Tensions were high in a park on Vancouver’s port waterfront Monday as city crews moved in for a cleanup in a sanctioned homeless encampment.
Long-term tents have been allowed in a designated area of CRAB Park under a Vancouver Park Board order since the city lost a court battle to remove unhoused people in 2022.
The city says the area has become dangerously cluttered with debris, propane tanks, human waste and rats and that people sheltering in the area have built permanent structures that violate the park board order.
People living in the area were given a Monday deadline to move into a secondary designated space, and rangers moved in around 7 a.m. with police and cleanup crews.
Park board general manager Steve Jackson said some of the estimated 30 people living in the area have moved into the temporary site. Five people initially resisted leaving, but the park board said as of 3 p.m. everyone had cleared the site.
“We have provided the support services to help them pack and we have created the temporary zone for a place for them to move into, but we are now in a bit of a sit-and-wait and hope they will cooperate with us, and then we will see where things go,” he said.
“We have made it clear throughout the entire process that we would be welcoming them back to the designated zone once it’s cleaned up and it’s safe.”
Workers placed metal fencing around the perimeter of the cleanup area, where about 40 tents and structures remain.
Homeless advocates claim the city has overstated the poor conditions in the area and that it hasn’t been transparent with residents about the plan.
“A lot of changing information. People are already in a very tenuous situation,” advocate Fiona York said.
“People’s lives are really turned upside down. There’s people who can’t access their belongings, there are people who are just devastated.”
York said the city didn’t need to rush into the cleanup and should have waited while a pending human rights complaint was heard.
Canada’s federal housing advocate has also raised concerns about the process. In a social media post last week, she urged the park board to “pause and work in good faith with encampment residents on an approach that upholds their dignity, protects their belongings, and respects their security & human rights.”
The city says it is offering storage options for residents’ belongings and that homelessness service teams have been working with BC Housing to try and find shelter spaces.
The city has also said that people who refuse to leave the area may be escorted out.
The cleanup work, which will involve the use of heavy machinery, is expected to take about one week, after which people who were already sheltering in the designated area will be allowed to return.