With an increasing number of rough sleeper camps being reported by Red Deerians over the past few months, The City of Red Deer is focusing heavily on cleanup efforts across the city so I thought I would provide an update on behalf of Council regarding progress made to date.
Over the summer, a collaborative cleanup and outreach team worked to respond to 83 camps, which resulted in connecting with 153 individuals about housing and 70 referrals to non-housing related social services. This collaborative approach was part of a pilot project for an enhanced collaborative response, and this approach and process is aimed at preventing the displacement and reoccupation of rough sleepers within the park system by attempting to house people. The pilot ran from June to August 2018.
Citizens are encouraged to report camps to the non-emergency RCMP/Bylaw complaint line. When reporting a rough sleeper camp, you may be asked for personal information such as your name and phone number so Community Peace Officers (CPOs) can follow up on your complaint and ensure they know where the camp is located.
When a camp is reported, CPOs go to the reported site and, when their investigation is complete, they issue a 24 hour eviction notice. The CPOs then work with City of Red Deer staff to clean up the area within 14 days, whenever possible.
The process to respond to rough sleeper camps is as follows:
• Citizens contact the RCMP/Bylaw complaint line to report the camp.
• A Municipal Enforcement Officer is dispatched to the reported camp site, which is often vacant.
• Once this work is complete, the issuing officer posts a 24-hour eviction notice, which contains social support services contact information for individuals affected.
• Municipal Enforcement then communicates with City of Red Deer staff, who are scheduled to complete weekly camp cleanups in the interest of the safety of all Red Deerians. Clean-up is initiated and subsequently completed.
City Council and Administration recognize that camp clean-up is only one part of the actions necessary to address the systematic social challenges Red Deer is faced with.
Red Deer City Council, City Administration, the many local agencies, partner organizations and concerned citizens will continue to work together to address the social watershed our community has arrived at. We know there are hardworking volunteers, agencies and organizations in our city who are doing everything they can, and we are grateful for their service. Together, we continue to ask all our citizens to elevate our community concerns to the province with us to prioritize our community social, health, and safety needs for: 24/7 shelter and associated supports, residential addictions treatment, sufficient funding for urban policing, expanded Red Deer Regional Hospital health capacity, and a provincial strategy to prevent the proliferation of contaminated needle debris.
I hope this helps to answer some of your questions until next month. As always, Council thanks you for the ongoing opportunity to represent you. We look forward to seeing you all in the near future and hearing about what is important to citizens in our community.
Until next time…
Mayor Tara Veer