A sudden move by Vancouver Fire Rescue Services to clear 150 tents and other structures from three key blocks of the Downtown Eastside has left community groups and BC Housing scrambling to find ways to find new shelter for tenants on short notice. Many housing advocates, as well as the director of a local business association, say the city should have planned much earlier for what they know happens every summer: people who used to sleep on friends’ couches or in cars start sleeping outside. so do many who stayed in Downtown Eastside hotel rooms, which can get unbearably hot in hot weather. People with makeshift homes in the crackdown-hit Hastings Street area have been told everything must be gone by next Wednesday, which is a week longer than originally given. (The deadline was extended after public criticism.) The fire department said the structures must be cleared because there is a risk they could catch fire or block access to buildings firefighters must enter. Vancouver city hall delays decision on housing project until fall election Vancouver council approves controversial Kitsilano social housing project The city has promised to provide storage space, bathrooms and other services to the structures’ occupants, but it’s unclear how and when those relief measures will be delivered. BC Housing said in a statement that it was surprised by the fire chief’s order. “We have been clear with the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Fire Rescue that, in the short term, we do not have access to a large number of new spaces in Vancouver to serve the emergency mandate schedule,” he said. This is just one of the many camps that the municipal government has moved for in recent years. Wally Wargolet, executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society, said he and others are lobbying for the city to stop treating each encampment as an individual event and instead create a standing committee to deal with them. He said what has happened so far is not a workable way of dealing with the serious structural issues that lead to homelessness. “It’s a black spot for the city,” he said. Advocates say they agree. “It didn’t have to be this bad. It’s preventable,” said Karen Ward, a Downtown Eastside resident who works as a drug policy consultant for the city. “They could have created a public space. They could have closed a side street to the traffic. Now everyone is crammed into three blocks of sidewalks and everyone is pushing each other.” So did Sarah Blyth, who runs an overdose prevention site in the heart of the sidewalk encampment. “There was a tap of people in one area,” he said. Ms Blyth said some of the back alleys where people used to gather are closed due to construction, while Pigeon Park, a popular gathering spot, is being patrolled by the owner of the building opposite. BC Housing has opened 1,400 new social apartments in Vancouver since 2018. The organization has provided 300 homes – through purchases of hotels such as the Patricia on Hastings Street, the Ramada on Pender Street and the Howard Johnson on Granville Street – for people who lived in another encampment, Strathcona Park. But those additions followed the loss of several major residential hotels to fires and a summer of unexpectedly full shelters. Rachael Allen, his representative The Union Gospel Mission said the organization’s shelter was full every night in June and July – which is not typical for this time of year. Amanda Burrows, executive director at First United Church, which is located near the encampment, said the urgency should have been expected given past cycles of homelessness. “The upheaval that’s happening now is what happens every time,” he said. Ms Burrows added that the current crisis is the result of a multi-month series of events. Vancouver police announced in November that, starting July 1, they will no longer accompany city crews on “street sweeps,” during which crews of city engineers remove what they consider trash. Advocates began pushing the sweeps, saying people’s valuable personal belongings were being thrown out. The engineering department apologized and crews stopped work. Tents then began to multiply to a point that seemed safe from direct enforcement action. Ms Ward said because of the crowding on the Hastings Street pavement, people were tense. Vancouver police said in a recent statement that there has been an uptick in violence in and near these blocks. A man in a wheelchair was stabbed as he tried to make his way through the tents and debris, a woman was bear sprayed and another woman was attacked and then seriously injured when she fell and hit her head. In its statement, the City of Vancouver said several departments have been involved in encouraging people to remove tents and structures from Hastings Street. The statement said the city is working on a plan to clean up the area while maintaining safe and clean streets for everyone who lives, visits and works in the area. Like Ms Ward, Ms Barrows said giving people a reasonable choice to seek shelter would be more helpful than a sudden crackdown. “I don’t know why the city can’t find a place for people to move that has a bathroom, a fog station. This is not new.” Meanwhile, he said, it’s unfortunate that the fire department decided to order an almost immediate cleanup when community groups had begun to reduce fire hazards on sidewalks and make them more accessible. We have a weekly Western Canada newsletter written by our BC and Alberta bureau chiefs, providing a comprehensive package of the news you need to know about the region and its position on the issues facing Canada. 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