Maintenance workers blocked from accessing garbage bins and portable toilets at Kitchener encampment
Maintenance workers and bylaw officers experienced some unexpected complications Thursday morning while they were trying to remove garbage from an encampment in Kitchener.
According to a statement from the Region of Waterloo, contracted service providers were attempting to complete regular maintenance at the 100 Victoria Street North site.
However, when they arrived, access to the garbage bins and portable toilets was limited by tents and temporary structures.
'Advance notice was provided to those at the site in preparation for this cleanup,' the statement from the region said.
The region said the structures will need to be moved so the work can be completed.
'Regular maintenance of the site is essential for the health and safety of the residents of the site,' the statement concluded.
Encampment concerns
The garbage bins and a trailer were brought onto the site last month. Some residents of the encampment raised concerns, telling CTV News they were unsure what was going on. However, the region said they had warned residents, and the trailer was put there to 'facilitate meetings with residents.'
The changes come as the region announced they were moving forward with plans to build a new transit hub. That plan will require all the people living at the Victoria Street encampment to find somewhere else to live.
According to the region, the encampment must be cleared by Dec. 1, 2025.
To achieve this, the region is proposing a site-specific bylaw covering Victoria Street between King Street and Weber Street.
If approved by council, anyone living at 100 Victoria Street North must leave by the end of November. If new tents or shelters go up after that, they will be removed by the region.
'The bylaw does account for the current residents there as of today and provides time to facilitate their transition to new accommodation,' said Fiona McCrea, the region's acting regional solicitor. 'But the bylaw does not permit new people to come and reside at 100 Victoria Street.'
The region said in the lead up to the deadline, outreach staff will be ramping up efforts to place encampment residents in alternative housing.
'We have many options available to us that we will utilize. Specifically, we will be looking at rental supports and transitional supportive housing. It'll be important that we add social supports for individuals,' said Peter Sweeney, the region's commissioner of community services."
However, advocates have raised concerns with the move.
'We know that this isn't a solution,' Ashley Schuitema, executive director of Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, said in an interview with CTV News last month. 'The amount of people experiencing homelessness in our community compared to the spaces that we have available for people, there's a huge gap. All this will mean is people will be tenting and moving around, tenting and moving around. Which is harmful.'
Schuitema also raised legal concerns with the region's choice.
In 2023, the region lost a bid for a court injunction to evict residents.
Justice M. Valente declined to declare that the people living there were in breach of a regional bylaw.
The ruling read, in part: 'The region does not have adequate, accessible shelter spaces for its homeless population of some 1,100 individuals'.
The judge went on to say that the bylaw the region had used to enforce encampment orders 'deprives the homeless residents of the encampment of life, liberty and security of the person in a manner not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice and is not saved by section 1 of the charter.'
Schuitema said a similar legal battle could be looming.
'I think the region will have to go back to court to get permission to move forward with their plan as set out in their bylaw, which they've indicated that they understand they need to do,' Schuitema said. 'There are some previsions in this bylaw which would violate the existing court order.'
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