Most people living at the Berczy Park homeless encampment in downtown Barrie will be placed in shelter, a city official said Monday afternoon.
“The majority of the individuals within the park have accepted the offers of shelter,” said Dawn McAlpine, the city’s general manager of community and corporate services. “The city plans to issue notices of trespass to individuals who do not identify any unique needs and continue to be in contravention of the city's bylaws.”
During the last 10 days, the County of Simcoe — which leads housing and homelessness services within Barrie — has been able to make shelter spaces available, she said.
It has provided offers of shelter to individuals at Berczy Park, either directly or through its contracted outreach provider, McAlpine added. In addition to shelter, the county has arranged for temporary secure storage for personal belongings.
In light of the availability of shelter space, and offers of shelter spaces being extended, 21 notices of action required were issued last week, identifying matters contrary to the city’s bylaws. Those included placing debris on city property contrary to the nuisance bylaw, fouling the land by urinating and defecating, and camping within a public park, contrary to the parks use bylaw.
The timeline for the resolution of those contraventions was Friday, Sept. 6.
“Since the expiry of the timeline and over the weekend, the county and its contracted outreach provider have continued to provide the city with the status of the individuals in Berczy Park and their housing offers,” McAlpine said.
She said there are a few individuals who have unique needs that the county and its contracted outreach provider are continuing to address.
In line with the guidance provided by the 2023 Ontario court decisions, these individuals have not been issued notices of trespass.
Last year, an Ontario Superior Court ruling deemed bylaws prohibiting homeless
McAlpine said the city has received many complaints related to local encampments. There have also been several fires in encampments this year, including two fires this past weekend, one of which was at Berczy Park.
Residents of the Berczy Park encampment awoke Monday morning to find the entrances at both ends of the park closed off after a three-day deadline to vacate the park passed last week.
‘Park closed’ and ‘no admittance’ signs were erected on a wood traffic barrier across the paved pathway this morning around 8 a.m.
But by midday, though, the signs were gone.
A Barrie official on scene said the city planned a temporary park closure to allow its crews to address the damage from the weekend fire at the encampment, as well as other damage and maintenance work in the greenspace.
An early morning fire on Sunday, measuring about 30-by-15 feet in size, burned tents and clothing, according to a Barrie Fire and Emergency Service official.
No injuries were reported from the blaze.
Volunteers with Ryan’s Hope, a Barrie-based non-profit organization, were on site again on Monday to support encampment dwellers.
A 51-year-old man named Paul, who has been living in a tent in the park, says he has been there for three months. Prior to moving there, he said he had been residing at another encampment in the city for two-and-a-half years.
“I think they are scared of people coming to see what is going on here,” he told BarrieToday when asked why he thinks the city erected the barriers this morning. “I’m not arguing with them. I’m not looking for any trouble."
Paul says he doesn’t know where he will go to live. The recent offer of available beds at the Busby Centre isn’t an option he's willing to take up, he said.
“I’m institutionalized, so I don’t get along with a lot of people, especially in a confined space. It just gets me in trouble,” Paul said.
He added he didn’t see any other options available to him and is afraid of what the future holds.
“I don’t want to go back to crime,” Paul said.
McAlpine said when a complaint is received by Barrie’s municipal law enforcement office, or an encampment discovered while on patrol, the local sheltering and outreach organizations, the County of Simcoe and city police are notified of the matter with a request for attendance to provide shelter and support services that may be available as the initial part of the response.
Berczy Park, which contains one of Barrie’s many homeless encampments, is located southeast of Wellington Street East. Much of the 2.2-acre park is occupied by tents, with fire pits and clothing hanging on lines and branches to dry.
