Edmonton police and city crews have taken down more than 2,600 homeless encampments in the first six months of this year — double the number removed in the same period last year, City of Edmonton data shows.
Crews dismantled 1,264 encampment sites from January to June 2023. There were 2,663 dismantled in the entire year, according to data provided by the City of Edmonton.
The year before, 1,053 camps were removed in the first six months and 2,100 in the full year.
While the city and police are dismantling more encampments than in previous years, the number of people considered homeless has grown, according to the latest data from Homeward Trust, Edmonton’s main housing agency.
The number of homeless people in Edmonton grew about 40 per cent from 2,760 in January to 3,876 in June.
Those considered to be homeless include people sleeping outside (unsheltered), staying in shelters some nights and those who are provisionally accommodated — that includes people couch surfing or staying in institutions like a hospital, health facility or temporary lodging, according to Homeward Trust’s categories.
In January, 669 people were listed as being unsheltered and in June, 989.
Susan McGee, CEO of Homeward Trust, said some people may be accessing resources for the first time and therefore they appear on the list.
McGee noted that some have made a connection through the provincial navigation and support centre, a new public-facing resource.
“That is a totally new service that has increased awareness and connection.”
‘Nothing’s been solved’
The increase in camp removals comes amid a city crackdown on encampments that started this past winter.
Jim Gurnett with the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness said the strategy has not helped unhoused people.
“I have never in years and years of being part of the life of this community, seen the dangers and the stresses that are being created for people by the new policy, which is then deliberately misrepresented as being helpful,” Gurnett said. “It’s the opposite of helpful.”
Gurnett, who has worked with the community and in conjunction with the Bissell Centre since the late 1990s, said the crackdown that started in January is making the situation worse.
“The events of late last year, early this year to start this new gigantic campaign against anybody being outside and to cloak it in this phoniness of the navigation centre. That is a bigger step than I’ve ever seen.”
Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, told CBC News in early August that she doesn’t think things are improving.
“From where we sit, nothing’s really been solved,” she said. “And in some cases feel like it’s actually getting worse.”
“I hear this from downtown businesses, I hear it from visitors, I see it with my own eyes: We have more people than ever who are taking shelter in our transit system who are just hanging out in doorways or behind businesses.”
Uptake at navigation centre
The provincial government opened a navigation and support centre in central Edmonton on Jan. 17. The province launched the centre the day after a Court of King’s Bench judge dismissed a lawsuit against the city over encampment removals.
The Alberta government set up the triage centre where unhoused people could receive help in finding shelter space, housing and health advice, financial guidance, ID cards and income support.
In six months, about 10 per cent of people staying at sites that were removed accepted transportation to the provincial navigation centre, the city says. A site can be a tent, tarp, a covered gathering area or another storage location.
At the 2,634 total sites, the city counted 2,755 individuals present and said 307 accepted transportation.
The city emphasized that the number doesn’t represent unique individuals and that people counted at one site could have been or appeared at other sites.
The Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services said since January, more than 2,960 people have accessed and received services at the navigation centre. That includes 1,430 people connected to housing and shelter.
In an email Wednesday to CBC News, the ministry said “92 per cent of individuals entering housing with access to supports remain in housing.”
Edmonton police said it couldn’t answer questions about why the number of homeless people has increased but said “the encampment strategy is a joint response with EPS, the City of Edmonton, and the province. We will continue to work with our partners as we have been since the opening of the navigation centre.”
Complaints pour in
At council and committee meetings in the first six months of the year, Edmonton city councillors consistently asked about people receiving services at the navigation centre
“I remain concerned about the level of support that those individuals who were decamped were able to receive,” Ashley Salvador, Ward Métis city councillor, told CBC News. “I really have not seen the level of detailed data that I would expect to see for that type of program.”
Salvador said she’s hearing more complaints since the beginning of the summer about homeless people sleeping in parts of the ward.
Councillors raised the issue at an executive committee meeting Wednesday at city hall, as they reviewed a report showing the city may dedicate more resources to encampment removal.
David Jones, branch manager of community standards and neighbourhoods, said they are getting a lot of complaints about encampments from the public.
“The persistent call volume for encampments citywide is such that we know we can’t keep up to it,” Jones told city councillors.