'Precedent setting case': Southwestern Ontario judge rules homeless encampment can stay in park

It could be a watershed moment for homeless policies in Ontario. A judge denied a Region of Waterloo court bid for an injunction to have homeless encampments removed from land at Victoria Street North and Weber Street West in Kitchener due to too few shelter spaces, and the decision is already on the radar of city officials and homeless advocates in London.

It could be a watershed moment for homeless policies in Ontario.

A judge denied a Region of Waterloo court bid for an injunction to have homeless encampments removed from land at Victoria Street North and Weber Street West in Kitchener, Ont.

Justice Michael Valente stated the reason for his decision is because “the municipality does not have adequate accessible shelter spaces for its homeless population of 1,100 individuals.”

“This is a really precedent setting case,” said Abe Oudshoorn, a housing advocate in London, Ont. “I was actually quite surprised to see this ruling. The idea of folks living in encampments and how they're treated and managed has been something that's been tried [in] other cases, and those cases have not gone forward.”

Oudshoorn said there are a lot similarities between the case and what is happening in London, Ont. right now.

“That similarity is essentially that we have more folks in need than we have capacity to support them,” said Oudshoorn, who had been following this case closely.

He added, “If there is no safe or good place for people to go, then essentially the courts are saying that we can't move them along.”