'It's not safe': Officials say they're working on solutions for worrisome homeless camp

It would be hard to drive through Abbotsford and not notice the growing number of people experiencing homelessness.

Some living in tents next to Highway One. Others have been camped at park-and-rides and rest stops for years.

But it’s the Lonzo Camp, filled with run-down trailers and burned-out RV’s, on provincially-owned land, that is the largest and most worrisome encampment.

“The Lonzo Camp, in particular, it’s not safe. It’s not safe for the community. It’s not safe for the people living in it,” said Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon.

“It’s heartbreaking that we have people in such a crisis,” said Abbotsford Mayor, Ross Siemens.

“And the challenge when you have encampments, of course, is then you have people prey on them,” he added.

The mayor said the city has a number of homeless camps on property owned by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

He said Abbotsford has been working with the province to resolve the issue.

“And there’s no easy answers. There’s no easy one solution to any of this,” he said.

Siemens estimates there are about 500 homeless people in Abbotsford. That’s up more than 50 per cent from just a few years ago.

According to the city, the number of calls for service to Abbotsford Fire Rescue, where the recipient was identified as experiencing homelessness, have also increased substantially.

In 2018, there were 391 calls. In 2022, that number had jumped to 2,199 calls.

Calls could be for medical emergencies, overdoses, or fires at encampments.

In an email to CTV News, the city said, “fires where a person experiencing homelessness was the service recipient have increased from 49 calls in 2019 to 125 calls in 2022 … calls for fires have an average of a two-engine response and cost approximately $125,000 in 2022 — up from $49,000 in 2019/2020, which is an increase of 155 per cent.”

Meanwhile, Abbotsford police were called to the Lonzo Camp area more than 100 times last year for violent crimes.

CTV News asked the minister if the province would shut down the Lonzo Camp.

The minister responded by saying that announcements were coming.

“We do believe we’re close to having a path forward to address the encampment and have the housing in place and I’ll have more to say about that in a couple weeks,” Kahlon said.

“We’re going to need some of the space those encampments are in for housing,” he added.

“I am optimistic solutions are coming,” Siemens said. “Having said that, it is a very delicate situation.”

CTV News spoke to a couple in the camp who have been living there for two years. The man and woman said they have a meeting scheduled next week and believe they will be offered housing.

Meanwhile, the mayor said it’s also important to ensure there is subsidized housing for families and low-income families.

“I’ve heard of situations where … a partner passes and now they’re forced to live on a much smaller income and they choose to live in their car until they can find something more affordable,” Siemens said.

“That’s heartbreaking. They don’t know where to turn,” he said.