Timmins council to lease site for new encampment location in rural and unserviced area

Timmins city council has chosen one of its rural properties on Pine St. South to become the site of a potential encampment relocation project championed by the Cochrane District Services Board (CDSSAB).

The CDSSAB needed the city to pick a location before March 21 so it could access $3.2-million in funding from the province's encampment response initiative fund. 

It plans to use the site to build modular units, similar to those used in mining camps, to create up to 40 temporary emergency shelters.

Timmins city council still needs to review the plan for the site before it officially leases the property to the CDSSAB.

There are currently about 400 people experiencing homelessness in the Cochrane district, according to a recent informal count in Timmins and other communities. 

Encampments and public drug use have become heated discussions in the city, with one public meeting on the issue needing to move to the local arena to accommodate a bigger crowd.

Timmins' chief administrative officer, Dave Landers, says some 3,500 residents offered input during public consultations on where this initiative should be located.

"I believe this was a fair and public process," he said. "I don't know that we've ever seen that level of response to anything we may have done, short of selling concert tickets." 

Pine St. South was identified as the preferred location during public consultations because it is located far away from residences and businesses, at about an hour's walk away from the downtown core.

Some members of the public did express concerns about the site, such as the lack of access to services like policing and mental health, in addition to a lack of nearby food sources or street lights. The smell from the nearby landfill was also identified as a potential issue.

The other locations proposed, like the ones on Highway 655 and Spruce St., were deemed too close to residential areas.

Coun. Cory Robin said he read all the public input and asked his fellow council members to pick Hwy 655 instead of Pine St, but his motion was defeated.

"Half of the respondents want us to do nothing or put it as far away as possible," he said. "Pine St. has problems with safety, lighting, food. It's a desert."

Details about transportation, hydro and water to be sorted later

Coun. John Curley likened the Pine St. South location to a "gravel pit" that was "never made for anything to be done down there" and expressed concerns about the city needing to invest to build infrastructure there.

Landers says it's not clear how transportation, hydro and water systems could be deployed to the site at this time, and these details are to be included in the CDSSAB's upcoming plan.

Coun. Kristin Murray said the location debate "consumed all of our attention… but encampment response is one piece of a bigger puzzle that has to be put together as a community." 

Jason Sereda of DIY Community Health told CBC's Up North that the results of the public surveys factored in too much in this decision, and the needs of unhoused people were put on the back burner. 

"It's important that we engage the public and have transparency, but it's dangerous when we base public policy on the opinions of a few rather than evidence," he said.