Tensions remain high on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where city crews worked through the Easter long weekend to keep Hastings Street clear of new structures that continue to pop up since the decampment began on April 5.
During the pouring rain, not everyone was willing to immediately pack up and move, and on Saturday, workers were greeted with swearing and verbal abuse from one man sheltering in a makeshift home.
Supported by Vancouver police, city employees exercised patience, restraint and compassion during a difficult task – helping people fold up tarps and put their belongings in clean storage bins.
The City of Vancouver said this process will repeat itself in order to ensure structures are taken down as per the fire chief’s July 25 order, and the bylaw.
In the short term, “VPD and crews will deploy quick response teams (QRTs) to remove structures at a smaller scale under the authority of the Street and Traffic by-law and the Fire Chief’s Order,” the city said in a statement.
Some of those sleeping on the street said they’d simply move their tents elsewhere.
“While they go that way, I’m going to go this way,” said Cynthia Fordham.
The ongoing displacement changed the mood of the Union Gospel Mission’s annual Easter meal on Saturday, according to UGM president Dean Kurpjuweit.
“Every time we do a decampment without places for someone to go, it’s a failure,” Kurpjuweit said.
“The situation there is not sustainable, we’ve had fires, assaults,” B.C. Premier David Eby told Global News in an interview on Focus BC Friday.
Eby maintains the Hastings encampment is not safe for anyone and insists there is ample space for people to get inside.
“It’s emergency shelter space, it’s dignified, there (are) meals and it is a chance to assess people, get a sense of what they need for housing and get them into the housing that we’re bringing online. One hundred and 10 units a month over the next three months to get people inside into permanent housing,” the premier said.
Early numbers from the City of Vancouver show 18 of 56 people associated with structures removed during the first two days of the Hastings decampment accepted referrals to shelters. Those shelters, according to the city, were holding beds for the individuals referred to them.
“I think that they’ve got a long way to go,” East Hastings condo resident Madeline Reardon told Global News on Saturday.
After navigating people’s homes on the sidewalk outside her building since last summer, Reardon said there has been some improvement since the city started removing structures.
“I’d love to see it vacant of people, nobody selling anybody anything and it not smelling like a toilet,” Reardon said.
“Nothing has changed,” added East Hastings condo owner Ali Al Ibrahim.
“The tents, they remove them, (then) a couple of hours after that, the tents come back.”
While he appreciates the city’s efforts to clean up the neighbourhood, Al Ibrahim said people need to be properly housed away from the streets – and he’s tired of feeling unsafe.
His building he said, is regularly blocked at the street entrance, broken into and has incurred more than $100,000 in damage to its exterior due to vandalism.
“I pay taxes as much as anyone else, I have two jobs, I have full-time school, I contribute to society, but I feel like I’m penalized because I choose to live in this area,” Al Ibrahim told Global News in an interview Saturday.
Reardon meantime said she doesn’t know if housing alone will solve anything.
“I think that ultimately, it’s a mental health crisis, and I’m not exactly sure what the answer to that is but I know that they need to have some mental health professionals doing more.”
Eby has also promised to end the entrenched encampment on the western edge of CRAB Park on the city’s waterfront, where people have been living in tents and other structures for almost two years.
Last year, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Matthew Kirchner refused to grant the Vancouver Park Board’s request for an injunction to clear the CRAB Park tent city – ruling people cannot be evicted if suitable housing alternatives are not available.
Lawyer Ravi Hira K.C., a partner at Hira Rowan LLP, said there could be obstacles to quickly addressing the CRAB Park encampment.
“Unless there is clear evidence that either there is a lot of housing available and people can go there or this is a public safety issue or this is a public health issue or this is a public nuisance issue, we’re in the same position that we were in January of 2022,” Hira told Global News Sunday.
Official B.C. opposition leader Kevin Falcon said suitable housing must be available before decamping CRAB Park.
“I would argue there (are) deeper issues here, some (individuals), especially with severe mental health issues we need to involuntarily if necessarily but compassionately remove them and put them into proper 24-7 care with proper psychiatric and medical supports to stabilize them,” Falcon said Sunday.
Global News offered Eby an opportunity to address how and when tents at CRAB Park will be cleared given the court ruling in place, but did not receive a response by deadline Sunday.