Railyards neighbourhood sees increase in encampments; downtown development strategies to come
A formal neighbourhood development strategy will be created for Red Deer’s Railyards neighbourhood, following a city council discussion of the area’s major issues which include increasing urban encampments.
At their regular meeting on Monday, council heard a report by administration identifying the challenges, opportunities, and potential solutions to improve mobility, connection, and safety for everyone in the neighbourhood.
A particular challenge shown in the report was the transition from encampments in parks to urban streets, particularly in the public trail between Cannery Row, nearby businesses, and the CPR Bridge.
The City currently has a zero-tolerance policy to encampments, having established one of the first proactive approaches for their clean-up in the province, giving individuals up to 72 hours for their removal. With a budget of $516,974 per year, 597 encampments were cleaned by Parks staff in 2022 and to date in 2023, 730 have been removed, with a projected 800 or more by the end of the year. The City says this is 341.9 per cent increase since the program started in 2018, when only 234 encampments were removed.