As of today, the remaining homeless encampment area at Crab Park on downtown Vancouver’s Central Waterfront has officially come to a close.
The intent is to fully restore Crab Park for general community and recreational use after it was used as an encampment for 41 consecutive months. All necessary repairs to the grounds of the encampment area at the northwest corner of the park, next to the Burrard Inlet shoreline, are expected to be completed by the weekend.
“Given these individuals have received shelter and housing offers, there is no longer a fair and reasonable rationale for these individuals to have priority and exclusive access to daytime public park space given the other over 600 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness across the city who are required to comply with the Parks Control By-Law,” stated the municipal government previously.
This comes two weeks after the Vancouver Park Board and the City of Vancouver announced their plan to wind down the designated encampment on November 7, 2024.
The encampment first began in April 2021, when individuals who refused to move into offered shelter and housing during the process of ending the Strathcona Park encampment began a new encampment at Crab Park.
A year later, in April 2022, municipal officials created a designated area for camping at Crab Park to better manage the encampment’s activities and growth.
Then, in early Spring 2024, the Park Board and City crews forced all campers within the designated area to temporarily relocate to another area of the park to enable a thorough cleanup of the designated area due to the buildup of extremely hazardous conditions. At the time, there was an overwhelming amount of debris and garbage, non-compliant materials, propane tanks, rats, needles, and feces in the area. Crews removed over 90,000 kg (90 tons) of debris and material, which required the use of heavy machinery and equipment.
Two weeks ago, municipal officials stated seven individuals remained at the encampment and have all previously declined shelter and housing offers.
Today, Park Rangers informed the remaining campers that the encampment is now closed. Under bylaws, overnight camping is permitted, but all tents and structures must be removed during the daytime starting at 8 am.
Teams from the Park Board and City will be on site today to help the remaining individuals gather their belongings.
According to the municipal government, all remaining individuals have “housing, health services, income supports and transition plans developed collaboratively by the City’s Homelessness Services Outreach Team, BC Housing, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction and Vancouver Coastal Health.”