Kitchener encampment needs to be cleared by Dec. 1 ahead of transit hub construction: region | CBC News

The transit hub planned for King Street West and Victoria Street North in Kitchener is set to begin construction early next year, but it means people living at a nearby encampment will have to move.

A new report released Wednesday at 4 p.m. in next week’s regional council agenda outlines the work that will need to take place over the next several months. Regional staff have drafted a new bylaw that, if passed, would require people to move off the 100 Victoria St. N. encampment site by Dec. 1.

Peter Sweeney, the region’s commissioner of community services, says regional staff will work with people at the encampment on a “case-by-case basis to find alternative and safer housing accommodations before that location no longer becomes a viable opportunity for people to stay at.”

“It’s hard work, it’s complex work. It’s also work that’s really human-centred and relational,” Sweeney told CBC News.

“It’s really about understanding their unique circumstances, their unique needs, and having the conversation around what does a different, more safe alternative look like for you.”

Ashley Schuitema, executive director of Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, said concerned people had called her clinic after construction equipment, a trailer and extra garbage bins had been brought to the site of the encampment on Wednesday.

She said there was “a lot of confusion, a lot of uncertainty.”

“Residents living there were quite on edge and feeling quite upset and stressed out,” Schuitema said, adding community members who support people at the encampment were also worried about the changes.

She said community legal services has been invited to a meeting with the region on Thursday to talk about what’s happening at the encampment.

She noted local organizations that make up part of a region-led group for the plan to end chronic homelessness met on Tuesday, but were not made aware of any changes to the Kitchener site until they received a letter on Wednesday.

“It seems really disheartening to be getting this information through worry and stress. It doesn’t seem like it needs to be done that way,” Schuitema said. “I feeling very frustrated.”

Vacant lot meant to be construction site

The region has long said the property at 100 Victoria St. N. would be needed for construction of the new transit hub. The region has been planning the hub for more than a decade and now says Metrolinx is ready to get construction underway in March 2026. To prepare the site for that work, they need about three months to do remediation work, staff say.

But moving people off the site will be a big challenge for the region. In January 2023, a Kitchener judge ruled the region couldn’t evict people from the site unless they gave them another place to live.

The region tried to argue the encampment went against a bylaw on public conduct on regionally owned properties.

Justice M.J. Valente cited the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and said the region’s plans to move people off the site at the time went against the person’s rights to life, liberty and security of the person. That’s because, Valente said in his ruling, the region lacked enough shelter space for everyone who was homeless.

Valente said if the region could show it was meeting the needs of people who were experiencing homelessness, he would reconsider.

Homelessness has been a growing issue in Waterloo region. A point-in-time count in the fall of 2021 showed more than 1,000 people didn’t have a place to live. That rose to more than 2,300 people during an October 2024 point-in-time count.

Tents at the 100 Victoria St. encampment first went up in early 2022. The number of people living at the site has changed depending on the time of year, with more people there during the warmer months.

Region will seek further direction from courts

Fiona McCrae, acting solicitor for the region, says passing a bylaw is the first step. Next, the region would go back to Valente “to seek further direction from the court on a timeline that’s feasible and compatible with the anticipated construction schedule.”

The bylaw would make it illegal for anyone to live on or occupy the site at 100 Victoria St. N. after Dec. 1, 2025, and staff say it’s also the region’s intention to ensure no new tents are added to the encampment.

“Once we have a decision from council, then we’ll make a determination on the timing for the court proceedings,” McCrae said, adding she expects them to return to the judge “as soon as is reasonably practical” after council approves the bylaw.

Sweeney says he knows people in the community will be concerned with the region’s plans but he wants them to know staff will work closely with the people at the encampment.

“The experience of homelessness in Waterloo region is fluid, and so our daily effort is to work with individuals who are experiencing homelessness wherever they are and help them find a pathway into supportive, transitional and hopefully permanent housing,” he said.

“That work happens across the region. What we’re going to focus on in the next five or six months is specifically those individuals who are residing in a location that they won’t be able to reside in in December.”