Encampments: Practical Steps Toward Longer-Term Solutions

A dedicated encampment site + a voluntary return program = Practical short-term steps while working toward dry housing and longer-term solutions.

SAFER STREETS. APPROPRIATE SUPPORT. A COORDINATED PLAN.

Homelessness, mental health, substance abuse and public safety are connected. But people’s needs are different, and one approach will not work for everyone.

Housing matters, but so do treatment, outreach and enforcement when someone puts others at risk. These services need to work together, with clear responsibilities and regular communication.

I believe strongly in helping people. That help must be appropriate for the individual while respecting the safety and well-being of the broader community.

WHAT CAN COUNCIL DO?

When a proposal involves city-owned land, council can decide to approve a lease if it believes the operational formula is one that will work within the community. If the proposal doesn’t meet the community’s needs, it can be refused. This is an important opportunity.

Unfortunately, once a lease is agreed to and a facility is operating, council’s options depend on those agreements and its legal authority. We can address applicable bylaw and safety violations, escalate concerns to BC Housing, and review whether contractual commitments are being met. We can also advocate for dry housing and better support options, but achieving those changes takes time.

Nanaimo provides a great example of that. In July 2025, Council supported asking the Province to make the proposed housing on Terminal Avenue, now Bryden Street, recovery based. The Province initially resisted. Council renewed it’s request in December 2025, and a third time in June 2026. In September, the Province announced the new building would provide recovery-oriented, substance free housing. That was approximately 13 months of advocating, with the new building still to come.

This shows that persistence pays off. A dedicated Council CAN make a difference.

But we can take practical steps while that work continues to implement real change. I would pursue that longer-term work while taking practical steps to improve conditions in our community now.

HERE’S WHERE WE CAN START

This proposal draws on examples from other communities and conversations, both online and in person, with local residents and people who have experienced the current system from different perspectives.

Westview Ratepayers Society and other local groups and residents have long advocated for a coordinated approach. Those calls deserve a clear response and action.

Ideally, a coordinated approach would involve a dry facility, but in the absence of that, while we pursue that longer-term goal, we can implement all the other stages in the short-term.

We can implement the coordinated effort we’ve been talking about. We can bring outreach workers, mental health and substance abuse services, housing providers, bylaw officers and RCMP together as a coordinated team. They would meet regularly to identify problems, connect people with appropriate support and address behaviour that makes our community unsafe.

Additionally, I would support finding an appropriate location for a dedicated outdoor encampment site, and help those who came to our community expecting help and not finding what they wanted find their way home community or support network.

WHAT WOULD THAT LOOK LIKE?

When an encampment is closed without a suitable alternative, it can simply move elsewhere. With encampments spread across town, outreach and cleanup efforts also become more difficult.

I’m envisioning a carefully chosen location away from schools, residential neighbourhoods, businesses, seniors’ care facilities and the hospital. It would also need to be close enough for people camping elsewhere in the community to reach, and accessible to outreach workers and other support services.

The area would be fenced, with temporary toilets, garbage bins and a non-combustible, gazebo-style structure over a concrete pad. This would provide shelter from the weather and a designated cooking area, reducing the risk of fires spreading through our forested areas

Regular garbage collection and cleanup would be part of the plan, with clear responsibility for maintaining the space.

WHY ONE DEDICATED LOCATION?

One dedicated location would make it easier for outreach workers, housing providers, mental health and substance abuse services, and cleanup crews to attend regularly. Bylaw officers would also have a suitable place to direct those camping outside designated areas.

It would also create more consistent opportunities to build relationships and help people move toward suitable housing or treatment.

HELP PEOPLE RETURN HOME

For people who came here seeking help but haven’t found what they needed, and wanted to return to their home community, family or an established support network, I would support a voluntary return program.

That means confirming there is a safe place and someone ready to receive them, then helping arrange transportation.

This could be a modest-cost way to reconnect people with support, while potentially reducing repeated demands on emergency services and local support services.

SUPPORT AND ENFORCEMENT TOGETHER

Support and enforcement don’t have to be competing approaches. We need both. Offering help must go hand in hand with addressing threats, violence, theft, vandalism and other unlawful behaviour.

I would support coordinated work with the RCMP so situations putting the public at risk receive an appropriate response.

A PRACTICAL START. A LONGER-TERM PLAN.

A dedicated outdoor site and a voluntary return program could provide practical short-term steps while we work toward longer-term solutions, including appropriate housing, dry facilities, treatment, outreach and enforcement.

I believe this proposal deserves prompt assessment and implementation and would be one of my first priorities. We’ll need to establish costs, responsibilities and define clear measures of success, including fewer unsafe encampments, fires, emergency calls, and the number of people connected with appropriate support.

We cannot solve every problem immediately, but these are practical measures we could pursue in the short term to improve conditions while longer-term housing and treatment options are developed.

Together, we can take practical steps that help people and make our community safer.