A Saskatoon organization said it will not follow an order to remove an encampment on its property until it can discuss the implications of that move with the city.
In the order to remedy the contravention, which is dated Oct. 30, the City of Saskatoon instructed Station 20 West to clean the encampment by Nov. 30. The notice states that more than 15 tents and structures are in front of the 20th Street facility, which is creating a nuisance for people in the neighbourhood.
The site is also in “an unsightly condition” and may provide a home for wildlife, according to the city’s notice.
Wanda Martin, the director of Station 20 West’s board, said that the city delivered that notice without any prior consultation on Sunday, when the building was closed. The community enterprise works to improve the wellbeing of those living in the city’s core and helps connect people with services – including those that can help find housing or employment.
“Our intent is to try to appeal the bylaw contravention, and to really support people as well as we can,” Martin said, speaking with Global News at the encampment site Friday.
In a news release shared earlier that day, the organization said it would not voluntarily dismantle the encampment without a conversation with the city about the expected consequences of that move on its residents.
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Those discussions with the city would involve safety concerns and ensuring that appropriate, permanent solutions will be available for displaced encampment residents. If not, the problems that residents are facing would be shifted, not solved, the board director said.
Martin acknowledged the various safety concerns associated with encampments but said that removing the site does not provide a long-term solution for the people who live in it.
“While we don’t believe this is a great idea, for people to live like this, we do believe that just simply displacing them back to homelessness in another area only just moves the problem around,” she continued, adding that the people who live at the site have developed relationships with one another and Station 20 West staff.
In response to a request for an interview, the City of Saskatoon provided the following statement to Global News on behalf of Deputy Chief of the Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) Yvonne Raymer.
“Station 20 West is privately owned and responsible (for) complying with The Property Maintenance and Nuisance Abatement Bylaw. The SFD does not publicly discuss operational plans when bylaw enforcement may be involved,” the emailed statement reads.
The bylaw cited by the city says that properties in Saskatoon must not negatively affect the safety, health, or wellbeing of those around them. It also bars nuisances on properties. The city’s definition of “nuisance” included “untidy or unsightly property.” The bylaw puts the onus of managing issues on private property on the land’s owner.
Mavis Daniels, 49, has lived at the encampment site at Station 20 West for a few weeks after another encampment, across 20th Street, was dismantled. She said the organization has helped provide her and other residents with food, clothing and washrooms.
“I tried finding homes everywhere; I’ve been on all of the housing sites,” she said. “I put my name down everywhere just to apply, but with my budget so low, it’s really, really difficult.”
“Winter is coming and I don’t know where we’re going to go if we get kicked out of here. Where is everybody going to go? We’re going to have to just post up anywhere and it’s just not going to work.”
Daniels said she hopes that the City of Saskatoon will work with the advocates to allow the encampment residents to stay at their homes.
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