Halifax councillors, mayor say encampments to stay until more options become available

The Halifax Regional Municipality says encampments are the only option for many people, despite the risks.

While a fire at a city-designated encampment beneath the Macdonald bridge in Halifax may ignite concerns about encampments, city councillors and mayor say they are here to stay.

“It’s a response to a situation where we’re having a housing affordability crisis, as well as a mental health and addictions, health-care crisis,” said councillor Patty Cuttell.

In Cuttell’s district, there aren’t any designated encampments, but she says smaller clusters of tents her area exist, and they pose safety risks.

“It’s having people in an organized manner. What I would not want to see people living rough in our woods, in our forests, [and] in our parks where a fire could actually end up resulting in a wildfire,” Cuttell said.

Councillor Sam Austin said there are a lot of social issues in the region and it’s not in the municipality’s control to solve them. He said the lack of affordable housing has been ignored for too long, calling it the responsibility of both the federal and provincial governments.

“The feds have the money, the province has the responsibility, and the cities have the problem,” said Austin. “These are folks that end up in our public spaces so we can’t turn a blind eye to the situation.”

Austin said this provincial government has done more than previous leaders. Mayor Andy Fillmore agrees. He believes progress has been made with housing options coming online from the province.

“Yesterday just points to the fact that encampments are not a solution and that we do need to de-designate and close them just as quickly as we can get these other solutions made available,” Fillmore said.

The councillors and mayor said they are aware these other options will not be used by some who may choose to remain outdoors. The city hopes to address that when the time comes.

For now the encampments stay, along with the risks that come with them.

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