Dismantling of Ferguson encampment led 'majority' of people to shelter, city says

Telling someone who is homeless and living inside a tent that they have to go somewhere elseis "always traumatizing," said a doctor involved in the removal of the Ferguson encampment last week.

Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk, a member ofHamilton Social Medicine Response Team (Hamsmart), describes what happened Thursday and Friday as a "very unfortunate situation that was, in my opinion, done quite well."

A team of housing advocates as well ascity and social service workersjoinedtogether to dismantlethe Ferguson Avenue North encampment.Paul Johnson, the director of Hamilton's emergency operations centre, said there were roughly 60 people living there, and the "majority" were interested in moving to hotels or shelter space that the city had available. Some people, he said, decided not to make use of those resources.

"There was a full week of notice," Johnson said, emphasizing that the work to dismantle the encampment began at the startof the month."We didn't want people to wake up on a Thursday and realize something was happening."

The tear down comes after the city reached an agreement with Keeping Six,the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team (Hamsmart), the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Ross and McBride LLP, saying it would do a needs assessment of people sleeping rough in exchange for dismantling large downtown encampments.

The organizations had previously filed a court injunction, preventing the city from tearing down the tents in high-profile places.

Criticism from some advocates

On Monday morning, the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI) held a media conference where they condemned the treatment of encampment residents and their property.

"What we saw was a garbage truck that showed up first thing in the morning, to make sure peoples' things were tossed before they even woke up to consent into things being thrown out," said Sarah Jama, an outreach coordinator with HCCI and a disability advocate.

HCCI'sinterim executive director, Kojo Damptey, said he heard stories of people that had no place to go, while Jama said people were misled into believing the city had housing available for everyone in the camp.

"It was on housing advocates to take people to other places in their cars to set up tents elsewhere," she said.

According to Wiwcharuk, relying on people from Hamsmart and Keeping Six to lead the effort was a deliberate move by the city to reduce trauma. The organizations, she pointed out, have trusting relationships with the people who were living in the camp.

A couple moving into a hotel might want a volunteer to take their dog to a relative's place instead of trusting a bylaw officer to make the trip for them, she said. "They're in a uniform, and they just could not put their trust in someone that's in a uniform."

Care and compassion

Wiwcharuk, who has a decade of experience working in the homelessness sector, was on the ground Thursday and Friday, both day and night.She said her role sometimes meanthelpingpeople through a mental health crisis.

"There's no question that it's always traumatic," she said.

"Sometimes it means leaning down in someone's tent and holding their hand while they're having a panic attack, helping them breathe through that panic attack and then helping them get out of their tent and actually letting them tell me what they need to pack."

Wiwcharuk said police took a background role andshe was pleased with how outreach workers, bylaw officers and social agencies worked together with care and compassion.

"I really do think it was done in as sensitive a way as it could have been," she said.

Garbage collectors waited until they were told items could be disposed of, she said, and bylaw officers offered a helping hand when people couldn't find certain belongings inside of their tents.

But Wiwcharuk does wish more people had gone into housing.

"Everyone who wanted an indoor option got one, to my knowledge. Now there were many people that opted to camp somewhere else, and that's becausethey know those indoor options don't work for them. There are many barriers to staying in a shelter."