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The City of Vancouver says it is going ahead with its plans to force an end to the homeless camp in CRAB Park on the downtown waterfront.
It said in a statement that the remaining seven residents of the camp in part of the Downtown Eastside park have a week to pack up their belongings and leave, or they must start removing their tents each day as the designated camping area is returned to regular daytime use.
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A statement from the city says people may continue sheltering at CRAB Park overnight, but structures must be taken down by 8 a.m. each day starting on Nov. 7.
It says shelter spaces have been reserved for those who choose to leave the camp.
The city says it confirmed the date of the upcoming closure of the designated area for 24-hour sheltering in the park and a return to regular daytime use by the public following a week of consultation with camp residents.
However, the city is already facing a lawsuit over the rule it imposed about nine months ago aimed at dwindling the size of the camp. Two women who left the camp for hospital stays and were not allowed to return are suing over the rule that refuses entry to anyone who has not spent three days a week in the camp.
The city’s joint statement this week with the park board says each of the seven people has housing, health services, income supports and transition plans in place, developed with city outreach workers, B.C.’s housing provider and others.
In a statement earlier this month, the city said seven people living in the camp had been offered shelter, but had declined.
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The earlier statement said “ongoing non-compliance” at the camp continued to pose health and safety risks, as well as an “unsustainable” strain on the park board’s resources, and concern was growing as winter approaches.
The CRAB Park camp began in 2021, and remained in place in 2022 when a B.C. Supreme Court judge set aside eviction notices, partly because the city didn’t have enough indoor shelter spaces to accommodate those living at the camp.
The park board has said CRAB Park serves about 6,000 people within a 10-minute walk in an area with very few other green spaces nearby.
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