Encampment fire shows need for safe, heated places to sleep, says councillor | CBC News

A fire at one of Ottawa’s many homelessness encampments highlights the need for safe, heated semi-permanent housing options for people living on the street, the local city councillor says.

Other communities in Ontario have championed structures like sleeping cabins that contain a bed, sink and offer heat — and Ottawa encampment residents need something like that, according to Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr.

“You’re reducing that risk of having somebody using a combustible within [a] tent,” said Carr, a member of the city’s emergency shelter crisis taskforce. 

“You’re also making it more safe for the residents and nearby communities.”

Carr’s comments on Thursday came one day after a mid-afternoon fire broke out at an encampment in her ward, near the intersection of Industrial Avenue and Riverside Drive. 

45 known encampments in Ottawa

The damage wasn’t extensive enough to warrant further investigation, a spokesperson for Ottawa Fire Services said, adding that there appeared to be five tents at the site. 

There were 23 fires at encampments last year, up from eight in 2022, fire officials told CBC. The city said Thursday it’s aware of 45 encampments in Ottawa. 

Carr said that because shelters and transitional housing units are full — and because some people choose to remain outside, despite the city doing its best to offer everyone a place to stay — encampments will remain a reality.

So they need to be as safe as possible, she said. 

“It’s a risk to leave the encampments the way that they are.”