Encampment clean-up continues as City weighs solutions

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on October 19, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

From June 3 until Sept. 25, the Clean Sweep Program cleaned 13,080 kilograms of debris, 852 needles and 44 pipes from the Civic Centre track area.
That information is contained in a report that was submitted last Thursday to the Community Safety Standing Policy Committee meeting of Lethbridge city council by Mike Fox, director of Community Services.
From June 1 to Sept. 15, Clean Sweep cleared a total of 17,338 kg of debit from other encampment calls.
Since Aug. 11, the Streets Alive Outreach Team has done more than 6,700 interactions with occupants of city tent encampments.
From Aug. 5-25, the Canadian Mental Health Association Outreach Mobile Team and Community Links Team had more than 710 interactions with 29 intakes booked, 15 of which were successfully completed, said the report.
Of the interactions done by Streets Alive, 70 people have been connected with resources such as detox and treatment, stabilization/transitional housing programs and the Indigenous Recovery Coach program.
Fox’s report contained two possible responses for council to consider as ways of dealing with the encampments.
The first, said the report, would be an ad hoc encampment response with unstable funding.
The report was received as information and will be forwarded to November budget deliberations.
Under this scenario, Community Social Development “would continue facilitating, co-ordinating and convening with relevant stakeholders and offering support to the best of its ability for encampments.
“Many encampment response partners have been assisting under the status quo approach despite staff shortages, resulting in overtime costs and at times, resource gaps,” says the report.
The report states that although the $230,000 allocated by council has helped to backfill and improve the status quo response, that money was one-time funding and wouldn’t provide the stability for camp-related resources.
The second option calls for ongoing funding for strategic and proactive planning, says the report.
“This option would be a proactive encampment response and is directly linked to proposed 2023-26 budget initiatives (Clean Sweep Program, Diversion Outreach Team, Lethbridge Outreach Programs) being added to the municipal base budget,” according to the report.
The second option also proposes and describes the tasks and responsibilities for a dedicated camp foreman to execute an encampment response while Community Social Development develops and co-ordinate the camp response, said the report.
The report notes there has been a rise in encampment numbers here in the past three years, and they are more visible now because of location and media coverage.
The City has several contracted partners to deal with encampments including the CMHA, ICA Community LINKS, Streets Alive, Clean Sweep Program, and Lethbridge Police Service.
Several organizations the report calls “external partners/stakeholders” have also been involved. Those include Alpha House which provides outreach in the areas of the shelter and AHS Addiction and Mental Health Outreach whose staff assess individuals’ mental health, monitor effects and side of effects of medication, monitor compliance and collaborates with clients and their psychiatrist/physician among other tasks.
Also involved is the SAGE Clan Patrol, which provides outreach services and connection to vulnerable people, the Indigenous Recovery Coach Program which gives water, snacks and bagged lunches to the vulnerable while providing recovery supports through a Blackfoot lens.
Other groups assisting with camp residents include MyCity Care, The Watch and the Alberta Alliance Who Educate and Advocate Responsibly which provides harm reduction supplies, naloxone, snacks, hygiene kits and other supplies.

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