Barrhaven councillors fail in attempt to block plan for tent-like migrant centre

A pair of Ottawa city councillors from Barrhaven tried to derail a plan to use tent-like structures to shelter up to 300 asylum seekers, but they faced blowback from colleagues tired of seeing their recreation centres filled with bunk beds for migrants.

In November, council gave city staff the authority to pursue semi-permanent shelter options, including those from a company called Sprung Structures, amid a surge in shelter demand driven by newcomers to Canada.

There is now a short list of three undisclosed sites that could host two Sprung Structures as part of a planned refugee welcome centre, but Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo worries it's all happening without proper scrutiny.

He introduced a motion on Wednesday to take staff's authority away.

"Using Sprung Structures sets us five steps back," Lo said. "We're basically shuffling newcomers within the shelter system…. It really just kicks the can down the road."

Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo, right, moved to withdraw delegated authority from staff to pursue Sprung Structures to address a homelessness crisis driven by a surge of asylum seekers. (Nick Persaud/CBC)

Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill, who served in the Canadian Forces, seconded Lo's motion. He said migrants deserve more than "communal living."

"There's no one that has lived in a sprung shelter here more than me. I've lived in it in 45-degree heat in the dusty Kandahar desert. I've lived in it in the winter in Gagetown, New Brunswick," he said.

"As much as we want to dolly up the language of what these shelter structures are, the structures are cloth with a support."

Welcome centre won't be ready this winter

City staff were adamant that the structures are not tents, but "modular tension fabric buildings" with all-weather membranes and aluminum arches.

Kale Brown, the city's manager of homelessness programs and shelters, explained that they would have the same HVAC system as an arena and plumbing for washrooms.

He said the Sprung Structures won't be ready in time for this winter. The target date to open the welcome centre is the end of August 2025.

A view of the interior of a Sprung Structure at Bridge of Hope in Venice, Calif. (City of Ottawa)

The city has applied to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for $105 million to build and operate it.

Staff say Sprung Structures are the quickest option. Clara Freire, the city's general manager of community and social services, warned that any delay could put that money at risk, as well as $80 million in matching provincial funding.

She said that would simply keep migrants stuck in city recreation centres, which have been used as a stopgap solution to the shelter crisis.

Motion denounced as 'extremely, extremely disturbing'

Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster said she was "profoundly disappointed to see this motion" and accused its supporters of "fearmongering."

She said homelessness is an emergency, like a flood or a storm, and councillors shouldn't be hamstringing staff by denying them the tools to mount an emergency response.

"I think it's profoundly unfair that low-income, racialized communities like Vanier and like Herongate have lost the use of their community centres for years on end," she said.

"It is only reasonable to ask other communities to do their part. All of us in the urban communities are doing our part tenfold."

Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill seconded Lo's motion and said he has spent more time living in Sprung Structures than any other councillor, given his time in the military. (Nick Persaud/CBC)

Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr called Lo's motion "extremely, extremely disturbing." Two of her area's community centres have been used to shelter migrants, including one that houses her own ward office.

"Every day ... I see people who have left their country with nothing but two suitcases, who have nowhere to go, who are stuck living [with] 40 people in a room," she said.

"It was so sweltering there last week that I took my privilege and worked from home. These people don't have that choice. So to say conditions in a semi-permanent structure are unacceptable, I wish you could see how these people are right now."

An 'important conversation to have'

The migrant influx is only expected to continue, Freire said. She confirmed that if staff have to look for recreation centres to house more migrants, they will look across the entire city, and some suburban councillors worried facilities in Kanata or Orléans could be next.

Ultimately, only Orléans South-Navan Coun. Catherine Kitts joined Lo and Hill to vote for the motion, which failed 21 to 3.

Kitts said the debate over Sprung Structures should have happened months ago when council first authorized staff to proceed in November.

A Sprung Structure used as part of the Harbor of Hope in Oregon. (City of Ottawa)

"This is an important conversation to have," she said, "and I think the reason emotions are running high is it doesn't feel that we've had all the information."

City staff declined to reveal the sites being reviewed when asked by CBC. Brown said they looked at 93 sites before narrowing it down to the final three.

"We're still in discussions with the ward councillors and affected residents in coming up with a plan of what that communication strategy is going to look like," he said. "So we're not in a position to share them at this time, but it will be coming out shortly."

Lo's motion would have introduced a sunset clause for any Sprung Structure proposals to ensure they don't become permanent. Kitts said what might be billed as a temporary option risks becoming a long-term response to the migrant crisis.

"We are not talking about a season or two or three," she said. "We've heard these structures have a 50-year lifespan and I've heard staff today use the word permanent several times."