Vancouver considers new public washroom strategy as pressure mounts over access, street cleanliness

A worsening problem with human feces in and around East Vancouver's Grandview Park became one of the reasons for B.C. resident Zoe Raffard to move out of the city permanently.

"It just stressed me to see the park being used that way and not having anyone wanting to clean it up," said Raffard, who relocated to the Okanagan last summer.

The now Vernon, B.C., resident says she repeatedly reported incidents to the city by calling 311, but rarely got a satisfying response.

“I would even offer them solutions like the Portland Loo or having an attendant to the existing washroom,” she said.

Raffard says neighbours frequently tagged her in posts about “poop at the playground” on a local Facebook group.

“I had become this toilet activist that no one in power would listen to … it just became too shitty.”

Her frustration comes as the City of Vancouver considers a new Washroom Strategic Framework, a staff report aimed at making public washrooms easier to find, maintain and more evenly distributed across the city.

The framework, which council is set to discuss Tuesday, focuses on some action items for 2026 including clearer signage, improving sensors and locks, better mapping of existing washrooms and better coordination with partners like TransLink, the Vancouver Public Library and non-profit operators. 

According to the report, while the city has an extensive network of washrooms, service gaps remain. The Vancouver Park Board alone operates 129 facilities, which is about 83 per cent of the municipal government’s public washrooms.

The framework also plans to integrate public washrooms into future projects, such as major street upgrades and encourage businesses to allow public access to private washrooms.

Sarah Blyth, executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society, says the lack of accessible washrooms has direct consequences for public health, dignity and safety.

“We really need to scale up public washrooms,” Blyth said. “After COVID, many shops and coffee places closed their washrooms and never reopened them. It’s not for businesses to operate public washrooms, the city needs to provide them.”

Her organization operates two staffed public washrooms in the Downtown Eastside, which together get between 15,000 and 22,000 visits annually.

Both washrooms operated by the society were close to shutting down in 2024 due to funding shortfalls, before last-minute funding was renewed by the city and the province.