As B.C. moves towards encampment injunction change, homeless people call for moratorium on winter evictions

Homeless and formerly unhoused residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside raised alarms on Wednesday about what they said is ongoing displacement from public spaces.

As colder temperatures hit the region, they and advocates are calling for the city to impose a moratorium on what they called "street sweeps" targeting people sleeping in parks and on sidewalks in the neighbourhood.

The city said its actions are simply enforcing park board policies, and it is offering a variety of overnight shelter spaces for those needing a home.

But in Oppenheimer Park, the site of former homeless encampments in 2019 and 2020, people called the city's moves aggressive and unnecessary.

"We are already on the ground, they are stomping on us," said Jonathan Cruz, who alleged his tent and belongings at Victoria Park were taken away by park rangers without warning, something the park board denies.

Cruz spoke Wednesday alongside other homeless residents and their advocates during a press conference  in Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park organized by activist group Stop the Sweeps.

In a written response to CBC News, the Vancouver Park Board said its park rangers have not participated in evicting homeless people, and that allegations of confiscating belongings are inaccurate and inconsistent with its practices.

The board said park rangers have "been seeking compliance with the Parks Control Bylaw" restricting campers to a specific area of CRAB Park in the Downtown Eastside.

Stop the Sweeps spokesperson Fiona York made an impassioned plea to the city to stop further evictions of those experiencing homelessness as winter temperatures plummet.

"Right now it's about 1 C, it's really cold out," York told reporters. "This morning, there was frost on the ground and it was really cold out, people were already going through the eviction of the day."

On X, formerly known as Twitter, the city issued a list of additional shelter spaces that are available through Thursday.

"If you are sleeping outside, please come to the safety of the shelters," the city's tweet stated.

One former tent city resident says the promise of safety indoors rang hollow.  

Andrew Hirschpold currently lives in social housing, but several years ago he stayed in Strathcona Park with others, he said, after conditions in his former homeless shelter "deteriorated."

"It's not easy to live outside," he told CBC News, recounting how he decided to move into the former tent city in Strathcona Park until it was displaced and resurfaced at CRAB Park.

"I left the shelter where I lived for a year-and-a-half ... for Strathcona Park because they had food that was edible and good, an environment that was safer. My stuff was being taken at the shelters and I felt I had better control over it there."

WATCH | Former resident of Vancouver homeless encampments explains why shelters are not always ideal 

Former resident of Vancouver homeless encampments explains why shelters are not always ideal

12 months ago

Duration 1:26

Andrew Hirschpold, who lived in two Vancouver homeless encampments, tells CBC News that tent cities can offer community support and a sense of safety. In an interview in Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park on Nov. 29, he says shelter beds and single-room occupancy housing may not be the best solution for all homeless people.

Stop the Sweeps is calling for a moratorium on what it calls "winter evictions" until May 31, and is asking for daytime sheltering in city parks to be allowed.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, B.C. Premier David Eby said while people have the right to sleep in tents, the province does not support it.

"Encampments and people sleeping in the tents, especially during the winter, is a last resort," Eby said. "That's a constitutionally recognized right of the people ... but that's not what we want.

"We want people to be inside with support."

His government has tabled legislation, Bill 45, which if passed would amend the two charters that outline how municipalities are governed in B.C. — the Community Charter and Vancouver Charter — to require municipalities to prove there is "reasonably available" alternative shelter for displaced residents before applying for an injunction to clear a homeless encampment. 

The bill defines alternative shelter as a place that allows a person to stay overnight with access to a bathroom, shower and at least one meal per day at or near the shelter, and that is staffed while people are sheltering there.

On Tuesday, the First Nations Leadership Council issued a statement opposing the bill, arguing that while the province "may have intentions to protect encampment residents, the legislative amendments and B.C.'s definition of 'reasonably available' do not go far enough to protect some of our most vulnerable members of society and must not be pushed through."

Terry Teegee, regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, said in the statement that because Indigenous people are overrepresented among homeless populations, the legislation "will impact many of our First Nations relatives."