The Ottawa Panhandler’s Union plans to take direct action against the recent introduction of wrought-iron fence built to prevent homeless youth from loitering and sleeping under the sheltered inclines in the pedestrian walkway of the Colonel By underpass near the Rideau Centre.
The union is preparing an injunction in court and a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint.
Andrew Nellis, an organizer with the union, says, “it’s absolutely ridiculous. Effectively what they’re doing is building fences around areas where they don’t want to see poor people.”
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Georges Bédard says people were concerned with the security of the walkway at night. The side inclines of the underpass were a common place for street youth to sleep.
Bédard says many pedestrians felt uncomfortable using the walkway for its intended purpose of safely crossing the street and were forced to cross unsafely at the street level.
As a result, at a cost of $25,000, the city voted to implement increased lighting and restrictive fencing in the underpass.
When the city proposed the fences back in November, the homeless community bluntly said they would tear down whatever was put up.
The fencing was erected shortly after Christmas, but as of last Wednesday, a portion of the fencing had been pried up.
Last week, the city repaired the fence and added reinforcements to ensure the metal bars stay in place.
“We did this for a particular reason, and I think that the vandalism is a demonstration that we need to ensure the area is even more secure,” says Bédard.
“People being mischievous and acting in such an aggressive manner demonstrates the need to be even more vigilant.”
Poverty advocates say the fence will not solve the underlying issue of homelessness in Ottawa.
“It’s certainly not going to eliminate one homeless person. They’ll just move under another bridge,” says Jane Scharf, a homeless awareness activist.
“The city wants the complete elimination of homeless people by environmental design, but that’s totally stupid. It doesn’t address the homeless problem.”
Currently, 200 units of social housing are built per year, and Bédard says this is simply insufficient.
“We will keep pushing the federal and provincial governments,” he says. “What we need is a national housing movement.”
Nellis says until proper social housing solutions are implemented, pushing the homeless from one location to the next is not a viable solution.
“You can’t get rid of them. What are they going to do, fence off the entire downtown core?” he asks. “In many cases these kids are running from abuse at home, so presumably they’ll go back and will be raped by whoever was raping them. It’s just a completely untenable situation.”
Shelters are another option for people living on the street. However, Scharf explains that not everyone feels comfortable in that atmosphere.
“Shelters are overcrowded and unsanitary,” she says. “Many homeless people have anxiety about being there, so they just choose to avoid it.”
Nellis says no matter how much fencing is built, homelessness will not disappear overnight.
“People feel uncomfortable walking under the bridge because they have to walk by poor people. Well I’m sorry, if you don’t want to walk by poor people then move out to your fucking suburbs, or go live in Disneyland,” he says.
“This is a modern, industrialized city and you’re going to find poor people in it. If you don’t like it, don’t come.”