Encampment bathrooms move to new winter location in Hamilton park

Hamilton has moved the bathrooms designed to serve encampments of homeless people to a more permanent winterized location.

The city passed new protection for temporary encampments in August this year. This encampment protocol approved and funded two 24/7 bathroom facilities with cleaning and security staff. They opened at J.C. Beemer Park and Myrtle Park on Sept. 6 and 14 respectively.

However, the location at Myrtle Park is not winterized. As a result, the city has moved their support to the bathrooms at Corktown Park about 1.4 kilometres west.

“This means that the Corktown Park washrooms have now been fully winterized, making them the first year-round 24/7 public washrooms in the City’s core,” wrote Ward Two Councillor Cameron Kroetsch, “The winterization of the washroom in Corktown Park has been something that residents have been asking for over many years. It’s an ideal choice, considering that it’s already nearby locations where many unhoused Hamiltonians are currently forced to reside outdoors.”

The city has completed several upgrades to the Corktown Park bathrooms including high-resolution lighting on the exterior, plumbing upgrades and newly installed heaters. However, there have been no changes to the J.C. Beemer bathrooms or the showers at the Eastwood Arena and Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre.