Greater Sudbury receives complaints about abandoned tent and tarp sites downtown

Sudbury mayor on downtown homeless encampment Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger joins Brendan Connor to discuss the tent city that has emerged in Memorial Park.

Sudbury — The City of Greater Sudbury says it has received complaints about an abandoned tent encampment downtown, located along Elgin Street near the former Ledo Hotel.

Piles of debris, shopping carts, garbage and a collapsed tarp structure where someone was living could be seen at the site earlier this week.

On Friday, a contractor hired by the city cleaned up the site. Officials said they take steps first to ensure sites are abandoned and no one is still using them.

Stefany Mussen, manager of cooperator security and bylaw services, said they follow guidelines from homeless consultant Ian De Jong.

"If something has been abandoned -- a tent location -- we will place a 24-hour notice on it, just letting the occupants know that if they haven’t reclaimed the space or taken their belongings that the tent will be removed," said Mussen.

So far, the city has cleaned up five abandoned sites in the past two months.