Arresting Homelessness Won’t Solve It—Pierre Poilievre’s Plan Misses the Mark

In a country where tent encampments have become a heartbreaking symbol of poverty, mental illness, and the housing crisis, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising a crackdown—not compassion. His latest proposal to amend the Criminal Code to give police and judges more power to dismantle homeless encampments is another example of a political playbook rooted in punishment, not solutions.

Poilievre’s pitch is clear: criminalize homelessness under the guise of public safety. He wants police to charge people who violate the “right to be safe in public spaces,” a dangerously vague justification that risks further marginalizing already vulnerable populations. While he claims this would be paired with connecting people to housing and mental health treatment, his broader platform contradicts that promise. He’s vowed to shut down safe supply sites—critical lifelines for people battling addiction—and he’s avoided making any serious commitment to funding mental health care.

It’s hard not to see this for what it is: a tough-on-crime posture dressed up as a housing policy. The idea that police can arrest our way out of homelessness isn’t just flawed—it’s cruel. Tent cities didn’t emerge out of nowhere. They are the visible scars of deeper issues: a national housing crisis, decades of underinvestment in mental health care, and stagnant incomes that have left people behind.

The Conservatives argue that encampments have become hotspots for crime and drug abuse. That may be true in some cases, but the solution isn’t to sweep the problem out of sight. Instead of focusing on the roots of poverty, addiction, and trauma, Poilievre is leaning into an approach reminiscent of failed American policies—ones that filled prisons but emptied few streets.

Contrast this with the approach from the Liberals and the NDP. The Liberals have their flaws, but at least their platform includes tangible commitments to housing-first investments and income supports like boosting the Guaranteed Income Supplement. They also aim to create homelessness reduction targets in collaboration with provinces—a necessary step in tackling this complex issue at its core.

The NDP has gone further, promising an $8 billion Communities First Fund and significant increases to disability and income support programs. These policies recognize what’s long been proven: that stable housing, not jail cells, is the foundation of public safety and personal recovery.

When Liberal Leader Mark Carney called Poilievre’s plan a “typical American-style approach,” he hit the nail on the head. It’s reactionary politics that offers comfort to those who want quick fixes, not real solutions. Homelessness is not a moral failure—it’s a systemic one. And criminalizing it only compounds the problem.

We need leadership that sees tent cities as a symptom, not the crime. Real solutions require investment, not incarceration. Anything less is not only ineffective—it’s inhumane.