Advocate groups rallied in front of Hamilton City Hall on Friday calling for council to reject the plan to look into a volunteer registry to house people facing homelessness. They are calling on the city to come up with other solutions.
READ MORE: Hamilton considers registry for residents to host unhoused people
Stewart Klazinga of Hamilton ACORN said, “If the city recognizes that homelessness is a problem, it must seek to solve it. Not move it, not hide it, not ignore it.”
The city voted this week nine to six to look into the feasibility of a registry where Hamiltonians can volunteer to host a person facing homelessness. Many groups find the idea problematic.
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The Hamilton Encampment Support Network (HESN) and other groups are demanding city council reject the advocate registry for homelessness, and implement an approach that prioritizes housing, not enforcement, and a moratorium on encampment evictions until people have permanent housing.
“It does not respect them as individuals who are worthy and entitled to a house with a door that locks, with space for their possessions, with autonomy over their living space,” James Lambert of HESN said.
On Thursday, 27 notices of trespass were issued to people in encampments behind city hall, due to health and safety concerns. The notices are effective immediately.
NDP MPP Sarah Jama from Hamilton Centre says she looks forward to working with city council where she can to make sure there’s no continued harm for unhoused people.
Jama said, “There should be a moratorium on evictions. We cannot continue this process of moving people from place to place with nowhere to go and then match that with this weird surveillance-based list. That’s what it is. It’s surveillance of homeless people. That is not cool.”
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Mayor Andrea Horwath was among those who voted in favour of looking into a possible volunteer registry. CHCH News reached out to Horwath on Friday but she was not available.
City staff has been directed to report back to the general issues committee, but no timeline was given.
