The city of Saint John’s most recent plan of action to aid its unhoused residents is shocking to many citizens. The ethics of the current framework agreed upon by the city council is being widely debated. Before delving into the most recent advancements in the city’s planning, it’s important to first understand the context behind the red zone policy. 

In 2024, the city of Saint John released their “Housing for All” strategy for homelessness. This document states that the purpose of the council’s plan is to address homelessness between 2024 and 2027 by using a “person-centred and human rights approach,” thus advancing their goal for everyone to have “a safe, supported, and sustainable home.”. This strategy has two outcomes: making sure community spaces stay safe and accessible to all, and making homelessness “rare, brief and non-recurring.”. 

We are currently amidst the 3rd step of their first strategic objective – Relocation and Decommissioning. The cities aim? Uprooting homeless people from their current encampments and forcing them to move. To do so, the city is divided as green, yellow, and red zones. Red zones are areas where encampments won’t be allowed, yellow zones are city properties that tents are temporarily allowed on under strict regulations, and green zones are city owned properties with transitional lodging and essential services that are being made available to individuals experiencing homelessness.  

Red Zone Map (City of Saint John/Website)

Red zones target areas such as schools, parks, and community areas, and give these areas up to a 200–metre buffer. This happens to be most of the uptown Saint John area. This pushes unhoused individuals away from connections they have built with communities and services they already have. However, the city argues that all of this will be provided in their green zones.  

On September 17th, Melanie Vautour, Executive Director of Fresh Start Services, expressed approval for the council’s red zone policy framework. While the organization was originally one of multiple groups speaking out against the red zone policy, Vautour said in a letter to the council that she appreciates their “willingness to work together to address [Fresh Start Services’] concerns.” She went on to state that the organization is “committed to supporting this plan both publicly and through direct involvement.”. 

The policy, however, is widely protested by many community organizations and advocates. On September 15th, 2025, these concerned organizations and advocates put together a joint statement regarding the red zone policies. It starts by highlighting their alarm with Saint John’s decision to implement the red zone policy and force unhoused people out of encampments, stating that doing so will “push already vulnerable people into isolation, increase health and safety risks, and contribute to preventable deaths.”

Instead, these organizations list five demands that they want followed: The city should stop enforcing the red zone policy, discuss the situation with leaders and advocates in the field, invest in long-term housing for those affected, reallocate resources towards supports for unhoused people, and commit to reporting the situation transparently. There were twelve groups and individuals who signed off on this statement, four of which who are professors at UNB Saint John. 

This joint statement was presented at a peaceful protest held the evening of Monday, September 22nd, outside of Saint John City Hall. Student Samridhi Gridhar was one of approximately 30 protesters. When approached regarding the events of the peaceful protest, she said that there were many speeches shared that night, with one of the most notable discussing the “approximately 100 people who lost their lives due to [homelessness].”. Because of this, they had candles lit in their memory during the protest. She went on to say that organizers also came prepared with many signs and posters, as well as a free food for the protesters.  

Protest outside of the Saint John city hall taken on September 22 by Samridhi Girdhar

Later that same evening, council members voted to accept an updated red zone framework. This version of the policy specifies that relocating unhoused individuals will operate on a case-by-case basis and will take the needs of each individual into account. This gives them more flexibility with the timing of the relocation process. 

Since then, there has been little discussion surrounding the removal of encampments from red zones. However, it is clear that this policy will start to be enforced in the near future. We can only hope that the city chooses to implement it as responsibly and ethically as possible.