Advocates call for permanent homeless camp to be established in Prince George

Some residents of Prince George, B.C., are calling on the city to set aside land for a permanent homeless camp wherepeople canset up tents and belongings without municipal bylaw officers forcing them to move.

The calls come after the city dismantled several tents that had been set up on an empty lot across from the city's courthouse Wednesday morning.

"It's not OK to keep shuffling people around," said Cathy Hutchinson, a registered nurse in the city. "If you want to kick them out of this lot, where are they going?"

Hutchinson is helping organize a rally Friday pushing city hall to find a space for people to live outdoors. She said she'd like to see portable toilets and water treatment put on the site, as well as access to services and volunteers.

"We're willing to do the dirty work. We're willing to spend resources.I'm willing to spend money."

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The idea has some support from city hall, as well. After a visit to a homeless camp this week, Coun. Brian Skakun said in a public Facebook post the city isconsidering the idea of "more permanent camps,"alongside existing efforts to provide affordable housing.

However, he also expressed caution about the impact such encampments could have on nearby homes and businesses. In larger cities, including Vancouver and Victoria, such camps have been sources of conflict and safety concerns.

The B.C. government has reached agreements with these cities to end the camps so long as enough permanent and temporary housing is available for their residents to move into.

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In Prince George, the city has partnered with B.C. Housing and Northern Health to build a150 new supportive housing project downtown, but the first set of 50 units isn'texpected to be ready until 2022, with the remaining 100 still in the planning process.

In the meantime, people living on the street say they are being shuffled from empty lot to empty lot as police and bylaw officers respond to complaints.

"Every day, we have to take our tent and put it down," saidApril Jackson. She said many people, including her, avoid shelters because they don't want to be separated from their partners and friends. She also said it can be difficult for people living with addiction or with mental health concerns to follow the rules of available shelters.

"So they sleep in doorways, and then we get in trouble from the owners of the shops ... They treat us like we should be in a dumpster, and that's it:Throw us away."

One of the most high-profile conflicts between homeless people and downtown businesses came in April, when the landlord for several service providers began playing loud opera music in an effort to drive people off the sidewalks. In the end, RCMPcame to the area and started making arrests until the sidewalk was cleared.

In a statement to CBC, RCMP Const. Jennifer Cooper said police were responding to multiple complaints from business owners and employees downtown, ranging from "people aggressively demanding to use bathroom facilities to theft of electricity and open use of drugs."

"It is a delicate balance between the need for those in our marginalized community to access the resources available versus the need for patrons and business owners to feel safe downtown," she wrote.

Hutchinson said she is sympathetic to those who work or have businesses downtownand argued that a permanent homeless camp would help themas well.

"Where are our safe toilets? It's a solution [for businesses] so people don't have to defecate outside," she said. "Let's be part of the solution."