Orillia has broken up another encampment in its city limits, the third in the last month. The latest encampment was set up near the Lighthouse, a homelessness support provider. People living at the site of the latest encampment got official notices Monday that they had to pack up and leave by 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. The four people living there had only been set up for a few days when bylaw officers handed out a letter. The city says when bylaw officers showed up Tuesday morning to enforce the notice, staff from the lighthouse were already helping the people at the site collect their belongings and offering things like food, water, hygiene supplies, as well as addiction services and medical care. Some were taken into the lighthouse’s day program. Due to a lack of spaces, none of them spent the night in the shelter. “We offer shelter beds when we have them available,” said Dale Rowe, The Lighthouse Orillia’s executive director. “(Tuesday) we were able to add people to our triage list and and offer our daytime services.” Rowe told CTV News. “But where people go from here, we don’t necessarily know,” Rowe said, adding “they will have to find another location, unfortunately.” For most of them, that meant finding a new spot for their tent Tuesday night. The Lighthouse says there needs to be more and different kinds of housing available to meet the needs of people forced to live on the street in Orillia.
