The Downtown Sudbury BIA issued a statement Friday, calling on the city for an immediate emergency response to address the issues facing Sudburians who are dealing with homelessness.
City bylaw officers attended YMCA the parking lot on May 12 to relocate an encampment of homeless individuals. The bylaw officers eventually backed off after the situation became tense, the city said.
The encampment is located in the below-ground parking structure at the YMCA building on Durham Street. The area offers protection from the weather and a heat source from the YMCA pool heater vent directly above.
"The present condition at the city parking lot is unacceptable, for the people seeking shelter there, for the YMCA and for the community," said a news release from the Downtown Sudbury BIA. "We are actively working with the city, YMCA and community aid groups to come to a solution on this."
In a statement, Shannon Dowling with the city’s communications department said encampments of the sort at the YMCA are “complex issues” for municipalities. She said the city’s approach is to try to balance the needs of the people camped out with the needs of other users of these public spaces.
"While we understand there is still space at the off-the-street shelter, this shows that homelessness cannot be solved with a one-size-fits-all solution," said the BIA. "COVID has amplified the homelessness and opioid crisis to emergency levels. An emergency level response to this from the city, community and public health is required."
Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger launched a task team last fall to address issues facing the city's homeless population.
During their last meeting on March 8, one of the key topics discussed was a supervised consumption site in the city. Public Health Sudbury and Districts issued a formal request for expression of interest for a supervised consumption site last October, but a location has not yet been identified.
"Public Health and Réseau have been working on this so we got a bit of an update there and I've invited them to come back and provide more details with the challenges they've been facing," said Bigger in a recent interview with Sudbury.com.
"They have not been able to identify a location yet, but we're bringing all the partners together to move that forward."
The Downtown Sudbury BIA stressed that the lives of the people affected by homelessness and the opioid crisis are just as important as the lives of people affected by COVID.
"Sudbury’s homeless population are the children of all the areas of our community and we need to work together to solve this crisis. It is unfair to leave this on the doorstep of a community organization," said the BIA.
"The YMCA has gone above and beyond during this crisis, while they are already struggling with the economic pressures of COVID-19. They have been, and continue to be, the first in line to help those in need. This population is in an emergency state and need an immediate emergency response.
