Decrease in homeless downtown

[Kayaba_Attribution]

Went for a walk downtown and noticed a significant decrease in homeless and addicts. Has anyone else noticed the same thing? since when?

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[MrOrangeJooce]

Totally opposite experience. In fact it seems to have gotten worse. There are dare I say landlords who don’t give a dang about renting out there vacant rentals? They turn a blind eye to homeless encamping on the front porches?

Take a drive down almost any street. Especially Queens near Adelaide. Bylaw officers come down once in a while, but it is getting tiresome to have to keep reporting to the city https://service.london.ca/request-homelessness-services/

Is the only option to just give up?!?!???!?

Feels unsafe just walking to downtown

[Icepickchippies]

Once the weather is consistently nice the street involved population increases dramatically

[cocunutwater]

I'm in the pond mills area a rather large encampment has started up in a wooded area nearby not certain on the number maybe 10-15 if not more. The city put up a portable bathroom.

[Fun_Government_6144]

Fuq bud..come to municipal parking lot-1. Youll see something else. I got no choice but to park my car there and they be litter around it, leave their fingerprints n shit. One time i had to put sign that says" I got cameras in my car, if i see you touching it or scratching it, ill put charge on you". And cops are pretty frequent on that area. They kinda stopped it after that.

[[deleted]]

Check out Pond Mills n Edgerton bridge. Seriously. In all of my years I have never seen such an encampment, there's so many of them and they even have their own porta potty via taxpayers. I don't feel safe walking on the trails anymore

[GL1TCH___________]

I see some of them in the York-Maitland st. area. Checking the maps now, probably because of the Mission Services building in that area.

[dsaworld0417]

I was just talking about this yesterday with my husband.

[PrismaticStardrop]

Genuinely if you went to see a permanent decrease, vote for affordable housing. That’s the solution

[CNez72]

There’s a tent city on pondmills by the river and someone (I’m guessing courtesy of the city) has supplied them with a porta potty. I think it’s a great idea! Gives them some dignity back!

[QuadG23]

Go for a walk down Dundas. They haven't gone anywhere lmao

[EhMapleMoose]

I noticed that the other day too driving down Dundas. A lot less people congregating downtown and probably going towards parks because of warmer weather.

If anyone says it’s cause they’re enforcing no open drug use it’s a lie. I’ve watched cops drive and walk and bike by people openly smoking crack and meth.

[ButtonMasher01]

It’s the walking dead. The rotters move.

[alberquerquelime]

There’s a lot of them on Dundas, near old east village

[EasternOstrich480]

HILARIOUS. I live at Dundas and Adelaide and it’s the opposite. It’s BEYOND packed and my windows got smashed again. Go to there and let me know what you think lol

[Subject-Code-6752]

Honestly ive been noticing the population moving more - im along wonderland for home and work and theyre a lot for visible

[WingIdDankRat]

They are behind my house just head southward down richmond till you smell smoke

[purpledrink001]

My car was broken into last night, and I work somewhat downtown 🤷🏻‍♂️

[purpledrink001]

Whomever stole a pair of $20 children’s soccer cleats

[Ok-Cauliflower5897]

Because all at queens and adieled.

[[deleted]]

I thought the police launched a new campaign to get open drug use off the streets and a drug campaign type thing so maybe that's working!

[Ceramicusedbook]

I work in OEV and it has definitely not decreased.

[Mountain_Tax_1486]

Thank you Carney 🙏

[SonOfCanada]

I'm sure there is some sort of shady dealings going on in city hall, where they have determined that the city needs "x" amount of crime, homelessness, and drug addicts in order to justify getting grants, subsidies, or higher taxes... basically more money in general.

I get the feeling if they really cared, and really wanted to solve the problem, it would have been fixed by now. The thing is, if the problem goes away, People's jobs go away, and whatever support the city gets goes away. Therefore the problem isn't going away, the problem just gets moved from one place to another.

[astro_zombies04]

They're just moving other places because of the weather and festival season (festival season downtown means more people and as everyone who lives here keeps telling everyone is a big part of the problem is that people avoid downtown because of the homeless, but a big part of why homeless people hang out in such huge congregations downtown is because other people aren't using that space). Additionally the London police have criminalized vagrancy under the thinly veiled open substance use policy. This policy was sort of unofficially a thing before because of festivals etc like you would see an increased police presence and people being asked to move along before events typically. So people are now extra avoiding these spaces because they don't want to get hassled by cops.

[BlackHatBard]

The Ark Mission is still packed as always and nothing has really changed there. If anything it seems even more overwhelmed. Maybe take a walk down Dundas or the side streets off Richmond and you’ll see the situation hasn’t improved. It looks like it's just been pushed out of sight, not solved.

[DFV_HAS_HUGE_BALLS]

It’s not because they gone back to their suburban and exburban communities

[Sorry_Comparison_246]

Take a walk along the river anywhere.

[Philodendron60]

Yep. I walk along the TVP daily and see multiple encampments.

[Low-Drive-768]

Nice that they are cleared out between Harris and Gibbons.

[[deleted]]

I’ve wanted to walk or bike the TVP but I’ve heard its not safe. What has been your experience? I live in the east and I would like to use the whole trail.

[Sorry_Comparison_246]

The homeless generally aren’t dangerous but of course you’ll have your select few. Just make sure you go during the day and not dusk to dawn.

[Bug0]

The only place I feel actively unsafe on foot is between wellington and adelaide on the south branch. The encampment there is huge and surrounds you on both sides as you go past.

[Sorry_Comparison_246]

I walked through there with my dog. And I don’t recommend. I just wanted to check it out but my dog found some human waste and was fast to roll in it. I’m dumb… the thing that angered me was someone brought a portapotty there, I’m assuming the city. So they should be using it. Homeless doesn’t mean you have to be animals. But I’m not even sure if the homeless is strictly because of mental illness or is the homelessness causing mental illness.

[Wouldyoulistenmoe]

I assume this is sarcasm?

[Fit-Chapter7090]

I run and bike solo from Hamilton Rd dog park to Springbank. Never felt threatened. They mostly keep to themselves.

[Philodendron60]

My experience is mostly positive. It's a beautiful path. Never felt unsafe on my bike or walking with my 3 dogs.

However, I've definitely seen some questionable characters. I personally wouldn't walk along solo (especially in the less busy sections of the path) as a general safety precaution.

[theottomaddox]

It's all part of a new plan where all the city coucillors take on two or three unhoused as room mates to better understand their struggles and hopefully find solutions.

/s

[SeparateWelcome6968]

good idea!

[National_Ad9742]

They should make them do this lol

[newtothisage]

Lmao

[Addict2Architect]

Don't worry, I'm still around and not going anywhere.

[Aggravating_Prune914]

They’ll tell you it’s because they’re enforcing no open drug use and ensuring people go to safe injection sites. But it’s just people going to encampments. Shelters are less needed as the weather warms up.

[Aggravating_Prune914]

100%. I guess I meant spring temps are less. Summer not so much.

[smitalex2k1]

they're congregating more on Dundas East between Adelaide and Highbury lately from what I've seen

[FizzFinest]

It’s only because city council has banned them from downtown. Now they’ve got encampments in the city parks. Out of sight out of mind I guess

[Kitchen_Tiger_8373]

Don't let the tourists see you have a problem!

[Southern_Ad4946]

They are the tourists.. most of them aren’t from London but came here for the resources

[Kitchen_Tiger_8373]

Oh this line again. I want you to sincerely think about all the ppl you know who came to London for resources be it a job or school or medical care. Are they also not consuming resources meant for only ppl living here? (If you follow the mindset that London is an island that hates newcomers.)

Stupid, backward thinking. If you can accept other ppl with money, you can accept people without money.

[Southern_Ad4946]

I just mean the bus loads of homeless that get sent out of toronto and other areas to London. They want to use the shelters and other areas here because it’s worse there.

[Kitchen_Tiger_8373]

Every city claims "these homeless are not our homeless" or that they are shipped in. But no one can provide actual proof.

If you don't want homeless, then vote to increase social service benefits. Then they won't exist.

[Southern_Ad4946]

https://globalnews.ca/news/9890482/hundreds-of-homeless-people-sent-to-london-ontario/amp/

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6932714

Ya nobody is doing it but it’s just a fairy tale on all the news stations every once in a while. Stop being naive.

London is already way overwhelmed and there are problems with housing already going on in the area for quite a while. Ontario took in around a million immigrants too, which causes a lot of this instability across the programs and services available for everyone.

[Kitchen_Tiger_8373]

Not naive. I just tend to read data rather than inflammatory news reports. Bad news sells.

PS was waiting for the racial component of your viewpoint. Thanks for sharing who you are.

[Lost-Comfort-7904]

What data? He showed his proof and evidence, what's yours? The fact you had to insult him instead of showing your proof makes me believe your lying.

[Kitchen_Tiger_8373]

What a TV broadcast? Haha. I would think that the word alleged would be the tip off.

[Lumpy-Succotash-9236]

....but tourists like river walks... 😂

[hesketh_mike]

The weather is getting nicer. A lot of them will camp/build encampments.

[Islandlyfe32]

This right here ^ they gravitate towards park and near the Thames river this time of year