Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A Woodstock woman is growing increasingly frustrated at what she said is the lack of action to remove a long-standing encampment on city property right behind her home.
Beth Merryweather said she’s had enough after over 18 months of not being able to enjoy the property she owns.
“They have a tent up six feet high on some sort of structure they built by the river and another resident has two motorbikes, an offset umbrella and a 20-foot deck. One has four structures, three of them tarped together and the other up on his deck.”
Merryweather added she is often woken up by yelling and screaming and is worried for the safety of one man’s female partner.
“I heard one night her saying she was breaking her arm. They also have a generator and power tools, they have two motorbikes they rev at night. Clean it up. Get these people out of there and find them some homes. I understand a lot of people won’t go to shelters, so give them another option, just not in my backyard. If it was your backyard, would you put up with it?”
Merryweather said Woodstock mayor Jerry Acchione did visit her home recently, and while the pair were speaking several other neighbours arrived to let him know how displeased they were with the situation. She added one night she arrived home to find two people on her property.
She said she did recently receive a text message from Grant Drygas, the city’s supervisor of forestry and parks, saying they were getting legal advice.
“Next steps at this point are to work with Bylaw to present this situation to our legal council to see if we have grounds for enforcement. I am also working with outreach to meet with individuals and see if, collaboratively, we can encourage them to move to another location, at least closest to your property,” the message read.
She added all levels of government need to work together to help those in need.
“Something needs to be done with the mental health and housing systems. We need mental health and drug addiction reform. I understand not everyone wants help, but if we don’t try, we can’t do anything to rectify the situation.”
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named for fear of repercussions, said he was threatened by someone living in the encampment earlier this year.
“I have been told to not walk down to that part of the park. I won’t now because of them. I walked down the street one night and (an encampment resident) was flashing a knife and yelled ‘what are you looking at old man?’ He was chasing a girl down the road.”
He added drugs are a factor in the behaviour of those living on the site and he’d like to see more rehab beds in the area to help people get cleaned up. He’s also concerned about the value of his property when he’s ready to sell.
“We aren’t quite ready to retire yet, but the value of my house will drop because they are living down there. Who’s going to compensate us for the difference in what the property’s really worth? It looks very beautiful when you drive into Woodstock and you see right across from the Chuckwagon restaurant on Dundas.”
Part of his frustration is how homeless people can afford some of the items in a pair of encampments near his home, including pets.
“The other night they had a husky in there. They have a dog now. We’re homeless but we can get a dog. We’re homeless but we have a generator. We’re homeless but we can have a dirt bike we race on the street at two, three, four o’clock in the morning and wake me up. My girlfriend and I have to go to work.”
Woodstock’s mayor said he sympathized with Merryweather and added they have shared concerns.
“There are no clear answers here. There is no easy solution. We had our mayor’s task force meeting this morning and talked about (encampments). We will keep working together as a collaborative group but until something major changes within the health network or whatever we want to call that, I don’t know what we are going to do.”
Acchione said the city is not able to legally move anyone thanks to a precedent-setting court decision in Kitchener-Waterloo.
“That’s what makes this difficult. Unless we have a shelter system they can move into right away and we need enough (spaces) for everybody to move into, we are not allowed to shut one down,” he added.
“Where do you put them? Where do you tell somebody to go live? They obviously can’t afford to rent an apartment.”
Det Tait, who has visited the property on several occasions and spoke to one of the residents in the spring, understands the court ruling but explained things are out of control.
“I spoke to a woman living there in May and let her know there were more shelter beds. She told me she was aware and willing to go but her boyfriend didn’t want to. The last time I went in was July with some city staff and Counc. Lauder. The garbage was atrocious, I can’t even describe how much there was.”
Tait said she believes about six people are living in that encampment now and added no one wants to live like that nor should they have to.
“Who wants to live in a bug-infested encampment? But we are allowing it so we aren’t any better. As I said in an email to city staff and the CAO, every property owner has a right to live peacefully and that is not being allowed here. She can’t use her backyard, she can hear them yelling and screaming when she’s inside with the windows closed.”
Tait added at one point the smell had gotten so bad at the site it was seeping into Merryweather’s backyard and home.
“To me, there is a health and safety issue. I don’t know why we can’t use that to get them out because it’s not healthy for anybody. The city should be doing something and they just need to get a backbone and do it.”
Stephen Miller, the city’s Manager of Bylaw Enforcement, said any decision on clearing an encampment on city land is on a case-by-case basis given legal precedence.
“The response team engages with those living in encampments at a minimum weekly but usually multiple times a week to get them out of encampments into appropriate housing. Sadly, there is no easy or quick fix.”
He added parks and public spaces are not intended for people to live in and the city does have bylaws that prohibit that.
“The challenge is without adequate and barrier-free shelter space for people living in encampments to go, we are challenged in removing people from public space based on legal precedence in other communities.”
He said for that reason, the approach currently is to work together through the community response team to try and move people into safe, stable housing.
“Because of the complex challenges many people living in encampments face, our response must be somewhat tailored to each unique situation for the safety of everyone involved.”
There are some situations where enforcement may be possible due to extreme health and safety concerns. Miller noted illegal activity is never permitted and if residents living near an encampment witness it, they should call the police.
“We know people are frustrated and staff share their frustration. We continue to work with our partners and people living in encampments to try and transition them to more appropriate housing options, even if our actions are not visible to the public and it takes longer than people would like.”
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