Vancouver emergency shelters draw fire from neighbours

A battle is brewing over two homeless shelters underneath the Granville Street Bridge in downtown Vancouver.

The city opened five so-called low-barrier shelters throughout the city in late 2008 with funding from the city, the province and the private sector.

The shelters are called low-barrier because they have more relaxed rules about pets, possessions, intoxication and other behaviour often banned by more traditional homeless shelters. They were billed as a temporary emergency measure to get the homeless off the streets during the winter months, but the shelters have stayed open.

Now the city is asking the provincial government for enough money to keep them running until April, 2010.

Residents 'more concerned'

However, False Creek residents along Beach Avenue say they've never been consulted about the two shelters located at 1435 Granville St. and 1422 Howe St.

Resident John Roberts said he wants the shelters shut down because they are making the neighbourhood unsafe.

"As we are starting to get more concerned they are starting to push it more in our face," he said.

"It is definitely getting scarier. They [the homeless] are getting more aggressive. On Friday and Saturday night, the neighbourhood is starting to call it 'the rodeo' in here. We are looking at actually fencing in our area to turn our building into a compound and that is something we really don't want to do."

Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang said the city is just trying to help the homeless.

"You have a homeless population there already and we're actually doing some good for them," said Jang, a member of the Homeless Emergency Action Team. "Currently some are housed and they're making great gains and we hope to move them into interim or permanent housing over the next year or so."

Sleeping on the streets

Matthew Dicaire, who frequently sleeps at the shelters, said without them he would be sleeping on the streets.

"I think, personally, that it's really easy to complain when your basic needs are all met," he said. "But our basic needs are not all met so we need to find a shelter and a place to eat."

"They [area residents] have that and tons of food to eat and they sleep in a nice bed every night so it's easy for them to complain and to whine."

Residents will meet with Jang and other city councillors on Thursday night to discuss their concerns.