Barrie encampment site to remain closed for months as city begins multi-million dollar cleanup

The City of Barrie expects the encampment cleanup to take months and cost millions of dollars.

A large greenspace near Victoria, Anne and John streets in Barrie will remain closed potentially for months and cost millions to clean up following the removal of a homeless encampment, city council said at an executive committee meeting Wednesday evening.

The encampment, which police cleared as part of an ongoing investigation, had been home to an estimated 40 to 60 residents, with another 40 people believed to have been connected to the site.

City Councillor Bryn Hamilton questioned how the situation was allowed to grow to that size with such safety issues.

“This is just unacceptable on many, many fronts. I was just floored when I saw these pictures and the real safety concerns,” Hamilton said. “Why did we let this go? Why did the County let this go?”

City officials say they were aware of the encampment but were limited in what action they could take while people were living there because there weren’t enough shelter spaces available.

“We’re dealing with potentially 80 people,” Chief Administrative Officer Michael Prowse said. “That is a bridge we could not cross.”

• Barrie, Ont. encampment site remains closed: Here’s a timeline of what we know so far

Staff told councillors they would have needed roughly 100 shelter beds to relocate the residents. However, when police arrived with a search warrant and cleared the site, that requirement no longer applied.

“We were served with a search warrant, and they closed off the site and they conducted their investigation,” Prowse said, adding the police action allowed the city to take steps it couldn’t have done under existing legislation and court rulings.

“In fact, we would still not be in a position to address or attempt to address it if not for the police investigation which initiated the securing of the site and the removal of the residents there,“ Prowse noted.

The city then worked with the Ministry of the Environment to have the property declared an environmental hazard, giving it the authority to fully close the area for remediation.

“The site is unsafe for human beings‚" Prowse declared. “It’s a very complex and fluid situation.”

The displacement also triggered emergency funding, allowing the County of Simcoe to open temporary shelter spaces. As of this week, officials report only six of the newly available beds have been used, with most former residents believed to have moved to other locations.

The city says it will continue to work with the province to address environmental and safety concerns in the area.

“I think we have learned some things from it but the reality is we are in a housing crisis,” Prowse said.

Officials say the city intends to keep the property locked and monitored to prevent people from returning, with a goal to keep it closed for as long as possible to ensure both the cleanup and environmental rehabilitation are completed.

To date, police have not released details about the investigation that prompted the initial site clearance.

“We’re talking about this like it’s already done, it’s not,” said Mayor Alex Nuttall. “We don’t even have information from the police yet as to why this entire site was set aside and investigated for eight or nine days, so there’s a lot of things that are happening now that are going to be pertinent to the 360 view of what’s occurred.”