Andy Fillmore for Mayor of Halifax
Back to My Platform

Encampments

It is neither compassionate nor empathetic to allow someone to live in a tent in a park - this is NOT a solution to homelessness, and we can do better to get people out of tents and into the housing continuum. The growth of tent encampments throughout the municipality has prevented residents from using parks, has had negative impacts on businesses, and has cost HRM taxpayers millions of dollars. Most of all, encampments are not providing a real solution for those living in them.

My plan would...

  • Create a Central Intake System, updated daily in real-time, so we can reliably understand who is in the encampments, and what each person’s unique barriers are. This is the critical first step in mapping people to the support they need.
  • Create a rapid response team of public health, mental health, and social work professionals, including from the Province, all coordinating together on the ground to get people in the encampments the help they need. The longer people live in tents the more rapidly their mental and physical health deteriorates, so this early intervention is critical.
  • Freeze the approval of any new encampment sites. This includes not opening the nine new sites recently approved by HRM Council, which includes the proposed Common and Point Pleasant Park sites. Instead, HRM will work in a renewed partnership with the Province, and with the new rapid response team, to quickly move people from tents to pallet shelters, tiny homes, shelters, subsidized housing, and other durable solutions. Tents are the worst possible option for people and we can do better, faster. 
  • The broader community expects and deserves safe access to public parks that are not designated encampment sites. Tents appearing in undesignated areas will be greeted by the new rapid response team within 24 hours of notification so that individuals can be redirected to the support and services that they need, and to maintain residents’ access to community public spaces. I will draw on 30 years of experience as a city planner to remove roadblocks to approvals so that homes can be built faster in the right locations, and increase housing affordability across HRM.
  • The broader community deserves and expects safe access to public parks that are not designated encampment sites. People erecting tents in undesignated areas will be greeted by the new Rapid Response Team of professionals within 24 hours, so individuals can be redirected to designated sites, and the support and services they need in order to maintain residents’ access to community public spaces.