New homeless encampment draws concern as Thames Street site is cleared in Chatham

Chatham is clearing out a homeless encampment along the riverbank as crews prepare for construction. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell reports.

As crews prepare to begin slope stabilization work along the Thames River in downtown Chatham, a longstanding homeless encampment on Thames Street is being dismantled — and a new one is already drawing scrutiny just several blocks away.

The municipality set a deadline of Monday for residents of the encampment to leave. While outreach workers are helping people relocate, some nearby residents and officials are expressing concern over where people are now going, including a growing encampment on the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission property along Grand Avenue.

“We gave folks a deadline of today, but we’ll be a little bit flexible with that,” said Kim Crew, director of housing services for Chatham-Kent.

“But folks, for the most part, have picked their new location, and we’re just making that happen today.”

The municipality has said it is not dictating where people must go.

“Folks that are unsheltered have the right to house themselves on municipal property,” said Crew.

“As a municipality, we are not dictating a location for them to go to. We are simply making sure that it falls within the encampment protocols that council passed last November. So, folks do really get to choose their own location. It’s not the municipality dictating where folks need to go.”

Chatham-Kent councillor Michael Bondy said the new encampment caught council members off guard.

“Nobody saw it coming, to be honest. City council wasn’t informed. It just happened,” Bondy said.

“We knew the former tent city had to be vacated today, but we weren’t told of where the new location would be. Whether this is municipally sanctioned. I can’t seem to get an answer, to be honest. Does it fall within the parameters of our bylaw? Maybe. Maybe not. But there are some very unhappy neighbours.”

Bondy said residents have been calling throughout the weekend with concerns.

“We’ve heard a lot from a lot of people over the weekend, and I can’t say it’s been positive,” he said.

“There is no solution. If there was, Los Angeles would have done it 50 years ago. They’re going to go somewhere. This apparently falls within the legality of it all. So, like others have said, we can’t control it as long as it’s legal.”

He added that he doesn’t believe municipal land should be legal.

“I think it’s all of our land. I don’t think people should be able to live on it and effectively destroy it, which is what happens because it’s not kept very tidy as one could reference the former tent city, which is being evacuated today (Monday), which I just drove by,” Bondy said.

“And it’s going to need some serious remediation. So, I can understand the frustration 100 per cent.”

The situation is also prompting concern from nearby business owners and residents. Stephanie Laforet, who owns The Esthetic Studio near the former encampment, said the impact over the past two years has been difficult.

“It’s been very difficult the last couple of years with the encampment for all the small businesses,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to it to bring safety back to our community and a little more peace of mind for the residents and the business owners of this area. This whole time has been very difficult for everybody. Our safety measures have had to increase. We’ve had to add extra alarm systems and things like that. Leave at specific times and have the buddy system so that everybody is safe at night leaving.”

Others, like Billie Jo Humphrey, said they’re especially concerned about the new Grand Avenue location, which is near where her elderly mother lives.

“I feel that it’s very wrong for them to put them close to a building with a lot of older people and people that, my mom has Alzheimer’s, and she likes to wander,” she said.

“Now that they’ve moved this close, it’s scaring me because my mom is 76 years old with Alzheimer’s, she can let anybody in that building and she doesn’t know not to.”

While she expressed frustration with the visible effects of homelessness, Humphrey also acknowledged the human reality behind it.

“It’s just hard for me to see that people like this need to be on the streets. They need help up to get out and get on to their feet,” she said.

“If you cannot pay your rent, that is your fault. You have to take responsibility for your needs. You need to figure out something to get on your feet and get off of other people’s property and just be able to do what you need to do.”

R.O.C.K. (Reach Out Chatham-Kent), one of the main outreach partners working with unsheltered residents, said the transition from the Thames site has been relatively smooth so far.

“It’s been a long few days, but it’s been going quite smoothly,” said executive director Renee Geniole.

“They are people. They are our community members. We try to dispel those myths all the time that they’re not being dropped off by other communities. They’re not bussing them here. These are Chatham-Kent born and grown folks and it takes a community to help support an issue.”

The municipality continues to rely on its encampment protocol to manage the movement and oversight of unsheltered residents, while also encouraging those in need to connect with available services.

“Folks can call the homeless response line in town, which is [phone] and have conversations about eligibility for our current emergency shelter,” said Crew.

“We do have spaces open right now that folks can go into. And then that will transition folks into the transitional cabins when we get to that point.”

But long-term, she said more must be done to address the root of the crisis.

“We do have a lack of affordable housing in our community. Our centralized waitlist is reaching about 1400 folks right now,” Crew told CTV News.

“We know that social assistance rates haven’t gone up, and there’s just an affordability issue with folks being able to secure units and rental units. So that impacts the homelessness crisis and increases it beyond what we can keep up with.”

Crew said funding is desperately needed from provincial and federal governments to offer supportive housing.

“We desperately need more affordable housing. The Tiny Cabins is an amazing project. It will only put a dent in the in the crisis that we’re seeing.”