By: Mason Mattu, News Writer
On November 7, 2024, “Vancouver’s only sanctioned [houseless] encampment” located at CRAB Park closed. The Vancouver Park Board previously sectioned off a designated area of the park for overnight sheltering. Evicted park residents who did not “transition to indoor arrangements” are permitted to temporarily shelter overnight.
Throughout 2024, the Park Board conducted a “slow-moving decampment of the site,” in which over 30 residents of CRAB Park were forcibly removed, and essential supplies such as “blankets, clothing, [and] tarps” were destroyed or confiscated.
At the time of eviction, seven official residents were offered “shelter previously but declined those offers.” In a previous interview with The Peak, resident Ryan Exner said this was due to the lack of privacy and bug infestations at the offered single-room occupancy shelters. The Peak corresponded with Fiona York, an advocate for the residents of CRAB Park, to learn more. York said that “over 20 current and former residents were working as peer overdose response workers at the time of the eviction” and none of them were offered employment support after losing their jobs. She also said that “on the day of the eviction, there were also other residents present who were not considered ‘official’ [and] were not offered anything at all.”
Throughout the summer and fall, 100 other individuals attempted to stay at the encampment but “kept getting their tents and belongings removed by the [park] rangers” and were “told to leave.” York said these individuals were also not offered housing by the City of Vancouver.
“It’s also so risky to be outside in cold weather, and the city’s current ‘extreme weather response’ system doesn’t factor into consideration issues like rain and damp conditions as well.” — Fiona York, CRAB Park advocate
Winter weather is expected to hit the province after a mild December. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, hypothermia and frostbite are some of the severe and life-threatening exposure-related conditions that unhoused people are at “a much higher risk than the general population of developing.”
“It’s potentially so dangerous and harmful to force people out of their shelters every morning and seize their blankets and belongings,” York said, “It’s also so risky to be outside in cold weather, and the City’s current ‘extreme weather response’ system doesn’t factor into consideration issues like rain and damp conditions as well.” The City’s extreme weather response system “funds community-based services to provide extra emergency shelter spaces during periods of extreme winter weather.” The program does not provide shelter for unhoused people when the weather is mild.
In a statement to The Peak, the City of Vancouver stated their response to houselessness involves working “with senior government to create affordable housing, activate emergency shelters, and provide access to washrooms, showers, low-cost meals, and indoor spaces.” They also stated this involves advocating “for improvements in mental health services and supports.” The City also detailed their four-year capital plan which “includes an allocation of over $600 million to create and preserve affordable housing.” They plan to allocate $26 million to single-room occupancy programs.
Grassroots advocacy work continues for former residents of CRAB Park and other unhoused individuals. Friends of CRAB Park recently called for the City of Vancouver to instate a “winter moratorium during extreme weather events such as atmospheric rivers and bomb cyclones,” meaning “temporary suspension of an activity or law until future consideration.” Friends of CRAB Park is an advocacy group that helps “tackle the hardships of homelessness in Downtown Eastside Vancouver.” Their petition also highlights their demands to reopen “CRAB Park for daytime sheltering” until every resident is housed, “improve housing options to include full tenancy rights,” a kitchen, and washroom, and end “the seizure of belongings and street sweeps.”
Through a December fundraiser, York and other volunteers also provided a Christmas dinner, gifts, and supplies for rain storms. Volunteers are still accepting donations to fund cold-weather supplies, at https://chuffed.org/project/119234
