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Those who want a permanent homeless shelter in the city have now launched a campaign against NIMBYism “not in my backyard” at City Hall.
“NIMBY” refers to “not in my backyard” and has been broadly used in reference to describe individuals opposing nearby development in their neighbourhoods, whether it be new arenas, new businesses or bars or restaurants, and many other types of projects requiring city council approvals.
The group, who describe themselves as “concerned citizens,” is calling for NIMBYism to be banned “from all City meetings, whether spoken by community members or councillors.”
They are collecting 100 signatures and plan to present that document to the next meeting of Regina city council.
However this particular anti-NIMBY group has a narrower definition in mind.
One of those involved in the campaign, Florence Stratton, said what they refer to is a definition given by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. She said NIMBYism happens “when people hold negative attitudes or stereotypes about the people who live in affordable housing or emergency shelters.”
The events of the June 12 meeting at City Hall started this campaign, when council voted 6-5 against administration’s proposed permanent homeless shelter location at 1420 and 1440 Albert Street. The meeting saw several comments from delegations voicing concern about the shelter location.
Stratton said she was at that meeting and said “people were saying it ‘shouldn’t be here’, ‘it’s too near my business’, ‘it will have a negative impact’, ‘it will cause property values to drop’ and so on.”
“I’m sitting there thinking this sounds like discrimination,” said Stratton.
Stratton then said she came home and searched on Google and found the piece from the Ontario Human Rights Commission that described NIMBYism as a human rights issue — as a form of discrimination.
“So, that’s what started it all,” Stratton said.
Stratton said a 2021 point in time count that stated 79 per cent of unhoused people in Regina were Indigenous. “This means it is a form of racism,” she said.
Stratton said they had at least 37 names signed on the document so far.
The plan is to present it to City Hall at a future council meeting, most likely on August 21. Stratton expects the homeless issue may be on the agenda at that time.
When asked if she expects pushback to the anti-NIMBYism campaign on the grounds that it is muzzling free speech, Stratton did say “That’s a possibility.”
“Of course we would like some regulation passed that you can’t make NIMBY comments. At least we will be raising awareness and so that is a goal, too — to raise awareness about NIMBYism so we won’t all easily fall into making those kind of remarks which are in fact discriminatory,” said Stratton.
The news release from the anti-NIMBYism group coincided this week with a news release from another group marking the one-year anniversary of the takedown of the City Hall encampment. They are hosting an event at Pepsi Park between 5 and 7 p.m. this Sunday, Aug. 4.
