Deadline passes for campers to move out of Vancouver’s Strathcona Park

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The deadline for those living in Vancouver’s Strathcona Park has come and gone.

The Vancouver Park Board says “the vast majority” of people who have been living at the homeless encampment at the park have moved out.

Earlier this month, the Park Board gave campers notice to leave the park by 10 a.m. on April 30.

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Fencing is going up at the park Friday.

“We’re all going to do our part, the best we can, to make sure ithat we avoid future encampments … The city is working to bring on spaces,” they said.

“We’ve built a really good relationship with the folks, who maybe would be the ones thinking about going to another park. I think we’ve tried to work with them to understand how we can better direct their energy,” Rosa added.

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The Park Board says in the past three weeks, 184 people have moved into accommodations arranged by BC Housing and the City of Vancouver, “with many people moving into private rooms with their own washroom.”

The province previously purchased three hotels to help accommodate those who were living at the encampment.

As for Strathcona itself, the refurbishment of the Park is set to continue, something that has been happening incrementally as the Park Board put limits on where the campers were able to stay in the lead-up to the deadline.

“With the intention of removing the fencing, hopefully — depending on what kind of remediation we need — it could be anywhere from a couple months to three, four months,” Rosa said.

The City of Vancouver says this is a “necessary next step to close the encampment in the park and return the park to community use.”

-With files from Marcella Bernardo