Downtown Eastside Vancouver residents and advocates say they want to see the details of incoming premier David Eby’s promised plan to deal with encampments in the neighbourhood.
In an exclusive interview with Global News Wednesday, Eby said under his leadership the province would take on the role of coordinating services in the DTES, and that the first step would be to implement a plan to address the tent city that has become entrenched on East Hastings Street.
“I don’t support encampments,” Eby said.
“I don’t think they are a solution to homelessness. I don’t think they are safe for people who live in them. I have seen too many fires, too many people have died in them.”
That pledge has people like Megan Lockerbie, who is currently living in a tent in the Downtown Eastside, asking questions.
“It makes me wonder exactly how they’re planning to get rid of the encampments, right?” she said.
Lockerbie told Global News she agreed tent cities are not a safe place, particularly for women — which is why she was living a few blocks north on Powell Street.
But she said the province needs to come up with an alternative before simply clearing out people living on the street.
“If they’re going to get us housing, I think that’s a good idea,” she said. “But if they’re just going to get rid of the tents that’s not going to get rid of the homelessness, it’s going to endanger people because these tents keep us dry and warm.”
The number of tents and built structures on Hastings Street began growing quickly in early summer when Vancouver police stopped accompanying city workers conducting controversial so-called “street sweeps” in the area.
In late July, Fire Chief Karen Fry ordered the removal of structures from the area, warning of a “catastrophic” fire safety risk, but efforts by the city to clear the sidewalks quickly stalled, with provincial officials saying there was little to no housing available.
Fry said Thursday that her safety concerns had only grown as the temperatures have fallen.
“It’s really about fire safety. I think it’s about getting into the buildings, and having spaces for people to escape in the event of a fire, access to the buildings, the increased fire risk in this weather,” she said.
“We’re probably having at least one tent fire a day. I would challenge anyone to drive up and down that street in the evening, and you will probably see open flames.”
Fry said that nearly two dozen sites that were identified in the initial safety order were cleared and remain clear, and that fire inspectors are patrolling the area daily looking for hazards and propane tanks.
But she said her greatest fear remains an explosion or large fire that takes numerous lives.
“It is unsustainable. It is not the Hastings Street of 10 years ago, it is not the Hastings Street of five years ago. This is definitely a different situation in the last year, in the last six months in particular,” she said.
“I’m glad someone high up in the province, at the premier’s level, has taken this very seriously. We’ve been working on this for months now, and I am hoping things are going to continue to evolve and change.”
New Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim also expressed support for Eby’s stated plans, though said he’s yet to hear any details from the incoming premier.
“We’re actually pretty excited,” he said, adding that “premier-designate Eby answered the call” to action his ABC party had made to senior levels of government for help.
“When it comes to coordination, if there’s one point to contact I think that’s great,” he said.
As for where the people currently sheltering on the street will go, Sim said it will depend on what kind of assistance the city gets.
“There are multiple answers to that. The provincial and the federal government, I hope, will be stepping up and helping us provide more housing options,” he said.
“This is a big challenge, it’s an ongoing process. It’s not going to get solved overnight. But as long as we’re moving in the right direction and we have more housing coming on stream it’s a good first step.”
Longtime anti-poverty activist and former city councillor Jean Swanson said the solution to the Hasting Street encampments is the same now as it has been for years.
“We need housing,” she said. “That’s the way to solve that issue is to have housing that low-income people can afford.”
However, Swanson said building the number of units required to actually address homelessness in the city would take years.
In the interim, the city needs to be proactive about creating a safe, warm environment with facilities like bathrooms where people can shelter.
She said officials should be looking at using city land, parking lots or even shutting down streets where tiny homes or some kind of sanctioned camping area could be set up.
“But not let that be an excuse not to build the housing. Proper, dignified housing has to be being built,” she said.
“It’s cheaper to end homelessness than it is to maintain it. It’s cheaper to end poverty than it is to maintain it. So if we get the housing we need, and if we give people the resources we need, it will actually be cheaper than keeping people in misery.”
David Eby is scheduled to be sworn in as premier on Nov. 18. His cabinet will be sworn in the following month on Dec. 7.
— with files from Rumina Daya