Those not in the Downtown Eastside share their plans for after the city’s tents are removed.
Franchesca Leo spent part of her Tuesday loading dirty clothes and other personal items into a large plastic garbage can outside her tarp-filled shelter on East Hastings Street.
The City of Vancouver delivered the 360-litre container to Leo this morning as part of a multi-step plan to remove dozens of makeshift structures and tents from the sidewalks of East Hastings.
“It’s been exhausting,” said Leo, a 45-year-old indigenous woman, as she filled the trash can that would eventually be transported to a storage site on Main Street or East Cordova Street.
Between loading her trash, Leo filled out a BC Housing application form a friend gave her, but she didn’t expect to immediately find a place to live; he planned to move further down East Hastings to another point on the strip.
“I don’t have anywhere else to go, but if I can’t stay here, I have to go somewhere,” he said.
Firefighters fear the tents could catch fire and spread to the buildings
Last week, BC Housing and Mayor Kennedy Stewart told Vancouver Is Awesome that there is not enough housing for people living in East Hastings, a fact that competes with Fire Chief Karen Fry’s order to remove all tents from the sidewalks for fear that they could catch fire and spread to the buildings.
On Tuesday, firefighters, police, city crews and others from various social service agencies were largely on standby as Leo and others began to slowly and methodically empty their belongings into bins.
By morning, police had closed off the section of East Hastings between Main and Columbia streets as media and local residents gathered outside the empty Regent Hotel, which is where the city gathered because of the concentration of shelters on the sidewalk.
Captain Matthew Trudeau, public information officer for Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, said firefighters have responded to 1,016 fires in the downtown east this year, including the Vancouver Street Church in other side of Carrer del Regent.
Hotel Regent 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 due to its dilapidated condition .
“Our crews are going to have a very difficult time stopping here seeing the fire and smoke coming out of this building and getting adequate water to the fire in a reasonable amount of time,” he said, adding note that firefighters were called this weekend to a tent fire at 122 East Hastings. “This is incredibly dangerous.”
The city did not have anyone present on East Hastings Street Tuesday to answer questions, but issued a news release in the morning emphasizing the street and traffic law prohibit structures on sidewalks.
“This is a complex endeavor and the city appreciates the work of the many community organizations and social enterprises that have contributed expertise and effort, as well as the support of BC Housing and Vancouver Coastal Health,” the statement said.
“We recognize that this work will have an emotional impact on the community and everyone involved. The staff of the City Council will seek to carry out the work with reflection and care for the 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 operate the camps
Kelin Ryan, 39, said she lives with a friend in a tent outside the Regent when she can’t get into a shelter, saying “it’s a game of the dice whether you’re going to have a place to sleep or not.” .
Ryan, a trained heat and frost insulator, said the city should consider using vacant lots to operate camps, where there would be bathrooms and kitchen facilities, something some American cities offer people no accommodation
Ryan said he receives welfare but also works part-time jobs.
“When I go to work every day, everything I earn is immediately deducted from my income,” he said. “So it’s kind of a kick in the pants. Yes, it helps me be able to eat today. But it doesn’t allow me to save anything or put anything aside for the end of the month.”
When asked where he would be staying Tuesday night, Ryan said, “Honestly, probably nowhere. At this point, I mean I don’t really have any other choice. So I’ll probably stay where I am until they literally take over of my belongings, or have provided me with a suitable or safe place to go.”
The city has bought more hotels
Ironically, Ryan and Leo live out of 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. Together, the hotels accommodated around 300 people.
The city has since bought the hotels from the Sahota family, with the intention of demolishing the Balmoral and possibly renovating the Regent, which was closed due to its disrepair.
The Regent and Balmoral have been in the city’s top 10 problem hotels list for nearly 20 years and have been cited by police in numerous reports for drug activity, violence and other crimes.
The city’s last homeless count in March 2020 recorded more than 2,000 homeless people.
The situation changed when the police clashed with a crowd
That scene changed late in the afternoon when police responded to an incident at the Carnegie Center unrelated to the camp. After the arrest of a man who was reported to be throwing computers and behaving erratically according to a VPD news release, “when officers were taking him into custody, the man resisted arrest and fought with the police.”
The release continues, “a large crowd gathered and became hostile and combative with officers. Several police officers were assaulted. Several arrests were made.”
The release said officers were in the area at the request of the city to keep the peace while city crews conducted their information campaign at the tent and removed the structure from the strip.
mhowell@glaciermedia.ca
@Howellings