Advocates for unhoused people sheltering in CRAB Park say the recent “clean-up” has made things worse.
CityNews is hearing from residents that park rangers have handed out letters saying that anyone who doesn’t claim one of the 27 spots by 3:30 p.m. Sunday will be considered to not be interested and will lose their spot.
Lauren with Stop the Sweeps says residents are in a horrible situation.
“[Park rangers are] trying to make it as easy as possible to basically be able to kick everyone out, and they’re harassing them every single day,” she said.
“They’re not providing them any real service. They’re giving very misleading information. So people are constantly confused about what’s going on.”
The city says the process of cleaning up the area went “smoothly.” It also says new tents and canopies will be supplied through funding from BC Housing, in addition to supplies and canopies for communal areas. This includes food storage and preparation areas, donations storage, and a gathering space.
The effort created 27 marked 10×10 sheltering spaces on a gravel camping area for those who had been living in the area as of Feb. 26 and have not already found housing.
It also worked on improving sanitation services, and removed more than 90,000 kilograms of debris.
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The city says those returning to shelter in the area must abide by specific bylaws and guidelines. It says this means as residents leave or move into shelters, it will be removing marked-out sheltering spaces from the area. If conditions deteriorate, the sheltering area may also be reduced once again to only allow temporary overnight sheltering — forcing those who stay during the day to leave.
If someone moves into a vacated sheltering space before the city can remove it, that person will be permitted to stay but will not be recognized “as an intended user” by the city.
Throughout the clean-up and debris-clearing process, residents of CRAB Park have expressed skepticism and apprehension about the city’s actions.
Michelle Gagnon-Creely, a volunteer at CRAB Park, told CityNews on Monday the process has evoked fears of past decampments for some people sheltering in the area.
“The way that this has been undertaken with the fencing and the lack of communication, and the city coming in and literally bulldozing, it’s reminiscent to residents of the same strategies that were taken at Strathcona and Oppenheimer,” Gagnon-Creely said.
In 2022, the BC Supreme Court ruled in favour of CRAB Park residents, denying an injunction that would have allowed the Vancouver Park Board to evict residents. It also set aside two orders that prohibit sheltering in the park.
The CRAB Park encampment has seen several evictions affecting dozens of people since 2020, when many people moved into the park in the waterfront area after the tent city at Oppenheimer Park was dismantled and residents were evicted by injunction. One of the factors the court considered in its decision in 2022 was the history of encampments in parks in and near the Downtown Eastside.
–With files from Cole Schisler, Pippa Norman, Hana Mae Nassar, and Charlie Carey