CRAB Park encampment cleared of structures amid controversial cleanup

City crews have finished removing structures from Vancouver’s only sanctioned homeless encampment.

Crews have been working with heavy equipment to clear illegal structures, propane tanks, debris and waste since Tuesday as a part of a site cleanup the city maintains is not a “decampment.”

About 30 people were sheltering in a section of CRAB Park designated to allow round-the-clock sheltering since the Vancouver Park Board lost a legal challenge to the encampment in 2022.

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2:01 Cleanup underway at Vancouver’s CRAB Park tent city

Those people have been moved to a second, temporary sheltering area, where food and donation tents have also been erected.

Those residents were ordered out by Monday for the cleanup, which the city says was necessary for health and safety reasons.

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Advocates for those sheltering in the park claim the city has overstated the safety concerns and poor conditions, and say the cleanup process has been marred by a lack of consultation and changing information.

They also say the work should not have gone ahead before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal heard a complaint against the city.

The city’s initial timeline aimed to allow people to return to the designated sheltering area by April 1.

Global News is seeking an update from the city on the status of the cleanup.