Location of homeless encampment 'green zones' still not decided in Saint John

The City of Saint John has not yet decided on "green zones," places where homeless people are allowed to set up temporary camps and are provided with some services, such as washrooms and garbage cans.

In September, Cara Coes, community support services manager with the city, told council that staff have narrowed down the sites being considered to five publicly owned locations.

As part of the city's housing plans, remaining public areas would be designated yellow, meaning encampments would only be allowed at certain times of the year, or they would be red, indicating that anyone set up there would be relocated.

The plan was to have the zones designated between October and December but as of Dec. 5, the city said it has no update on locations or timeline.

Meanwhile, some encampments have grown more settled over time. Nick Shepard, an outreach worker with Fresh Start Services, said some people have been living at the same unsanctioned camp sites for a few years now, and moving would be difficult for them.

As an example, Shepard pointed to the encampment in the city's south end, where people find safety in numbers. He said there are about 10 people living there full time.

"They all kind of watch out for one another. In some situations, they literally have agreements with one another that,'OK, today's Tuesday, I'll be the one to go and get groceries at Romero House. You watch our spaces.'"

Shepard said because some people have been struggling with homelessness for a long time, the encampments are the closest place they have to home. Some shelters are built with plywood, canvas, windows, doors and with outdoor kitchens and garden plots.  

Anna Lund, a professor of law at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, said without offering any alternatives for accessible housing, evictions can violate people's rights. She said the biggest right in question is the right to protection against threats to life, liberty and security.

The other question is whether people have a right to shelter during the day. There has been a decision from the BC Court of Appeal that people have a right to shelter during the night, she said, so it only protects encampments at night and they would have to be torn down during the day.

Courts are still grappling with whether that right should be extended to the daytime, Lund said, especially considering that in the winter, conditions could be just hazardous during cold days.

In Edmonton, the city cracked down on encampments last winter, she said. According to data obtained by CBC, that winter marked a record number of amputations due to frostbite, while in Calgary, the number decreased.

Some medical professionals and advocates point to the encampment policy as one reason for the increase in Edmonton.

"There's not enough emergency shelters [in Edmonton], or the emergency shelters that are available aren't truly accessible to them," Lund said. "And they've been on waiting lists for housing for months or years. And so they don't have anywhere that they can legally exist, and that undermines their sense of dignity."