A lawyer for the City of Prince George told a BC Supreme Court judge on Wednesday, July 2 that the city has taken steps to remedy the February 2022 dismissal of its second bid to stop encampments at city land on Lower Patricia Boulevard, better known as Moccasin Flats.
Jeffrey Locke told Justice Bruce Elwood that the January-opened Third Avenue supportive housing site was “specifically designed” to meet court requirements to offer a “safe, comfortable facility where occupants live while long-term housing solutions are sought for them.”
“Encampment occupants are given priority consideration for the Third Avenue site,” Locke said, adding there are minimal rules that must be followed.
On the first of a scheduled three-day application for an injunction to stop the tent city for good, Locke said that, since January, there have been 188 new housing units created in Prince George, including Third Avenue’s 42.
“The city and Province of BC have really doubled down on creating new supportive housing in Prince George,” Locke said. “So there is enough supportive housing now for the 11 (remaining encampment) occupants. But here’s the most important difference: The city is seeking an injunction, yes, but that the effective date of the injunction application for the occupants of this encampment be held and not effective until a unit is ready for them. There's some available now. There's some that are under repair.”
In May 2023, the city amended the Zoning and Parks and Open Space bylaws to allow temporary overnight shelter only between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. In May 2024, the province counted 45 people living at Moccasin Flats. Since then, 44 of them either found space in the BC Housing system or moved elsewhere.
Belvery Edward Johnny is the only defendant identified in the city’s February-filed notice of civil claim. While he is not the only homeless person accessing the site, he is the only camper who has maintained a presence there for more than three years.
The city wants Elwood to issue an injunction to authorize it to dismantle and remove any structures, tents or items and dispose them without recourse so that it can remediate the land.
It also wants to be able to refuse anyone the right to encamp or erect structures on city-owned property if they refuse to apply to BC Housing for suitable housing and daytime facilities or if they refuse such an offer from BC Housing or its partners.
The city originally filed for an injunction in August 2021 after the May and June 2021 establishment of encampments on city-owned lands at George Street and Moccasin Flats.
By October of that year, the sites contained 50 structures and over 80 occupants, sparking complaints about public safety and living conditions.
That month, a judge ordered George Street vacated and cleared, but defined Moccasin Flats as green space and dismissed the city’s application to vacate and cleared the site, “absent other suitable housing and daytime facilities.”
Campers were offered space in the BC Housing-acquired Knights Inn beginning in November 2021.
But the city lost another legal challenge in February 2022 when a judge said the city breached the original order by tearing down the Moccasin Flats encampment in November 2021.
The hearing continues Thursday, July 3.
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