OttawaResidents in Sandy Hill and Lowertown say it’s taking the city too long to respond to an upsurge in homeless encampments, as officials blame a shortage of police officers for the delays.There are now about 50 small-scale homeless encampments scattered across Ottawa, city saysA homeless encampment near Hurdman O-Train station pictured in 2024. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)Residents in Sandy Hill and Lowertown say it’s taking the city too long to respond to an upsurge in homeless encampments, as officials blame a shortage of police officers for the delays.That news came as Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante made a motion at community services committee Tuesday calling for more transparency over how the city responds to encampments. The debate prompted city staff to provide an update on the sheer scale of the problem.At the worst point last year, about 350 people were sleeping outside in Ottawa, according to the city’s director of housing and homelessness services, Kale Brown. Right now, he said, there are more than 500.”It’s been exponentially growing since 2020, when we started tracking,” he said.Many stay in tents or other temporary structures the city refers to as encampments. Most are small-scale, Brown said, and there are currently about 50 across the city.Residents in Plante’s ward showed up at committee to describe how encampments are overwhelming their neighbourhoods — leaving them to grapple with piles of garbage, open drug use and people relieving themselves on their properties.”Some of the encampments have been removed, but probably an hour after the people just come back and start the same process again,” said George Street resident Marie Loyer.’Frustrated and scared’Anya Fraser, who lives in Sandy Hill, said it took the city 19 days to clear out an encampment near the Loblaws on Rideau Street.”Your department needs to set reasonable service standards for how many days they will take to help people living in encampments before they clear it,” she told city officials.Sandy Hill resident Anya Fraser called for quicker response to homeless encampments. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)”You cannot allow this outreach stage to continue indefinitely,” Fraser added. “When you do that, these encampments expand, the garbage and behavioural issues worsen and residents become frustrated and scared.”Brown said there are service standards: It should take five or six business days to clear out an encampment. But right now, he acknowledged, the city isn’t always meeting that target.When residents report an encampment, the city relies on partners like the Salvation Army to link up with the people staying there, offer them services and try to get them into shelter.More often than not, that works. When it doesn’t, the city needs to move to enforcement. Bylaw officers will issue a 24-hour notice to vacate. Dismantling is supposed to follow the following day, supported by police.But too often, police simply aren’t available due to what Brown called “immense staffing challenges.””With police resources, I’m able to dismantle between one and three a week, so if you do the math, I am not remotely close to hitting that five-day target,” he said.”That’s really where you’re seeing that gap,” Brown added. “Just the sheer volume of encampments and the inability for us to get police at our beck and call in terms of doing those enforcement-based dismantles.”Brown said the city and police prioritize their response, and can dismantle camps where there are immediate health and safety issues more quickly. But other camps can take much longer — sometimes months.There are more than 500 people sleeping outside in Ottawa, according to the City, up from about 350 last year. (Brian Morris/CBC)Police response ‘essential,’ councillor saysBrown said police simply have to be present due to security concerns. He cited a case in British Columbia where an RCMP officer was killed while responding to a tent in a local park.He said the city used to work with National Capital Commission (NCC) community officers to dismantle encampments on NCC lands.”Even they have been directed that they have to work with police,” Brown said.Coun. Laura Dudas, who chairs the community services committee, agreed with that cautious approach.”Ensuring that anyone who is approaching these encampments to dismantle them is being supported by police is essential,” she said. “We do not want their safety to be in jeopardy at all.”The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said in an email that it can take several days to co-ordinate an encampment response, depending on scheduling, other assignments and priorities.The email said OPS is currently responding to three to five encampments per week. According to police, “a more timely response would be supported by an increase in available resources and a reduction in competing operational demands.”Councillors will vote this fall on whether to increase police resources when the 2026 budget comes up for debate. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has called for a big boost to police funding, and councillors have already asked city staff to draw up a draft budget on that basis.Not just a downtown issueFor Dudas, the encampment delays lend another argument in support of that plan.”I know the benefits of seeing more police in our communities,” she said. “It’s something that I’m hearing from my residents that they love to see more police presence in our area for a myriad of reasons. This would be one of them.”Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr, who sits on both the community services committee and the police services board, agreed that getting more police on the street could help. “I was actually floored by that comment that really what is holding us up from addressing encampments is the fact that they need a police presence there,” she said.Carr said encampments are not strictly a downtown problem, and she’s seen them emerge in several spots in her inner suburban ward.Brown said the city still aims to reduce the need for police intervention whenever possible by encouraging campers to leave voluntarily.He said the city is looking to dispatch social services as quickly as possible and ensure it learns about encampments earlier, including by launching a digital reporting tool for residents.ABOUT THE AUTHORArthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.
City facing delays clearing homeless encampments due to police staffing crunch
