A fenced-in homeless encampment in Victoria Park in Halifax's downtown on March 4.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Halifax Regional Municipality is developing a code of conduct for people sleeping rough at city-designated homeless encampments, many of which are growing far beyond their stated capacity.
The municipality declined Thursday to provide details about the code or what prompted it, but council meetings have recently heard about safety concerns inside homeless encampments, and there have been multiple tent fires this year.
Halifax has approved six homeless encampments that are open and another seven that are not officially operational yet – even though some people are already sleeping in them – and the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia says that as of Tuesday more than 1,200 people reported being homeless.
Glen Snow, 63, has been sleeping in one of 36 tents at a designated encampment on a median in central Halifax for three months. The city says the site has capacity for six. Snow says he isn’t against a code of conduct but says council should focus on helping unhoused people find homes.
“They should be getting us housing. I will not survive the winter here,” he said in an interview Thursday, adding that he has rheumatoid arthritis, which can be further aggravated by cold weather.
Still, a set of rules for encampment residents is “not a bad idea,” he said, especially if it reminds people to keep their tents and the surrounding area clean, look after one another and be respectful of neighbours.
“I think people should keep their places tidy, do their dishes like I’m doing right now,” he said.
Snow said if he were to write the code of conduct, it would say, “Everyone respects everyone else and nobody steals from everybody else.”
He said that since he became homeless several months ago he’s been robbed twice. As well, he has heard or seen fighting among people in the encampment area.
In a statement Thursday, a Halifax Regional Municipality spokesperson said staff are seeking input from unhoused people. The municipality would not say how the proposed code would be enforced.
A staff report submitted to council on June 4 said one of the challenges of designating sites as homeless encampments is the “behaviour exhibited” by residents. A code of conduct could help address the issue, it says, but adds that there must be enforcement and consequences for people who do not follow the rules.
Carole Arsenault, who lives and works near the University Avenue encampment, said she feels unsafe because the number of tents keeps growing and residents make loud noises.
“I’m a small person in a wheelchair. If someone comes up to me and asks for my money I could suffer easily. I’m pretty much helpless,” she said in an interview Thursday.
It’s for this reason that she’s keen on a code of conduct – if it is enforced. “The idea in principle is a good one, but there’s more questions than answers how will it be enforced? Will there be someone there 24-7?”
Jeff Karabanow, a Dalhousie University professor of social work who researches homelessness, said in an interview Thursday the potential impact of a code of conduct would depend entirely on how it’s set up and what’s included in it.
“I hope people in the encampments are around the table I think that can be quite empowering for people to provide their voice,” he said.
But the city must recognize that encampments are “survival environments” and exist because people have nowhere else to go, Karabanow said.
“So do code of conducts work in survival mode? Probably not. But if the intent from the city is for people in the encampment and for the communities around them to feel safer, this could possibly be a technique for both sides to be talking to each other.”
On Thursday, Nova Scotia’s government announced a supportive housing project for 55 new housing units in the Halifax area, and said work is ongoing to set up villages for 100 self-contained fibreglass shelters in the municipality.