Jody Steen came out to his backyard two weeks ago to take out his green bin. What he saw on his driveway was a shock.
“I opened the gate a found we had a friend or friends staying with us,” said Steene.
The group is gone, but the mess remains. You can see a cart filled with tarps, bicycles, a piece of flooring foam being used as a bed, part of a bedframe that was charred, open food containers, garbage, and a bucket full of unidentifiable yellow liquid.
He says he hasn’t been able to cut the grass due to this encampment. He says he wants to clean up the mess, but says what he’s most worried about is what he can’t see.
“With the fentanyl scare, I don’t know if there is drug paraphernalia in here, so I just haven’t touched anything,” said Steen.
For this situation, he was hoping the city could help and clean up the mess, but he’s been told since it’s private property, he has to deal with it.
Steen says he’s been given a preliminary quote of $1,500 to get that work done. “If this continues to happen, is it going to be $1,500, or $500, or $2,000 here every time — what I do?” said Steen.
“I don’t want the neighbours to think this is how I live, either.”
In a statement to Global News, the city says they, “acknowledge that private properties can be negatively impacted by vulnerable Edmontonians.”
“We encourage all Edmontonians to take action if they experience a vulnerable person in need by calling 211 and pressing 3 to reach the Crisis Diversion Team. This service will connect people with support teams that are trained to assist vulnerable individuals and help connect them to appropriate resources,” said the City of Edmonton.
“Although the city does provide a grant for private property owners for clean up relating to graffiti and vandalism, the city does not currently offer grants or clean up resources to private property owners to clean litter and hazardous debris. There are private companies in Edmonton that offer advice and assistance with hazardous material clean up.”
Steen has lived in this home in the Woodcroft neighbourhood for the past four years. He says the homeless issues in the area are getting worse.
“There’s a lot more settlements; our back alley is filled constantly with homeless people setting up shelters,” said Steen. He said it’s gotten so bad, he’s opted to bring his garbage to dispose of at work instead of having to use his back alley.
“Police told me that I should go out and I should deal with this,” said Steen. “I think it’s concerning for me and concerning for anybody, I don’t know and no one knows about the mental illness issue and how that person or persons may react (if I try to tell them to leave).”
Steen is mainly wanting to warn other homeowners that if an encampment is on your property, it’s you’re problem and you have to shell out the cash to clean it up. But he says the city or the province need to step up and take more responsibility.
In 2024, the city received approximately 2,800 complaints from the public regarding encampments on private property. So far in 2025, approximately 1,000 complaints have been received.
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