An advocacy group that fights for Halifax’s homeless wants the city to amend a bylaw that bans camping in a public parks.
The PADS group, which stands for permanent, accessible, dignified and safe housing, is asking councilors to temporarily change the bylaw to help with the province’s current housing crisis.
According to the group, there are currently 544 people living on the streets of Halifax.
“What we’re asking is for people who have to stay in parks because they have no other options right now to be decriminalized,” says Vicky Levack, a spokesperson with the group.
Levack says the amendment can be rescinded once there is a bed for everyone in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
“The people we are advocating for are not camping for fun, they are camping for survival because there’s nowhere for them to go,” Levack says.
However, councillors aren’t keen on the idea of opening public parks across the city to allow for overnight stays.
“I don’t believe we should have an overarching allowance in all parks, but I believe we should have an approach and strategy that maybe looks at locations,” says HRM councilor Lindell Smith.
“How do you change the bylaw in such a way so that it doesn’t mean you’ve got fifth wheels parked in major parks every weekend,” adds HRM councilor Lisa Blackburn.
Councilors are also concerned about how the public would react to people living in parks throughout the city.
“What they’re saying is people don’t want to interact with homeless people and that is classist and in my opinion, kind of gross. These are people,” Levack says.
Councilors have asked for clarification on a couple of points and haven’t made any decisions. The advocacy group is expected to appear before council again sometime in the future to provide answers to their questions.