A man found living in a tent on the NOTL waterfront this summer was directed by municipal staff to a regional outreach program that works with people experiencing homelessness. 

The man was spotted around the week of Aug. 19 in a small green tent in the beach area around Newark Street and Palatine Place. 

By Aug. 23, the man and the tent were no longer in the area. 

Marah Minor, the town’s communications co-ordinator, confirmed town staff spoke with the man and connected him with the “Niagara Region and supporting agencies,” later confirmed to be Niagara Assertive Street Outreach.

According to the program’s website, Niagara Assertive Street Outreach actively engages with people across Niagara experiencing unsheltered homelessness to promote, connect and coordinate access to resources such as emergency shelter, housing and support services.

Minor said the town was not aware of any arrest being made. Const. Phil Gavin with Niagara Regional Police said officers made no arrest. 

Bruce Zvaniga, NOTL’s chief administrative officer, said that town staff’s main role in situations like this is connecting people in need with resources that can help them.

It was Zvaniga’s understanding that the man was staying in St. Catharines and came to NOTL looking for help elsewhere, he said.

“The town’s plan really is connecting with other agencies and levels of government who do provide these services,” he said.

NOTL itself doesn’t directly provide services an unhoused person may need, Zvaniga added.

Instead, it was the town’s role to make sure the person could connect to those resources, which the region does offer, because they may not have been aware of them or able to make contact, he said. 

Minor said at this time no bylaw or policy speaks to homelessness or encampments in NOTL.

Zvaniga was happy with how the situation was handled, given that NOTL does not tackle these issues often, he said.

“I was quite proud of how our bylaw enforcement staff approached the situation and worked sensitively with him and also recognized the concerns that community members might have about something very different for a place like NOTL,” Zvaniga said.

“We did connect him with other agencies — and then, from a privacy perspective, they don’t necessarily share all of that information back to us,” Zvaniga said.

Minor confirmed that a member of Niagara Assertive Street Outreach visited the site on three occasions and was able to speak with the man to offer assistance.

The police’s CORE unit in 2 District — which covers Niagara Falls and NOTL — also handled this case, Gavin said: this unit regularly engages with unhoused people.

“In this case, we were contacted by NOTL bylaw regarding a person possibly living on the beach,” he said. 

An officer arranged for an outreach agency to offer services to the man but during a visit on Aug. 21, he was not present. 

An officer visited on Aug. 22 as per request of town bylaw officials — again, nobody was present and the few items staff found left behind did not reveal who the man was. 

The tent is believed to be abandoned and police do not know the man’s current whereabouts, Gavin said.

In a message to The Lake Report, Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa said he hopes the man’s needs can be met through town assistance. 

“My experience with Niagara Regional Housing has demonstrated to me the importance of maintaining privacy and respect as much as possible,” he said.