City of Regina quickly moves to shut down new Taylor Field homeless encampment

The City of Regina moved quickly to shut down a new homeless encampment beginning to form at the old site of Taylor Field.

On Wednesday evening, bylaw officials moved in to clear the short-lived camp from the former home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, after a previous attempt was made to approach residents earlier in the day.

The city has now fenced off all entrances to the massive section of vacant land, blocking public access.

Around half a dozen unhoused residents were evicted without incident.

One city councillor is concerned about who is giving the orders.

"I think now there's a pre-emptive order to prevent people from being homeless in certain locations," Andrew Stevens said. "Go to an alley. Go to a burnt out garage. Go to a boarded up house, but whatever you do, don't go onto Taylor Field, where there was supposed to be affordable housing."

"I feel for the front-level civil servants doing some dirty work on behalf of somebody. I don't know who, but this is quite offensive."

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Last week, a tent community was cleared from Regina's city hall, where the unhoused had been staying for more than 40 days, officials citing safety concerns.

Hotel rooms were offered by the Ministry of Social Services to some residents, like Pynk Mitton.

"I was there Friday to Monday morning, and then I was informed that they no longer want me staying there," Mitton told CTV News.

Volunteers who cared for the unhoused at city hall say they're prepared to continue doing so.

"Volunteer staff is looking to stay connected with campers and make sure we meet people where they're at and meet their needs," Tiro Mthembu said. "We know winter is coming, so we want to make sure that we have solutions put in place to make sure our neighbours have warm places to stay over the winter."