Sarnia trims security, sanitation as Rainbow Park camp shrinks

Sarnia is scaling back some security and sanitation measures at the Rainbow Park homeless camp.

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“Given that there’s a very low number of people at the site, there aren’t the same level of health and safety concerns,” said the city’s Steve Henschel.

City hall in June installed fences, brought in portable toilets, contracted security guards and paid for cleanup work and a dumpster on site.

Costs for those measures as of Nov. 30 were $544,000, not including added police presence at the site, Henschel said.

As of Friday, just one of the two security guards and the fencing will remain, Henschel said.

“That should reduce the operating costs that we’re seeing month after month at the park,” he said, adding the city continues working with Lambton County “to ensure people are connected with the supports they need.”

At its peak, the camp in the south-end riverside park had 80 to 100 people, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley told local Golden K Kiwanis Club members this week. On Monday, 12 people and 16 tents remained.

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“We are working on that exit strategy,” he said.

Discussion at city hall about the Thorny encampment issue dates back to last March, with provincial legal precedent complicating the process, amid neighborhood concerns about drugs, overdoses and violence.

“Not to overcomplicate this, but . . . no city was successful in getting an injunction,” Bradley told Kiwanians.

Court rulings in Waterloo and Kingston and a third-party legal opinion obtained by the City of Sarnia said having emergency shelter beds available wasn’t enough to justify removing people from public parks, in violation of charter rights to life, liberty and security of person .

“Truly accessible” shelter spaces – which let couples stay together, people bring in pets or drugs, and ensure safety from violence and sexual predation – are needed, officials have said.

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Key to shrinking the Rainbow Park camp, and preventing other camps elsewhere, was Sarnia developing a camp protocol that bars camping in city parks, and doesn’t let campers leaving Rainbow Park return, Bradley said.

Community program officials provide aid and refer people in need to programs, but people who have left Rainbow Park still need help, Bradley said.

“Encampments are not the answer. Shelters are not the answer.” he said. “There’s only one answer, which is housing.”

Meanwhile, Sarnia – through Lambton County, which receives senior government funding and is responsible for social programs and affordable housing – has about 100 affordable housing units ion the works at Maxwell Park Place and we Kathleen AvenueBradley said.

Another 830 units are available across Lambton through the county’s rent-geared-to-income program.

The county also is working with the charity Indwell to create 150 to 300 supportive housing units.

More is needed, since boosting housing supply is key to cutting rental costs and reducing homelessness, Bradley said, noting city council green-lit development proposals for about 1,200 apartments in 2024.

“We have a basic responsibility as a government to try to assist people in times of need,” he said.

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