After weeks of rumours, campers living at Oppenheimer Park on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside have been given notice to pack up and leave by Wednesday night.
BC Housing says 100 units in publicly owned and non-profit buildings are available for camp residents.
The tent city in the Downtown Eastside park is now holding more than 100 campers, some of whom argue they feel safer there than living on the streets or a single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel unit.
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“I have my tent and I don’t have a drug dealer willing to sell me drugs off of Hastings Street,” camp resident Craig Shepherd said.
WATCH: Coverage of the Oppenheimer Park encampment on Globalnews.ca
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Oppenheimer Park neighbours say tent city situation worsening -
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Vancouver mayor says he won’t shut down Oppenheimer Park encampment -
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Calls to resist ‘quick fix’ for Oppenheimer Park tent city -
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Oppenheimer Park campers push back on police safety concerns -
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Growing concerns about downtown eastside Vancouver park -
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Oppenheimer Park campers displace more events -
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Oppenheimer Park tent city given two days to move
The city and Vancouver police have continued to raise safety concerns about the encampment, which peaked after a shooting across the street from the park in July.
In a release, the city says the park has seen 17 fires since February.
Outreach workers, police officers, and park board staff were at the tent city on Monday to talk to camp residents.
The park will be cleared out by 6 p.m. Wednesday.
— With files from Grace Ke and Sean Boynton
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