B.C. housing minister 'disappointed' by City of Prince George plan to dismantle homeless camp

Signage at Prince George City Hall is shown. (MatthewRoberge/Shutterstock.com)

B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says he's "disappointed" that the City of Prince George is shutting down a homeless camp in a city park, but the city says the move is necessary after the situation in the camp "deteriorated significantly" in August.

The city announced Thursday that occupants of Millennium Park had been ordered to remove all of their personal property from the park by Sept. 9.

"Recent reports from the RCMP, Prince George Fire Rescue, and city frontline workers indicate serious safety concerns for both responders and occupants of the park as the result of increased density," the city said in a statement Thursday.

"These conditions have severely impacted the ability of emergency responders to provide assistance to individuals sheltering on the site."

Responding to the city in a statement of his own, Kahlon said city councillors chose to pursue decampment "without adequate indoor shelter options."

“Addressing homelessness in Prince George is a critical priority for our government, and we know that encampments are not a long-term solution," the minister said.

"We had offered Prince George new resources like dedicated encampment response staff and deployment of temporary housing units to the community. Despite that, council has chosen not to access those resources to assist people living in Millennium Park to move indoors and to move unilaterally with this decampment – in the absence of appropriate resources."

Both the city and the minister said they continue to work on finding housing solutions for people camping in the park and elsewhere in Prince George.

The city said any items remaining in Millennium Park after Sept. 9 will be "removed and permanently disposed of," and the park will be closed to the public while the city weighs remediation options.

The only area in Prince George where temporary overnight sheltering is allowed is the Lower Patricia encampment at the east end of 5th Avenue, which the city described as "protected by court order."

That protection was the result of previous decampment efforts by the city in 2021. City officials sought an injunction to prevent camping in the area, but the B.C. Supreme Court twice declined to grant such an injunction, concluding there was not enough housing available for the residents of the encampment.

The court further ruled that the city "inflicted serious harm on vulnerable people" when it dismantled much of the encampment without an injunction. 

While the city initially appealed those decisions, it dropped its appeals and issued an apology to encampment residents in March 2022.