Structure for unhoused residents voluntarily removed after Halifax police response

The latest structure removal comes less than a week after the Halifax Regional Municipality dismantled a previous structure built by volunteers to secure food at People's Park.

Halifax volunteers installing a wooden pallet for unhoused people to store food at a city park were interrupted by a public complaint that led to police involvement Friday.

Laura Patterson, a volunteer at People’s Park where people experiencing homelessness have been living since August, says the group wanted to put a tent on a wooden pallet to keep food covered.

“We figured we would build a pallet platform, something that we’ve done probably 15 times here, already,” Patterson said. “All of the tents, as much as possible, are up on pallet platforms.”

However, officers with Halifax Regional Police arrived at the park, located at the corner of Dublin Street and Chebucto Road, in the early afternoon. Officers informed volunteers that police received a public complaint about an illegal structure.

This comes less than a week after the city dismantled a previous structure built by volunteers to store food at the park.

Last Saturday, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) workers and several police officers arrived at the site around 10 p.m. to dismantle the wooden platform and tarp. In a release the next day, the municipality called the structure an “illegal and unsafe structure on municipal property.”

Patterson was at the scene while the workers took the structure down. “I honestly never thought that they would do that to people at the end of February. It was -22,” she said Sunday.

She estimated that structure had $1,200 worth of materials.