Two months after B.C. Premier David Abbey promised to address shanties on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the province is finalizing an action plan to get housing to the most vulnerable populations.
“It’s a balance between wanting to do it fast but also wanting to do it right,” Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon told Global News in an interview.
“So that we’re not only creating more disruption and making it even more difficult for those people to find stability in their lives.”
While there has been a significant reduction in the number of tents in Hastings Street and CRAB Park, Kahlon said her government is continuing to work with partners and stakeholders to move forward.
Incoming BC Premier David Abbie says province will handle coordination approach to Downtown Eastside
Canada signs multibillion dollar deal for F-35 fighter jets. Know here how much it will cost
After spending nearly eight months at CRAB Park, Sean Dunbar said he can’t wait to move out.
“It’s pathetic,” Dunbar told Global News as the tents drenched in rain on Sunday.
“It’s not a nice place to live, I don’t recommend it.”
The encampment at the west end of the public park’s waterfront was established in May 2021, and is still home to about two dozen people, including Dunbar and his companion.
The couple moved to B.C. from Ontario three years ago, and became homeless when a live-and-work arrangement in Kelowna expired, according to Dunbar.
Now, he said, the novelty of outdoor life has worn off.
Dunbar said, “It was great at first because it was almost like an adventure camp in the park.”
“It’s fantastic right by the ocean, my wife and I, and then as time went on it started getting colder and more wetter.”
“We know they’re not safe, they’re not safe for the people who live there and we’ve heard from people in the communities, it’s not safe for them,” Kahlon said of the ongoing camps.
Last May, a man was murdered at CRAB Park while its tent was the scene of a mass stabbing in October and a large tent fire in December.
Man accused of stabbing at CRAB Park previously convicted of DTES stabbing
The provincial government says some Albertans will start receiving affordability payments this month
That same month, the BC government announced it was working with the City of Vancouver to build 90 units of housing to help clean up the ongoing camps at CRAB Park and East Hastings Street.
Still, Kahlon said it’s challenging to get everyone inside.
City, province speeding up 90 new housing units to help address Vancouver tent cities
Mexico, Jamaica, Peru on alert list. How Canadians can make informed travel decisions
“Right now we have people who are in CRAB Park or Hastings Street who actually have housing, who are actually in supportive housing but still like to go there.”
While some may not want to give up the sense of community Vancouver County provides. Pete Fry said that if people are living outside because they feel safer there than in more permanent housing, then we need to assess the shortcomings in the available shelter options.
“It needs to be safe, it needs to be clean, you need to be aware of all the appropriate things,” Fry told Global News in an interview on Sunday.
“But if it comes down to a choice, a no-rules lifestyle, then we’re not necessarily here to support it.”
In January 2022, the Vancouver Park Board’s request for an injunction to vacate the CRAB Park encampment was rejected by BC Supreme Court Justice Matthew Kirchner, who ruled that people could not be evicted if suitable housing options were not available. Could
“I think the burden of proof to hit people out of the park is kind of what’s needed to really take that next step,” Fry said.
Judge refuses to grant injunction to vacate Vancouver’s CRAB Park complex
‘Three Amigos’ summit: Experts call for North American vision as leaders meet in Mexico
“I’m starting a job now, I don’t want to be here any longer,” Dunbar told Global News.
Dunbar said he turned down a housing offer on Hastings Street in the Downtown Eastside because he doesn’t use drugs and wanted to escape that lifestyle.
He said conditions are difficult at the CRAB park, as electricity is shut down recently during the winter season.
“Everyone out there is like a paycheck away from living like this, and it’s too bad.”
The Vancouver Parks Board installed a new transformer to power the CRAB Park cantonment.
global news
A spokeswoman said the park board has installed a new transformer to provide power to the CRAB Park encampment after vandalism to the power supply available to park users, programs and events was discovered in December.
“Someone attempted to bypass the circuit breaker, resulting in major electrical hazards: arcing and flashing,” read a statement.
The new transformer at CRAB Park is secured behind a fence on the Sun. January 8, 2022.
global news
The park board also secured the new transformer behind a fence to “help prevent repeated damage”, while signs were installed to “ensure safety and proper use”.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.