City of Vancouver staff, accompanied by Vancouver police officers, moved in Wednesday morning to remove structures and tents along East Hastings Street and bring the encampment to a close.
In a statement, staff said this move comes after “a steady deterioration in public safety and an increase in fires in the area and the encampment zone.”
City staff and members of the VPD are working to remove all remaining tents and structures from the area — about 80 in total, according to the city.
Garbage bins were brought in to store belongings but some of the tents and tarps were thrown into garbage trucks.
However, some residents told Global News they will just return to the area tonight.
“We need to restore East Hastings Street as a safe place in the Downtown Eastside,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said Wednesday at a press conference.
“The days ahead will be challenging but if we work together I know we will see a more safe and prosperous Downtown Eastside.”
Shortly after staff and police arrived to the area Wednesday morning, the City of Vancouver traffic cameras in that area went offline. They stayed offline until about 9:45 a.m.
The City of Vancouver confirmed to Global News that the feed went offline due to a “staff error.”
“We acknowledge and apologize that this was very unfortunate given today’s work in the East Hastings encampment,” a statement read.
In July 2022, the Vancouver fire chief issued an order to remove structures along East Hastings due to the extreme fire risk posed by structures adjacent to buildings. Since then, the City of Vancouver says staff has been working daily to address fire concerns, safety concerns and health concerns.
The city says more than 400 outdoor fires have been started on East Hastings Street over the last eight months and four people have been injured this year.
Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry said Wednesday there is a “persistent fire risk” posed by the tents and encampments.
“Since the fire order went in place, we have seen 1,600 propane tanks removed,” she said. “1,600.”
Vancouver police say officers have reported an increase of nine per cent in assaults in the DTES since last August with 28 per cent of those occurring in the encampment zone.
A recent survey from Atira Women’s Society found all respondents reported feeling unsafe or having experienced violence in the area, including sexual assault.
Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said Wednesday it has become too challenging to keep people safe in the Downtown Eastside.
“Street-level assaults in the encampment have increased 27 per cent,” he said. “It is unsafe.”
“Nineteen police officers have been assaulted inside the encampment,” Palmer added, mentioning some of them were very serious.
He added that police officers are on the scene to support city workers and to keep people safe.
“Most people who live in the Greater Vancouver region would be afraid to walk down this street,” Palmer added. “It’s probably one of the few streets in British Columbia that people would have fear to walk down or take their families down there. There’s not many other streets in our province where most would feel like that, but that’s certainly one.”
The city is urging people who live on East Hastings Street to accept shelter offers. As of 5 p.m. six residents of the Hastings Street encampment had asked for accommodations and received them, it told Global News.
Critics say this shelter spaces are not a viable plan.
“This is a decampment where people have no place to go. This strategy, that they’re doing, does not work,” Ryan Sudds, an organizer with Stop the Sweeps told Global News.
“You shut down Oppenheimer, Strathcona shows up, you shut down Strathcona, CRAB Park shows up. This is not a solution to the problem and using police here to solve homelessness, is not a solution.”
The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users said it received City of Vancouver documents that detailed a plan to remove the tents and structures.
“This document signals the end of Vancouver’s so-called compassionate approach to encampments,” Jess Gut, an organizer with Stop the Sweeps, said in a statement Monday.
“The city and the province have failed to create enough dignified housing. They’re now choosing to use blunt force to make people disappear from the street.”
Vince Tao, the community organizer at VANDU, said at a press conference Monday this area of the Downtown Eastside has become a community and residents have nowhere to go.
“The city is escalating its violence on the individuals that most need care in this city,” he added. “There is absolutely no place for these people to go.”
Tao called the move an example of “banishment.”
VANDU is calling for a moratorium on moving any people until there is adequate housing for those living in the DTES.
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At the heart of the encampment, at the corner of Columbia and East Hastings, residents swore at police and chanted “stop the sweeps.” Some yelled and cried while others begrudgingly packed but pledged to return.
Jason Rondeau lives at the encampment and said residents have been “constantly battling with the city.”
“I have had to replace my stuff, all of my belongings, five times this year alone,” he said, pointing to a pile of luggage he packed as the police moved in.
Rondeau said when city staff come to his tent, he planned to say “yes sir, have a good day,” to ensure there was as little friction possible. But he said he would return “because as soon as the cops are leaving, I am coming back.”
Rondeau called the sweep a waste of taxpayers’ money. He said he had been offered a shelter spot three times this year but that option was worse than his spot on the sidewalk.
Ken Johns, who spent 18 months in a tent before finding a spot at a rooming house, said the community is heartbroken after losing their homes.
“That’s where they go to sleep, that’s where they feel safe. When you take that away and you force them into a shelter or a (rooming house) and they don’t feel safe. (It’s) just re-traumatizing them and making it hard for them to get ahead,” he said.
East Hastings Street was closed between Main and Columbia streets for most of the day, with trafficking reopening late in the afternoon.
The clean-up may continue into Thursday, the City of Vancouver said.
With files from The Canadian Press
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