Parks will be cleared gradually, beginning on March 6. Photo Credit: Pexels.
Last week Hamilton City Council voted 13-2 in favour of clearing encampments from parks starting March 6 and rescinding the Encampment Protocol which they previously enacted.
City staff noted that enforcement will happen gradually.
The move comes after an Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision released on Dec. 23, 2024 that determined that the City of Hamilton has the right to clear homeless encampments, albeit with certain restrictions.
The Hamilton Independent’s article on the court decision can be found here, with an August article regarding the Encampment Protocol available here.
The motion to end the Encampment Protocol was brought forward at a Wednesday, Jan. 15 General Issues Committee by Councillor Mike Spadafora (Ward 14 – West Mountain) and was seconded by Councillor Tom Jackson (Ward 6 – East Mountain).
The motion ended up being supported by Mayor Andrea Horwath and 12 of the city’s 15 City Councillors, with only Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton) and Alex Wilson (Ward 13 – Dundas-Central Flamborough) voting against.
Councillor Nrinder Nann (Ward 3 – East Hamilton Centre) was absent from the vote. It is unclear why she was not there.
It should be noted that the vote still has to be ratified at the upcoming City Council meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 22, although that is expected to be a formality given the motion’s widespread support.
Before the vote, Council went into closed session to receive legal advice from city staff.
Notably, the August 2024 vote that instituted the Encampment Protocol passed in a 10-6 vote, meaning that a total of seven members of Council have changed their minds and are now coming out against the Protocol.
Their switch appears to largely be based on the results of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice case against the city.
The members of Council who originally voted for the Encampment Protocol but are now against it are Mayor Andrea Horwath and Councillors Maureen Wilson (Ward 1 – Chedoke-Cootes-Westdale), Tammy Hwang (Ward 4 – Hamilton East), John-Paul Danko (Ward 8 – West/Central Mountain), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11 – Glanbrook-Binbrook-Mount Hope), Craig Cassar (Ward 12 – Ancaster-West Flamborough), and Ted McMeekin (Ward 15 – East Flamborough-Waterdown).
Spadafora’s motion also calls for city staff to report back to Council on Feb. 26 regarding “the necessary resources and staffing needed to transition from the current Encampment Protocol to the City of Hamilton Parks Bylaw.”
The motion also directs Housing Services staff to “continue working with local social agencies to find shelter space for those living in encampments” and Municipal Law Enforcement and Parks staff to “dismantle all encampments as well as clean and restore parks to the inviting, safe, and green recreational spaces they once were.”
The City of Hamilton’s Director of Housing Services Michelle Baird clarified for Councillors that the city currently has 410 permanent shelter beds, 178 temporary beds (which includes 40 for asylum seekers) with that number soon increasing to 192, 208 beds in the overflow hotel room system and 40 tiny home shelters which provide space for 80 people.
In 2024, the City of Hamilton invested $186 million towards housing and homelessness with $125 million of those funds coming directly from the municipal budget.
In remarks to the Committee, Councillor Jackson said, “Parks should never have been a solution to homelessness.”
In regards to the Encampment Protocol, he added, “In spite of maybe best intentions it pitted the housed against the unhoused in our community and all the results of increasing amount of urination, defecation, narcotics, weapons, bonfires just caused a backlash and an outrage in our community.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
