Compassion and Community Safety Can Coexist

Homelessness in Welland: What Can the City Actually Do?

I’ve spent a lot of time downtown over the years as a business owner, volunteer and community member. I’ve watched Market Square change, attended community meetings about homelessness and encampments, and heard concerns from residents and businesses. I’ve also seen how complicated this issue really is.

The City of Welland cannot solve homelessness on its own. Housing, shelters, social services and much of the homelessness response fall under the Niagara Region. But that doesn’t mean the City can simply wash its hands of the problem.

The City still has an important role to play.

First, we need to separate homelessness from other issues that often get lumped together. Homelessness is not the same as addiction. It is not the same as mental illness and it certainly is not the same as criminal activity. These issues can overlap, but they are different problems and need different responses.

Someone who is homeless is not automatically an addict, mentally ill or a criminal. If someone is committing a crime, deal with the crime. If someone is struggling with addiction, they need access to treatment and support. If someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, they need the appropriate mental health response. If someone simply has nowhere to live, they need housing. We need to stop expecting one system to solve all of these problems.

The City also has a responsibility to manage public spaces. Parks, trails, sidewalks and downtown spaces need to be safe, clean and accessible to everyone. That means dealing with garbage, human waste, fires, dangerous structures and legitimate safety concerns. But simply moving people from one location to another doesn’t solve anything.

When encampments have to be addressed, the City should work with outreach workers and the Region to make sure people are connected to available services and alternatives wherever possible.

The same approach should apply to shelters and supportive housing. I support providing people with safe places to live and the services they need. At the same time, residents and businesses in the surrounding neighbourhood deserve to know how a facility will be managed. They deserve answers about staffing, security, property management, lighting, parking, traffic, outdoor spaces and who they can contact when there is a problem. “Not in my neighbourhood” shouldn’t automatically end the conversation. But neither should “just accept it” be the answer. Good planning, proper resources and meaningful community involvement matter.

Most importantly, we need to start measuring whether our responses are actually working.

How many people are moving into permanent housing? How many are staying housed? How many people are becoming homeless in the first place? How many are cycling through shelters or living outdoors? How much is the City spending responding to the issue? We shouldn’t measure success by how many tents we remove. We should measure it by how many people no longer need a tent.

There is also a prevention piece. Keeping someone housed is almost always better than trying to find them housing after they become homeless. That means supporting affordable housing, eviction prevention, supportive housing and programs that help people before they reach a crisis.

This isn’t something the City can fix by itself. It requires the City, Niagara Region, provincial and federal governments, service providers, police, health services, businesses, residents and community organizations to work together.

I don’t think we have to choose between compassion and community safety. We can care about people who are struggling while also expecting our public spaces to be safe and our neighbourhoods to be respected. But we have to be honest about what the actual problem is, who is responsible for it and whether what we’re doing is working.

That’s where the City can make a difference.