Hamilton mayor directs staff to develop plan for sanctioned temporary sites amid homelessness crisis

Mayor Andrea Horwath has directed city staff to begin exploring what it will take to create sanctioned, hard-shelter sites at various outdoor city-owned properties throughout Hamilton.

Unlike the city’s current encampment protocol, this Mayoral Decision aims to explore what it will take to create, acquire and maintain purpose-built structures for Hamilton’s unhoused population.

“I don’t want tents,” Horwath said during Tuesday’s press conference at city hall. “Tents are not an answer. Not with our climate, whether it’s heat or cold.”

In the written directive, Horwath lists several avenues on the matter that must all be researched and presented to council by Sept. 18.

They include exploring the cost of these hard shelters, who sells them, what models are available, how long they take to install, and what basic needs they can fulfill.

Horwath has also instructed city staff to obtain a legal opinion on the matter and determine what operating models will be required to carry out any plans.

The directive will also probe the degree to which current community organizations that already provide services to tent encampments can get involved in executing such a plan.

Horwath said the plan isn’t a permanent solution, but a temporary one that would serve as an intermediary for those seeking housing.

“Even if an approval came tomorrow for a new housing complex to house 120 people, by the time that actually gets built, it could be 18 months or more, and so we have a situation that needs to be addressed right away,” she said.

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