Vancouver mayor says 'things have gotten better' after DTES tent removal. Residents, advocates disagree
CBC
One month since the City of Vancouver started formally removing the latest tent encampment on the Downtown Eastside, Mayor Ken Sim says the situation has improved. However, some non-profits and residents say the forced removals have caused more harm than good.
On April 5, the city shut down parts of East Hastings Street as garbage trucks moved into the area and police took down tents and makeshift homes.
Smaller-scale removals have continued throughout the month.
"We've decreased the risk of, you know, 100-pound propane tanks exploding and taking out entire city blocks. We've reduced the weapons that are on the street," Sim said. "Things have gotten better."
Sim says growing concerns over fire risk and rising crime drove the city to take action in early April despite opposition from members of the community.
"It was really scary, sad and like not the way things should be done," said Michelle Lackie, executive director of Exchange Inner City, a non-profit organization that works with people on the Downtown Eastside.
Lackie says the experience was traumatizing to witness, and left her worried for where displaced residents were expected to go, without options for safe, supportive housing beyond overnight shelters.
While the city's concerns over public safety were valid, she says, there needs to be more emphasis on those affected.
"It wasn't safe for the people who were moved that day and continually don't have a place to go."
Lackie says she thinks it was possible for the city to reduce safety risks while respecting residents' rights but it would've taken more time.
At least two new housing developments intended for DTES residents are expected to be ready by the end of June, she says, opening up hundreds of housing units.
The mayor's former chief of staff, Kareem Allam, is also questioning the city's actions. Allam left the mayor's office two months before the decampment.
"From a health-care outcomes perspective, that's not that's not the right decision," he said.
Allam says up until he left city hall, the plan was to not decamp residents without an adequate housing plan.