As Halifax encampment residents leave, cleanup comes next

Stephen Wilsack was busy Wednesday cleaning up after the most recent snowstorm in Halifax.

He was also cleaning the encampment site at Grand Parade which has been home to more than 30 people for the last three months.

“We’re getting the site ready for Feb. 26 in order to make it a site that is turned back over to the city,” the homelessness advocate says. “At Grand Parade Square we’ve been working daily, and we’re doing cleanup on a daily basis so as residents move on, we are folding down the tents.”

With the eviction deadline now less than two weeks away, Wilsack says two more people were set to move-on Wednesday. He notes keeping the site clean has been a priority.

“This is everyone’s home and we’re very proud to be part of this community and we make sure every day that it is clean and tidy,” Wilsack says.

Once those living in the encampments move on, the city will move in and finish cleaning up anything that’s left behind.

“Over a year, we budget about $400,000 for cleanups,” says Max Chauvin, Halifax’s director of housing and homelessness.

Chauvin says city staff will oversee the work that will be done by contractors.

“If you find that there is garbage that’s been left and things like that, we’ve got to remove that, could be broken glass, things like that. So the first step, once the park is ready for remediation, is to send an expert who can go through it, and sort of figure out exactly what’s necessary.”

Chauvin says all efforts will be made to return valuable items left behind to the rightful owners after the encampments are closed down.

“Anybody who’s experiencing homelessness, they have all their possessions with them, so I’ve been in people’s tents and people’s structures and they’ve got mementos from family, things they’ve collected,” he says.

Five of the city's 11 designated tenting sites will close at the end of the month.

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