Public meeting held in downtown Dartmouth over Geary Street encampment

There was a sizable turnout at a public meeting in downtown Dartmouth, N.S., Wednesday night about a homeless encampment in the neighbourhood.

Dozens of area residents attended the event, which focused on the Geary Street encampment.

Many expressed concerns about drug use and crime.

"We see the needles all the time up in the back," said Ruth Flemming. "I've seen, you know, a drug deal go down.

"People are very insecure right now in their homes, which is supposed to be their safe haven."

Local councillor Sam Austin was in attendance as well as the city's director of housing and homelessness, who says the situation is far from ideal.

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“Ultimately, the goal is to not have encampments. Encampments are bad for the people that are forced to live in them. And as we heard tonight from these residents, it also deeply impacts those who live around an encampment,” Max Chauvin said.

“The goal is to work with our partners at the province and with other service providers to ensure that everybody has a safe, affordable, sustainable, permanent housing option.”

Harbourview Residents’ Association co-chair Gretchen Pohlkamp, Dartmouth Centre councillor Sam Austin and HRM's director of housing and homelessness Max Chauvin are pictured at a public meeting in downtown Dartmouth, N.S., on Dec. 4, 2024, to discuss a homeless encampment in the neighbourhood. (Jim Kvammen/CTV Atlantic)

The Geary Street site was chosen as a designated encampment site last year. It shut down after a number of complaints from residents like Flemming, but it reopened five months ago.

“It was 9:30 in the morning and I heard this loud sound outside the window," Flemming said, referring to an incident prior to the site's de-designation. "I saw this black object and thought it was a bear cub. (My husband) came downstairs and said that's not a bear, that's a person.

"Later that morning we could tell there was something left. It was needles and drug paraphernalia. You have no idea how I violated I felt that this could happen on a regular basis.” 

Gretchen Pohlkamp, the co-chair of the Harbourview Residents’ Association, also attended the meeting.

“Our hope is that by having people be able to express their concerns about the issues related to the encampment that we can raise the awareness and ask them for some information,” she said.

“They’ve said that the encampment was temporary and that it will be closed for winter, and we’d like to ensure that people who need housing are provided with shelter.”

Chauvin says outreach workers will effort a head count of people staying at the encampment Thursday and keep working to help them.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.