Rally blocks Vancouver traffic to oppose crackdown on vehicle dwellers

Supporters of a group of people living in vans and RVs in an East Vancouver neighbourhood blocked rush hour traffic on Wednesday, in a bid to stop the city from forcing the vehicle dwellers out of the area.

Slocan Street near East 12th Avenue is one of more than half a dozen sites where vehicle dwellers have congregated in recent years as the city’s homelessness and affordable housing woes have worsened.

The City of Vancouver set Wednesday as the date to begin enforcing bylaws against overnight parking of large vehicles at the Slocan Street site, citing concerns from nearby residents and the proximity to Vancouver Technical Secondary School.

Chetra Peo began living in his van when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he lost his job printing T-shirts for the city’s tourist shops.

He told Global News he’s just able to make ends meet on pandemic relief payments, but worries about others in the encampment.

“Even with the money I’m receiving, I can’t find an affordable place. And some of the places they’re putting you is not a safe location, the crime rate’s high, drug problems,” he said.

1:08 Neighbours appeal to stop City of Vancouver RV evictions

“It’s easy for me to leave, but I am more concerned about the ones who aren’t able to, who don’t have money. Some of them are living off disability … they’re only living off $700 or $800 per month.”

Many people living in their vehicles can’t afford to move them because they need maintenance or insurance, he added.

Those that are forced to move will just congregate somewhere else until they’re displaced again, he said.

Listen Chen, an organizer with the Red Braid Alliance for Decolonial Socialism, said Wednesday’s rally was “to show the city it can not continue to criminalize poverty and send the message that people are supposed to disappear into thin air.”

“I think we need to talk about the different stakes here. So the stakes of having to see something that looks like garbage when you go for a walk is very different from the stakes of having your home displaced by a public government during a housing crisis,” Chen said.

“Any bylaw or law that makes it effectively illegal to live because you don’t have the money to live in market housing is not only against the Charter, but exacerbates the housing crisis.”

2:10 Vancouver sets deadline for RV campers to leave city streets

The City of Vancouver says it has been actively monitoring vehicle-dwelling “hotspots” for the last six months and address complaints about “the accumulation of garbage and other debris, noise and human waste.”

It said staff have taken a “measured approach” to the vehicles during the pandemic, which has included education and warning notices about parking bylaws.

“It’s not even a council decision at this point, it’s through the bylaw process. With COVID and stuff it’s been relaxed to some extent. We’ve been briefed by staff, there are safety considerations so we are gonna try and move people along,” Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said.

“Different housing, storage, access to support services — that’s all being offered. That’s the approach we are proud of with the city and it’s going well.  We have secured hundreds of millions in investment for housing for folks. I think they should take the offers and we will do the best we can to make sure it works out for them.”

0:27 83-year-old B.C. man left homeless after fire consumes his RV

The vehicle-dwellers’ plight has drawn support from Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart Philip and from residents of a housing co-op across the street who penned a letter to mayor and council asking them to halt the eviction.

Police and bylaw officers were on scene Wednesday, but the city stressed its priority remained preventing tensions from escalating.

That leaves vehicle dwellers like Peo anxiously waiting and watching for the expected enforcement.

“Where do they want us to go? Do they have solutions?” he said.

“There’s no spaces for us.”