No homeless people who've been camping in tent cities went over to the Peterborough Public Library in the first hour after city council approved the plan to set up a temporary shelter there on Wednesday night.

The city opened 15 shelter beds in the lower-level auditorium of the library at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and by shortly after 10 p.m. none of those cots were taken.

The city opened those 15 beds plus 15 more at YES Shelter for homeless people who've been camping in public parks since the Warming Room shelter closed for repairs for the summer on July 1.

The move came following an emergency meeting called in the afternoon for Wednesday night; councillors voted unanimously for the plan, which was enacted as the meeting was adjourned around 9 p.m.

Right after the meeting, Mayor Diane Therrien and some city staff members went across the street to the tent city in Victoria Park to speak to homeless campers there and offer them flyers to let them know the beds were available.

But in the first hour, no one left there to go to the library.

Activist Rachelle Sauve was in the park on Wednesday evening, and she said that it was nearly dark by the time she and the mayor and others were to speak to the homeless campers - and many had already gone to bed.

Few of them knew there had been a meeting at City Hall about the temporary shelter, she said.

"Tonight's a non-starter," she said, adding that she and others would be back to the park Thursday to offer information. "We need to give this a bit of time."

Earlier in the evening at the meeting, Mayor Diane Therrien said the Brock Mission shelter for men had no space for anyone on Wednesday night - and that was what precipitated the move.

There were six beds Wednesday night at Cameron House shelter for women, she said, and three more at the YES Shelter for Youth and Families (in addition to the 15 they were about to open).

When the Warming Room closed for repairs for the summer at Murray Street Baptist Church, it left about 40 people homeless - and many have been camping in Victoria Park.

"We are not kicking anyone out of the park - not until there's someplace to go," Therrien said.

Therrien said the city's been working "non-stop" with community partners to try to find a location to shelter people temporarily. She called the plan a short-term solution.

"This is not perfect - but it's a step," she said.

The meeting was called less than three hours before it was held; Coun. Dean Pappas, Coun. Kemi Akapo and Coun. Andrew Beamer were not there, but the others attended and all voted in favour of the plan.

The library beds will be open from 9 p.m. until 8 a.m., and councillors heard that city social services staff would be there to meet people at the library on Wednesday night.

They also heard that security staff had been lined up and would be there too.

Dorothy Olver, the city's program manager for homelessness services, said each person would be met at the door as they arrived.

She didn't say the shelter would be exclusively for men or for women - she said the idea is to accommodate people whenever they can (such as couples who want to be in a shelter together).

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Richard Freymond, the city treasurer, told council the city is saving $80,000 in Warming Room funding since the shelter is closed for the season to put toward the emergency beds.

The city has a further homelessness reserve fund of $392,000 if that's not enough, he also said.

When Coun. Gary Baldwin asked whether the city had a plan in mind in case "90 per cent of people" don't want to leave the park and use the beds, city CAO Sandra Clancy said no, but that the city's hoping people will take the new option.

Coun. Stephen Wright said he wanted to see "enforcement" in the park now that the city's offering further shelter, adding that he now wants tent city "taken down."

But later when citizens were allowed to speak to councillors, Sauve said the city needs to remember that the people living in the park aren't "a problem" - they're human beings.

Casey Watson, who works at the Warming Room, told council he and his co-workers searched unsuccessfully for months for a temporary location.

He said he thinks the library will work and that it could work longer term if need be: "The library's a good location for a crappy situation."

But Wright said forget it - it's a temporary solution, he said, and he'd already heard from constituents on Wednesday night who were unhappy the library was being used for shelter.

Terry Freeburn, a realtor who identified himself to council as a downtown property owner, said the downtown is getting "pretty trashy" and that it's about time that the homeless be evicted from the parks.

"You cannot allow people to live there like they have been," he said. "People are afraid to speak up about this, but I don't give a rat's ass."

joelle.kovach

@peterboroughdaily.com