Controversial Abbotsford tent encampment to be cleared to make way for new shelter

The British Columbia government says it's clearing the site of a controversial homeless camp in Abbotsford.

Residents at Lonzo Park and Ride off Sumas Way will be transitioned to safe indoor spaces, and a new temporary 50-bed shelter will be built on the encampment site, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced at a Tuesday news conference.

The province said about 15 people living at the site have been told they must leave by June 26. Construction of the shelter is expected to be done by year's end.

"While we understand this encampment response at Lonzo will be challenging for its current occupants, it is necessary to address health, fire and safety issues at the encampment and to support the creation of a new shelter on the Lonzo site as well as new supportive housing in the community,"  Kahlon said in a statement.

Everyone at the site will be offered help to relocate to available shelter or supportive housing spaces, Kahlon said. Rent supplements will also be available.

Staff with B.C. Housing, along with outreach workers and non-profit organizations, will be on-site to support the transition. 

Once the site has been cleared, the province says work will begin on a new 50-bed shelter that will replace an existing 40-bed shelter on Riverside Road.  The new shelter will operate at the encampment site for as long as 18 months before moving to a new location that has yet to be determined.

The Riverside Road site will be replaced by a new permanent supportive housing building.

The park and ride, which was built for a transit hub that never materialized, falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation.

The mayor of Abbotsford, a city located 70 kilometres east of Vancouver, welcomed Tuesday's announcement, saying the issue of homelessness is a non-partisan issue. 

"These are human souls that deserve dignity and respect ... We are taking steps towards providing help for the most vulnerable," Ross Siemens said. 

Abbotsford police have called the camp "the most violent in the city," and Siemens told CBC last month that it's been challenging dealing with growing safety concerns for those in and around the area.

Encampment residents have pushed back against how the encampment has been portrayed, saying that labelling it as violent is "unfair."

"People see a mess ... and then all of a sudden everybody here is just tagged as that we're dirty, we're criminals and addicts," Kat Lyons, who's been living at the camp for the last two weeks, told CBC News last month. 

"That's just not the case." 

The province said it is teaming up with Abbotsford for a new program designed to respond to encampments. The Homeless Encampment Action Response Teams (HEART) program is expected to begin this fall.