City councillors in Nanaimo, B.C., have passed a motion to ban overnight camping in two more parks in the city, following concerns from nearby residents.

At a council meeting on Monday night, Coun. Erin Hemmens put forward the motion to include Nob Hill and Deverill Square parks to the list of locations where temporary shelter and overnight accommodation are prohibited.

“Regular camping, particularly in the summer months, is growing,” Hemmens said at the meeting.

“Pulling this park into the bylaw would provide residents with the certainty and clarity they’ve requested from us as they navigate the challenges specific to their neighbourhood.”

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The South End Community Association, home to Deverill Park, has raised concerns for years that too many social services have been placed in their neighbourhood and that they bear an unfair burden of the city’s social issues.

Hemmens said the residents of the Nob Hill neighbourhood, also close to the downtown core, has raised similar complaints during that time.

The city already bans overnight sheltering in several parks — including Maffeo Sutton Park, Georgia Park and Kinsmen Park, among others.

It also prohibits temporary overnight shelters within 20 metres of park amenities like playgrounds, spray parks, pools and sports fields.

‘Urine, feces, used condoms’

Laura Sawchyn, the block watch captain for Nob Hill, told CBC News she was pleased to see the motion pass.

Sawchyn says she walks through the park early in the morning on her way to work and she frequently sees small groups of people — some of whom are in tents — sleeping there.

The main problem with sheltering in the park, Sawchyn says, is that there are no washrooms or other facilities available for those who need them.

“[I’ve seen] trash, urine, feces, used condoms, glass pipes, needles, little bits of foil, other drug paraphernalia,” she said. “I’ve seen a burnt mattress.”

Sawchyn says Nob Hill park is the only green space in her neighbourhood.

‘Nobody should be sleeping in parks’

The motion passed unanimously, but not without several councillors voicing their concerns about the lack of shelter beds in the city and the growing homeless population.

Coun. Hilary Eastmure inquired about creating a designated outdoor space for people to camp in.

Meanwhile, Coun. Tyler Brown asked staff if the city could be failing its legal obligation to allow homeless people to sleep in parks if municipalities can’t provide them with sufficient alternative shelter, following a 2008 decision from the B.C. Supreme Court.

Deborah Hollins, executive director of the social service provider Nanaimo Family Life Association, says the bigger issue is that homeless people in Nanaimo have nowhere else to go.

“I think we all agree that nobody should be sleeping in parks,” Hollins told CBC News.

“We do not have enough shelter beds in this city to accommodate the hundreds of people that we have on the street.”

The Nanaimo Family Life Association is helping to find a new location for the Hub homeless shelter and drop-in centre, which closed recently after members of the South End Community Association complained about the concentration of social services in their neighbourhood.

Hollins and others warned that the closure would lead to more people sheltering outside.

“What we need to be asking is, why are these parks being used in the first place?” she asked.

A search for a new Hub is well underway, Hollins says.

But she argues that given the number of homeless people in Nanaimo, it would take three or four Hub homeless shelters to significantly decrease the number of people sleeping in parks.