Tents were taken away by City of Ottawa staff as they dismantled several homeless encampments in the Byward Market on Friday afternoon.
The first encampment was located on a median, in between the Salvation Army and a condominium complex on George Street. People living inside the tents were woken up and asked to leave by Ottawa police and city workers.
Workers from the Salvation Army and people experiencing homelessness watched from across the street, some appearing in distress at the scene.
After dismantling this encampment, city workers moved on to York Street and Murray Street — where other encampments were set up.
Aileen Leo, director of communications at the Ottawa Mission, says dismantling the Byward encampment won’t stop others from appearing elsewhere in the city.
“It’s an open question as to what will happen to those people when the encampment is taken down,” she said. “Anybody who ends up in an encampment is not there because they want to be there.
“People with addictions also live in encampments because there’s literally
nowhere else for them to go.
”
Coun. Stéphanie Plante, for the Rideau-Vanier ward, said the encampments have been an ongoing issue for the last two weeks. She says her office and the city has had over 30 complaints about the public drug use around the encampment site.
“The understanding is the dismantle is happening today and they’ve all been offered housing,” she said.
Plante says she will continue to push for affordable and supportive housing but also prevention strategies so people don’t become homeless.
Long-term housing needs to be a priority for every level of government, she said.
“I will scream it until my lungs fall out of my chest, that we need housing solutions and not shelters,” she said. “We know when people are housed with their own key, their own room, their own dignity, the outcomes are a lot better.
“They don’t resort to encampments because people encamp because they don’t feel safe in shelters.”
Ottawa declared a housing and homelessness emergency in January 2020. Leo said it’s only gotten worse in recent years, referencing the Point-in-Time count
done
in 2024.
“All shelters in Ottawa, including ours, are full,” she said. “In addition to a terrible lack of affordable housing, there’s a terrible lack of supportive housing for people with higher needs.”
Leo said the Ottawa Mission urges a “human rights approach” as opposed to forcibly dismantling an encampment. This includes accelerating city and community efforts to find dignified housing and providing public health supports.
“There’s always the risk that dismantling an encampment will result in something untoward,” she said.
Glenn van Gulik, divisional secretary for public relations at The Salvation Army, says they’ve expanded their staffing recently to “enhance their presence” downtown, specifically in the ByWard Market.
“The Salvation Army shares the area councillor’s concerns regarding individuals living in tents outside 160 George St. and more broadly for all those experiencing homelessness across our city,” he said in a statement to the Citizen.
Van Gulik says the Salvation Army’s outreach team continues to remain in contact with people living in the tents to “offer support, service navigation, and, where possible, connections to housing.”
Kale Brown, interim director of Housing and Homelessness Services at the City of Ottawa, said each situation is addressed on a “case-by-case” basis and the decision to dismantle an encampment is made once all other efforts to support individuals have been “exhausted”.
He says the city offers shelter services, health supports and assistance in securing stable housing, but some individuals living in encampments “may not choose to accept these services”.
“The City of Ottawa has been involved in coordinating the dismantle in question and is working with our partners to ensure compassionate care and support throughout the process,” Brown wrote.
He noted that there are “sufficient shelter spaces” available for people in need.
