The mayor of Bancroft wants the province to step up and address homelessness in municipalities large and small.
After a tense weekend last weekend, Mayor Paul Jenkins says there have been no incidents this week with encampments being set up in town limits.
The town briefly closed its municipal parks because of concerns an unlawful encampment would be set up due to the closure of the North Hastings Community Trust warming centre for the spring and summer.
Funding for the warming centre, which comes from Hastings County ended April 15.
Mayor Paul Jenkins says they had what he calls reliable and credible information that there was an effort underway for approximately 15-20 users of the warming centre to establish an encampment in a municipal park.
The parks were closed in consultation with the OPP.
“Predominantly for community safety reasons we were opposed to this. We already have by-laws etc., governing camping in parks and overnight use of parks, etc. But we thought it was prudent to close the parks for the one day, so to, number one take care of the situation and to potentially avoid any conflicts if an encampment did arrive and there were other people in the park already.”
“You know this is an addiction, mental health situation, in my opinion that’s leading to homelessness. We have a great fear that they’re getting lost in all of this, because, you know, we have tried to help those that we feel we can help and help them move on. But it’s a really complex situation that really needs the attention of the provincial government.”
Jenkins feels the issue has strained the relationship with the NHCT and resulted in many comments on social media.
“Because, to be frank with you, the residents in town are very fed up. There’s been a big impact on our business community with respect to, you know, vandalism and petty theft, etc. You know, there’s varying viewpoints on how to deal with it.”
The Trust is calling on the province to help by providing more affordable housing but is also asking the Town of Bancroft and Hastings County to provide a year round shelter.
Below is a portion of the statement issued by the NHCT:
The town was forced to close a couple of the parks (Churchill and Cenotaph) again this week for a completely different reason – high water levels are creating a hazard.
Jenkins hopes they will reopen within a week or two.
