Photo: Colin Dacre

Penticton city council took a virtual walk downtown Tuesday, guided by city manager Peter Weeber through a lengthy photo slideshow of images he’s captured over the last year of the local street-entrenched population.

The photos chronicled the sad state of the city’s streets, ranging from people sleeping in doorways to open drug use and overdose in public spaces.

Weeber attempted to draw a clear line between people who simply don’t have a place to sleep and those that “take over” parts of the community to use substances and leave a mess behind.

“We are not targeting tired people, we are targeting behaviour,” Weeber said, explaining its not against the law to sleep on a park bench.

Sounding slightly exasperated, Weeber showed a photo of two men setting up mattresses in a Penticton park.

“It's obvious what they are doing, they are trying to catch a few zees, they need a place to go,” he said. “I can’t keep chasing people all over the city with bylaw, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“The solution is not chasing them around the city… the solution is housing."

At the same time, Weeber said bylaw is keeping the pressure up downtown and called on the RCMP to engage with those drinking or using drugs openly.

“The other 34,000 people get quite upset when people take over an entire part of the community,” he said. “These people are not paying taxes or adding to the beauty of the city, but they are causing a lot of problems.”

Weeber outlined “environmental design” changes that have seen benches removed, shrubs trimmed and doorways gated. He highlighted enforcement actions and outreach such as the “party is over” declaration earlier this month.

Representatives from the Downtown Penticton Association and Chamber of Commerce spoke and praised the city and RCMP for the increased presence downtown, but were clear that more work needs to be done. Both groups are also happy with a working group formed by the city to tackle the issue. 

Coun. Judy Sentes said the city has taken “significant criticism” for a perceived lack of action on the file, and pushed back against the notion that there is a simple fix to homelessness and addiction.

“I think Mr. Weeber’s report states it's a significant problem here. It’s not confined here, it's everywhere. It’s not going to be a simple solution," she added. “We are actively engaged, we’ve set the standards high. We’ve been tolerant, not tolerant anymore."

New data from the provincial homeless count has pegged the local population at 108. Weeber showed images of larger homeless encampments that have sprung up in other communities, and warned there is a risk of that happening here. He said Penticton won’t tolerate it, and will move people along, noting there are six groups of campers that bylaw regularly deal with.

He admitted there is no short-term solution to deal with the homeless situation until new BC Housing units come online, but was optimistic about the impact projects like Compass Court will have.