Parking safety symptomatic of housing crisis in Oshawa: Councillor

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Parking is tough to find in urban areas, and there are always places in a city where you don’t want to park at night.

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Oshawa Councillor Brian Nicholson recently posted on social media about gender-specific parking spots — spots painted pink and reserved for women.

His post on the Downtown Oshawa Facebook page about this explained the spots are well-lit and located to improve safety.

Nicholson wrote: “Is this something that Oshawa should consider in its public parking lots and garages, especially in the downtown where many women feel anxious when exiting or travelling to their vehicles from work, shopping, etc?

“I would be interested in your thoughts.”

Nicholson got plenty of responses, pro and con.

Someone pointed out that designating spots like this might actually make the situation worse — it would be easier to target women that way.

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And for that reason, Nicholson said Thursday, it’s an idea that won’t fly in Oshawa. They’ll look at things like better lighting instead.

“There are a couple of locations downtown where people are being accosted — just walking from their car into the office, and it’s also a shopping area. And they expressed concern,” he said.

So what’s happening in downtown Oshawa that’s left people afraid to leave their cars?

“It’s due to the increased homeless population. Our downtown is under siege,” Nicholson said. “The vast majority don’t cause problems, but some have mental health issues and they have had an impact on the area.”

The parking fix came up because “people are being approached for money when they exit their cars, and some of the approaches are very aggressive.

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“It’s causing problems for a lot of women working downtown. And people living downtown,” Nicholson said.

He is quick to note that Oshawa is not alone — many Ontario cities have the same problem.

It’s a medical issue, he said, but there aren’t enough psych beds or treatments and not much police can do.

“The amount people receive in benefits every month is just completely removed from the reality of costs — especially housing,” Nicholson said.

The shelters in Oshawa are run by volunteers, and offer free food and clothing, the councillor said. And the hospital is there. People flock to his city.

Once there, some are offered housing but won’t take it, said Nicholson, who expresses both compassion and frustration.

“We’re spending a lot of money and we’re just spinning our wheels,” he said.

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The province, he said, has to do more for local municipalities.

“These are provincial issues, housing and mental health costs. It’s all controlled by the province. We’ve got families out there now. We’ve got seniors,” he said.

“We’ve got two and three families sharing a unit in apartment buildings. There seems to be no help from the province.”

Oshawa has already invested a million dollars to beef up security in the downtown core and there’s nothing in the budget to accomplish much more.

“We want to help these people, but we’ve become a dumping ground. We’ve got seniors coming to soup kitchens. We can’t shut the door because of a few people with mental health issues.”

The parking issue is one of many.  People were using an area outside the legion hall as a toilet.

“So put a port-a-potty in! Everyone’s looking for a miracle fix, but we have to deal with the symptoms first, every day. We need enough to clean up the sidewalks, to give the residents a break.

“This housing crisis has to be addressed.”