Downtown encampments: District hires public safety director, steps up patrols

District of Squamish has appointed a new director of public safety and stepped up patrols and monitoring around downtown homeless encampments, according to a press release by the district.

The new director will oversee the district’s emergency program, bylaw services and police services, and act as the senior link to the local RCMP. The district said the appointment brings added resources and oversight to the downtown response.

Bylaw officers, Squamish Fire Rescue and the RCMP are now running routine patrols of the downtown and other areas of concern, and district staff are monitoring the encampments regularly, the press release says. Bylaw officers have also been given specialized training in responding to homelessness.

District says crews have made physical changes at the encampment to create safe entry and exit points and to manage where people store their belongings. The district said it is removing debris and potentially hazardous materials from the site on a regular basis. Residents and businesses in the area will be briefed on the response in early September.

Alongside those immediate measures, the district says it is working with the provincial agency BC Housing on longer-term solutions. That work includes outreach teams helping people in the camps find accommodation and support services, a proposal for temporary housing funded by the province, and a permanent supportive housing project on Government Road that is still in the design stage.

“Addressing homelessness requires support from all levels of government,” Mayor Armand Hurford said. “Advancing short- and long-term actions at the same time will help to address current critical safety concerns for residents within encampments, response teams and the surrounding neighbourhood as the work on temporary and long-term housing supports continue.”

The district said several agencies have committed resources to the response, including the RCMP, Squamish Fire Rescue, BC Emergency Health Services, BC Housing, the Squamish Nation and the outreach group Squamish Helping Hands.