Downtown Eastside residents call for 'dignified' housing amid tent removals during cold snap

Syndon Purser says surviving on the streets in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has become "nothing short of a battle" as law enforcement officers continue to forcibly confiscate residents' shelters and belongings from the sidewalks.

Purser, who has lived there for over a year, says she and other DTES residents are calling for adequate, dignified housing, and they aren't leaving the area until there are proper housing solutions.

She says it comes after Vancouver city staff and police enforced a bylaw Wednesday that prohibits the accumulation of structures and personal belongings on sidewalks.

"[City staff] have started to bring police back," Purser said Thursday on CBC Radio's BC Today, citing a mass eviction of shelters on the street during a cold snap. "A number of residents there don't have tents anymore."

Vancouver city staff began the process of removing tents and other structures last summer, forcing dozens of people to move without other housing and shelter options.

Homelessness advocates say the approach has broken apart the community and driven people into isolation. They are arguing for more housing options.

Vince Tao from the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), told CBC that Wednesday's "street sweep" by law enforcement came unannounced amid cold weather.

"People are outraged and disheartened," he said. "The shelters are full, supportive housing is unlivable, and the B.C. Housing [wait]list is …years long." 

Police say they are increasing enforcement due to recent gun crime

Vancouver police spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said in a press conference Thursday that city staff have requested police be on standby during tent removals "as usual," and that more police are patrolling the Downtown Eastside due to a "significant increase in gun violence."

Addison said more rapid response officers are now being deployed along Hastings Street, in Chinatown and Gastown, after multiple shooting incidents, including one early Thursday where a man riding a bike was shot in his leg.

Addison said police have seized 14 guns in the last few days, including "real, loaded guns," replicas, and airsoft and BB guns. He said police have seized five real firearms from the area since the weekend — more guns than he's ever seen recovered in such a short period of time.

A City statement says "staff continue to be out on [East] Hastings on a daily basis to clean and to encourage people to remove their structures" due to fire risks, building access and road safety concerns. 

It says its homelessness services outreach team is still working to offer support for the unhoused, along with shelter spaces or single-room occupancy (SRO) spaces as they become available. 

'SROs are unlivable,' say advocates

But DTES residents say the housing they're being offered is part of the problem. 

Syndon Purser said the SRO housing options residents are offered are "not dignified housing in any way, shape or form."

"It's a small room with no bathrooms [and] no cooking facilities, even in the building," she said, adding that visitors must be screened and pre-approved for certain hours of the day. There have also been reports of broken elevators and limited access to hot water.

Anna Cooper, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society, says the city's removal of tents violates residents' Charter rights by putting peoples' health and safety at risk. She says the current housing options for the unhoused are de-humanizing.

"The right to adequate housing is not an SRO without basic services, it's not a shelter bed, and it's not a supportive housing building where your basic tenancy rights are violated," she said, calling on the city to stop the tent evictions.

B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said in a statement that "too many SROs have not been properly maintained for many years and as a result are not adequate permanent housing. The conditions in many, particularly privately-owned sites, create barriers for [people] to remain housed."

For now, Purser said her plan is to try to stay safe and warm. 

"I just want a place that has a bathroom and a kitchen," she said. "I think that's what most people need in their homes."