan to have a meeting to further discuss the plan and the additional safety measures that will be proposed along with it.
Quick news:
The Prince George Cougars are headed to the playoffs on home ice and a pretty decent record. If they can make it out of the Western Conference quarter-finals it will be the first time in more than two decades.
More signs the city is building itself up as a conference hub: The first ‘Build the North’ construction conference is happening in town this week, as is a 200+-person meeting for First Nations leaders to discuss the toxic drug crisis.
The Prince George airport is looking to expand its cargo operations.
Former Prince George resident stepping down as Curling Canada’s high-performance director.
I saw my first robin of the year:
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