Saint John is one step closer to establishing “green zones” where homeless encampments can be set up.
Cara Coes, the city’s community support services manager, provided an update to council this week.
Coes said city and provincial staff have visited 11 sites throughout the city, including five that are publicly owned.
“We identified that some sites are not directly on bus routes, no sidewalks are available, soil contamination in some sites, water, wastewater and electricity may not be easily accessible as well,” she said.
“These findings helped us narrow down a little bit more to look deeper into the sites previously mentioned.”
City staff have not said where the sites are that are being considered for homeless encampments.
Identifying zones in the city where encampments could be set up is one of 28 action items in the city’s three-year homelessness strategy.
“Green zones” will be identified where unhoused sites will be located. Staff will also identify “yellow zones” where tents are allowed at certain times of the year and “red zones” where unsheltered structures will not be allowed.
Coes said the next steps are to build out site requirements with the Department of Social Development and engage with the community.
She adds they hope to have the sites up and running before the end of the year.
Coun. David Hickey said he is glad to see city staff recognizing the urgency and the need behind this.
“We’re seeing more encampments pop up in spaces that were red zones and are becoming so overwhelming for this municipality to try and deal with,” said Hickey.
“I hope this continues to be a message to other levels of government to step up because municipalities are bearing the burden of the responsibility of this and we have limited tools and limited ability to be able to deal with it.”
