{"id":496052,"date":"2026-01-06T08:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/496052\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T08:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:13:10","slug":"bylaw-to-clear-kitchener-encampment-could-see-large-revisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/496052\/","title":{"rendered":"Bylaw to clear Kitchener encampment could see large revisions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Big changes could be coming to the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kitchener.citynews.ca\/2025\/12\/11\/regional-council-set-to-receive-advice-regarding-victoria-street-encampment-litigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Region of Waterloo\u2019s bylaw that would clear away the encampment<\/a><\/strong> at the site of a major new transit hub.<\/p>\n<p>The region said it needs to clear out the tents and residents at 100 Victoria St. N. to begin work for the Kitchener Central Transit Hub.<\/p>\n<p>Councillors this week will hear a presentation from staff that would <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pub-regionofwaterloo.escribemeetings.com\/Meeting.aspx?Id=d6b152ff-68ec-4ebf-babd-e072ebb7a65d&amp;Agenda=Agenda&amp;lang=English&amp;Item=14&amp;Tab=attachments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">push back the date to take over the site, remove the option for trespassing tickets, and provide a written promise to get residents into housing.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to a staff report coming to a special council meeting on Friday morning, the revised bylaw would push back the possession date for the land to April 1 \u201cto recognize the added time needed to resolve the proceedings before the Superior Court of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kitchener.citynews.ca\/2025\/10\/23\/court-hearing-over-regions-by-law-to-clear-kitchener-encampment-adjourned-for-mediation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bylaw will be before the Superior Court of Justice on Feb. 5, 6, and 27.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The revisions would also drop a provision for the region to use the Trespass to Property Act to remove people from the site and charge them up to $5,000.<\/p>\n<p>It includes \u201ca mandatory written offer\u201d for anyone living at 100 Victoria St. before April 16, 2025 \u2014 when the original bylaw was passed \u2014 that comes with an \u201cIndividual Housing Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That plan includes \u201cappropriate alternative accommodation, social service supports, transportation and storage for up to six months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For anyone who moved into the site after April 16, \u201cthe region will offer to bring the person within the region\u2019s housing stability system and endeavour to provide appropriate housing options.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Residents have the chance on Jan. 5 to learn all about the revisions to the site-specific bylaw.<\/p>\n<p>A public input meeting with regional council is scheduled for Wednesday evening, and a Special Council meeting to discuss the bylaw changes is set for Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tVictoria Street Encampment\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Big changes could be coming to the Region of Waterloo\u2019s bylaw that would clear away the encampment at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":496053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-496052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115847155126064094","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}