With soaring temperatures across the Lower Mainland, there’s a concern for the unhoused population in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The lack of proper resources, such as water and public showers, has made it tough to beat the heat.
Members of the Overdose Prevention Society made their rounds in the Downtown Eastside Monday, ensuring everyone had proper water and resources on the 30-degree day, with many who are unhoused and vulnerable in the scorching sun.
“[We’re] making sure that people have water, they have places to come inside, that they have access to showers, cooling centres,” Sarah Blyth, OPS executive director told CityNews.
The Carnegie Centre, on the corner of Main Street and East Hastings Street is being used as a cooling centre for anyone looking to get some water and seek refuge indoors from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Blyth said the organization has been preparing six months ahead, stocking up with water, given how the temperatures get hotter each year – making conditions outdoors even more dangerous for those outside and exposed.
“People are already overdosing and outside on the street. Then that coupled with heat exposure, it can really create some really terrible situations,” she explained.
“And you’re seeing it with a lot of the ambulances that are coming and some of the 911 [calls] that are happening are heat related.”
Kerri Dick is unhoused and says many in the Downtown Eastside are exasperated with the heat and frustrated with the lack of proper resources.
“There’s not enough help from the city, there’s not enough places for people to go to the washroom, there’s not enough places for people to [get] water. We get maybe one water bottle a day, and that’s nothing in comparison to the heat,” Dick told CityNews.
Those along East Hastings Street say the lack of natural shelter in the area makes it challenging to stay cool.
“There’s not a lot of shade. It seems that there’s more shade in outer areas, trees and nice shrubbery and that. Down here, if you look, there’s not much,” resident Rick Larsen shared.
“Other folks in the city are having a good time in the sun but its really challenging for people on Hastings Street. Theres not a lot of trees, there’s not a lot of canopy either, so people are stuck right out in the sun,” Blyth explained.
Both Blyth and those living in the DTES say perhaps what’s missing most in these sweaty sweltering conditions: a place to shower.
“We need more places for people to take showers and have cleaner lives. They want cleaner streets, make it available for them to have cleaner lives. It’s really simple,” Dick said.