Residents at the 66 Peter St. S. homeless encampment were evicted from the property Tuesday morning, as city workers tore down make-shift structures and removed debris from the area.
Lighthouse executive director, Linda Goodall, said the eviction was a collaborative decision between the County of Simcoe, the City of Orillia, the Lighthouse and the OPP.
“It got very, very large and it was very messy, and there were safety concerns as well from the community, so it was a coordinated response,” Goodall told OrilliaMatters.
Numerous public complaints were behind the decision to evict encampment residents and clean up the site, city staff said.
"Clean up of public property occurred on Oct. 3, 2023, as a result of numerous public safety complaints such as the accumulation of waste, including used needles, excessive noise, fighting and other illegal behaviours, and unsafe fires, which resulted in the Orillia Fire Department attending on several occasions," said Shawn Crawford, the city's director of legislative, building, parking, and transit services.
City staff joined Lighthouse outreach workers and OPP officers on-site Tuesday morning as the teardown took place; several upset encampment residents were gathered in the adjoining parking lot with items they had salvaged prior to getting evicted.
One encampment resident said four to five people had been staying at the encampment on a permanent basis, with the population fluctuating to upwards of 20 on any given day.
Crawford said city staff asks the Lighthouse outreach team to attend encampments when they receive a complaint, to provide support and to make residents aware of available resources.
Encampment residents were informed a week ago that the eviction was set to take place, Crawford said, with the Lighthouse outreach team attending on several occasions to inform residents of available resources, including available shelter beds in various Simcoe County facilities outside of Orillia, as the Lighthouse is currently full.
None of the encampment residents, however, took up the offer for relocation, Goodall said.
“They all declined shelter throughout other areas, and we, of course, are full here as well,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we gave them as much notice as we were able to.”
Goodall said the move is about safety.
“The intention to offer shelter elsewhere is to try to, obviously, (provide) shelter and safety,” she said. “The other would be to hopefully, if they have their support services and things like that here … to be able to get them back when we had space available, but some people choose not to come into shelter, and that is their right.”
An occasional encampment resident, who identified herself as Rebecca W., said she had no interest in moving to another community.
“Orillia is our home. Our heart really is here,” she told OrilliaMatters. “When you relocate to a new city or a new town, you have to adjust to a lot. You have to adjust to the people in that town; you have to adjust to the locations for accessing help.”
Adjusting to a new environment can be a difficult thing, particularly for people struggling with mental health issues, she explained.
“For me, personally, it's an emotional thing. It's an anxiety-based thing, and for a lot of people that are on the street, they have mental conditions like anxiety or depression, which impedes their ability to then reach out and go get help,” she said. “When you put them in a new place, you set them back even further.”
From here, she imagines encampment residents will “find a new location that is outside of city limits.”
In recent weeks, neighbourhood residents have complained about rampant crime-related issues that stemmed from the encampment, which Rebecca said is an issue that needs to be worked on.
“There would have to be a group of us that are responsible for regulating the things that are happening within an encampment,” she said. “Somebody's got to be accountable for things that are happening if the city is displeased with those things.”
Although encampment issues in the neighbourhood will be reduced by the eviction, issues with encampments are likely to persist, Goodall warned.
“Until we actually have housing where people can go, the 'problem' of people living in encampments won’t end,” she said. “Even if we had a lot of all the housing that we needed … some individuals choose to live outside.”
At last Monday’s city council meeting, city politicians discussed bringing porta-potties and regular garbage pickup to the city’s encampments, which city staff will report back on at a later date.
“Porta-potties and garbage pickup will certainly help where people are … so that the garbage doesn't get too out of control,” Goodall said.
Mayor Don McIsaac had previously stated the city cannot evict encampments on city property if there are no available shelter beds within the county.
On Tuesday, he said assisting unhoused individuals is one of council's "top priorities."
"One of council’s top priorities is to help those who are unhoused find shelter and support resources, and ideally housing, for the health and safety of the inhabitants and the community," he said.
"The city works with our partner agencies such as the Lighthouse outreach team to ensure that individuals are aware of the services available to them, including the availability of shelter beds and other resources," he said.
"While it is my understanding that individuals have declined to relocate to the shelter space available, the County of Simcoe will support transportation costs to area shelters for individuals who are interested in accessing available shelter beds."
Officials from the Orillia OPP did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication of this story.
