Regina city councillor ‘heartbroken’ as tent camp torn down

On Thursday morning, orange fencing was still in a ring around Core Community Park in Regina after the homeless encampment there was torn down days before.

Victoria Flores, Ward 6 city councillor, said she was at the park on Tuesday late into the night, watching as it was taken down.

“Knowing that many of those folks had the uncertainty of not knowing where they’re going to be that night, it was heartbreaking,” she said.

She said she knows the fire chief had his reasons for taking the camp down. He told reporters there had been fires over the weekend and it was now a safety concern. But Flores said her main concern was that there was no place ready to move people and their things to.

“We had been pushing our provincial government to step up to support a more cohesive and a more long term plan that would house people,” she said.

“We are so reactive with how we deal with houselessness all over the province, and we often have shelters and warming spaces and things like that, which are great, but in the long term, we are going to continue seeing this.”

Flores penned a letter in mid-September to the social services minister, asking for more help for people at the encampment.

She said everyone she spoke to on Tuesday wanted assistance. People were offered help in finding space at shelters, friends and family or in a hotel if nothing else would work, but Flores questioned what happens to them after the couple of nights in a hotel.

The last thing Flores said she wanted to see was the same people just scattered all over the neighbourhood, living in alleys or empty lots.

“It’s not good for anybody. It’s not the humane thing to do, it’s not the fiscally responsible thing to do, it’s not the safe thing to do,” she said.

Flores said she knows frontline workers are doing the best they can.

“It’s just a matter of, do we have the appropriate resources at the scale of the need right now, and that’s the part that’s missing, and that’s the part that’s beyond the City of Regina,” she explained.

Flores said she hopes they can get a commitment from the provincial government that some sort of space will be set up to make sure people have a place to stay beyond a hotel.

As of Thursday, it wasn’t clear how many people from the encampment were sent to shelters or hotels.

Social Services Minister Terry Jenson said the official request from the city for funds to create spaces only got to his desk a couple of weeks ago, and something like that takes time.

“I wish I could stand something up within 12 hours, or 24 hours, or even two days – sometimes these things take a little bit longer,” said Jenson.

He said everyone at the encampment was offered a place to stay, and some were even taken right to the Social Services office on Broad Street to start getting them connected to services like income assistance.

Jenson said the province has the appropriate infrastructure in place to deal with these issues, established over the last few years. He said what’s needed now is coordination between all the community-based organizations and services offering help so that each person can be connected quickly to what they need.

He insisted there are no gaps in the offerings, but the government is always looking at new infrastructure and building it out further as needs are identified.