The homeless in the Downtown Eastside share their plans after the city removes the tents.
Francesca Leo spent part of her Tuesday loading dirty laundry and other personal items into a large plastic dumpster outside her heavy tarp shelter on East Hastings Street.
The City of Vancouver delivered the 360-gallon bin to Leo this morning as part of a multi-phase plan to remove dozens of makeshift structures and tents from the sidewalks of East Hastings.
“It was exhausting,” said Leo, a 45-year-old indigenous woman, as she filled the bin that would eventually be transported to a storage site on Main Street or East Cordova.
In between loading the bin, Leo filled out a BC Housing application form given to her by a friend, but she didn’t expect to find a place to live right away; she planned to move further down East Hastings to another location on the strip.
“I have nowhere else to go, but if I can’t stay here, I have to go somewhere,” she said.
Firefighters fear the tents could catch fire and engulf the buildings
Last week, BC Housing and Mayor Kennedy Stewart told Vancouver Is Awesome that there isn’t enough housing for people living in East Hastings — a fact that competes with Fire Chief Karen Fry’s order to remove all tents from sidewalks out of fear that can catch fire and spread in buildings.
On Tuesday, firefighters, police, city crews and others from various social service agencies were largely on standby as Leo and others slowly and methodically began emptying their belongings into buckets.
In the morning, police had closed off the stretch of East Hastings between Main and Columbia streets as media and locals gathered outside the empty Regent Hotel, which is where the city was focused because of the concentration of shelters on the sidewalk.
Captain Matthew Trudeau, public information officer for Vancouver Fire and Rescue, said firefighters have responded to 1,016 fires in the Downtown Eastside this year, including Vancouver Street Church across the street from Regent.
The Regent Hotel has been vacant since 2018
Standing outside the Regent, Trudeau pointed to the empty building and described the challenges firefighters would face if a fire broke out at the single-room hotel, which the city closed in 2018 because of its dilapidated condition.
“Our crews are going to have a really tough time getting up here, seeing fire and smoke coming from this building, and getting adequate water to that fire in a reasonable amount of time,” he said, noting that firefighters are were called this weekend to a tent fire at 122 East Hastings. “It’s incredibly dangerous.”
The city did not have anyone Tuesday on East Hastings Street to answer questions, but issued a news release in the morning emphasizing that the street and traffic ordinance prohibits structures on sidewalks.
“This is a complex effort and the city appreciates the work of many community organizations and social enterprises who contribute expertise and effort, as well as the support of BC Housing and Vancouver Coastal Health,” the release said.
“We understand that this work will have an emotional impact on the community and all involved. City staff will strive to perform the work with consideration and care for residents and their circumstances.”
City crews delivered storage containers Tuesday to homeless people on East Hastings Street. Photo by Mike Howell
The city should consider using vacant lots to run camps
Kellyn Ryan, 39, said he lives with a friend in a tent outside the Regent when he can’t get into a shelter, saying “it’s a roll of the dice whether you’ll have a place to sleep”.
Ryan, a trained heat and freeze insulator, said the city should consider using vacant lots to run encampments that would have bathrooms and cooking facilities, something some American cities offer to homeless people.
Ryan said he receives welfare but also works as a day laborer.
“When I go to day labor, whatever I earn is immediately deducted from my income,” he said. “So it’s kind of a kick in the pants. Yes, it helps me to be able to eat today. But that doesn’t give me the opportunity to save anything or put anything aside until the end of the month.
Asked where he would stay on Tuesday night, Ryan said: “To be honest, probably nowhere. At this point, I want to say that I really have no other options. So I’ll probably just stay where I am until they literally confiscate my belongings or provide me with a suitable or safe place to go.
The city has purchased more hotels
Ironically, Ryan and Leo live across from a hotel – the Regent – which has been vacant since 2018 after the city forced its closure. The city did the same with the Balmoral Hotel in 2017. In total there are about 300 people in the hotels.
The city has since bought the hotels from the Sahota family with plans to demolish the Balmoral and eventually renovate the Regent, which was closed due to its poor condition.
The Regent and Balmoral have been on the city’s top 10 list of problem hotels for nearly 20 years and have been cited by police in numerous reports for drug activity, violence and other crime.
The city’s most recent homeless count in March 2020 recorded more than 2,000 homeless people.
The situation changed when the police clashed with the crowd
That scene changed in the late afternoon when police responded to an incident at the Carnegie Center unrelated to the camp. After the arrest of a man who was reportedly throwing computers and acting erratically, according to a VPD press release, “while officers were taking him into custody, the man resisted arrest and fought with police.”
The release continues, “a large crowd assembled and became hostile and combative with the officers. Several police officers were attacked. Numerous arrests have been made.”
The release said officers were in the area at the city’s request to stand aside and keep the peace while city crews conducted their outreach at the tent and the removal of the strip structure.
mhowell@glaciermedia.ca
@Howellings
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