This is November 16th.

 

Court resumes today on applications pertaining to Tent City at the corner of Victoria and Weber Streets.

The property is owned by the Region of Waterloo. It is destined to become a staging and storage yard for construction of a new Transit Terminal for buses. BUT, and it is a large but…the work will await the Spring of 2023.

There is little cause to evict the homeless people who are there, until the warmer months. They have already shouldered last winter at the location.

Presently the second tent city in Victoria Park, owned by the City remains a sort of legal No Man’s Land. Might the Judge in the present process drop some helpful obiter dicta concerning continued use in tents with adequate garbage organization, fire controls, portable toilets and security monitoring in the Park?

All of the above makes reasonable and fair minded sense. I am of the opinion that the Judge strategically gave himself draft decision space in this week of waiting for the resumed hearing. He will NOT RESERVE FOR A LENGTHY PERIOD. He has other cases in a large trial list.

At one critical point last week the bench asked counsel for the Region what span of time he thought might be adequate to allow for reasonable emptying of Tent City. He said 30 days. THIRTY DAYS. Leaving in a lump in the midst of the snows.

And then the people go under bridges and into storage containers and abandoned structures; and with children and some mentally ill. Some solution of heart that would be. NOTTTT.

The Region spoke with emphasis about a large inventory of “out of the cold” sleeping spaces. But they already have takers. Application gets made night by night. There is a significant waiting list.