Downtown Eastside overdose prevention site ‘scrambling’ after lease not renewed

Vancouver's Overdose Prevention Society wants its lease extended at its smoking and inhalation site on West Pender Street, but says the property owner wants to make the lot available to more profitable renters. Crystal Laderas reports.

A Downtown Eastside overdose prevention site that sees hundreds of clients a day says it will have to shut down or move because its lease is not being renewed, and staff say either option puts lives at risk.

The OPS Inhalation Tent at 99 West Pender Street is the only supervised consumption site in the city for people who smoke drugs, while others cater specifically to people who inject them. Executive Director Sarah Blyth says if they have to close or move after March 31, people will lose a critical service during an ongoing crisis that killed seven people in B.C. each day last year.

“It’s a very large site, so we’d certainly be missed. It’s one of only a few in Canada. More people are smoking than ever, more people are dying of smoking than ever,” she told CityNews.

According to data released last week from the BC Coroners Service, the percentage of toxic drug deaths due to inhalation has outpaced those due to injection since 2017. In 2016, 39 per cent of fatalities were among those who injected drugs, and 31 per cent were from smoking. In 2020, smoking accounted for 56 per cent of deaths while injection accounted for 19 per cent.

“We save lives here every day. Potentially, people are not gonna have a space to be, so they’ll use alone and die. I mean, that’s just the reality of the situation — that we’ll lose people,” Blyth said. “It’s another crisis for us to deal with on top of all of the other crises that we’ve been enduring. So, it’s really terrible and traumatizing for everyone.”

There were 2,224 deaths in 2021 — the highest number recorded since a public health emergency was declared in 2016. None of those deaths happened at overdose prevention or supervised consumption sites. According to the coroner’s service, 83 per cent of illicit drug toxicity deaths occurred idoors – in homes, shelters, hotels, and supportive housing. Fifteen per cent occurred outside, including in vehicles, parks, on sidewalks, and in parks.

Related Stories: 

Blyth says the lease hasn’t been renewed because the landlords — REEF Technology, Kenstone Properties, and Impark, found they could make more money renting to the film industry.

“Lives should matter more than that. And we should be able to figure this out so that we can stay here or at least stay here until we find a new place. Ideally, we wouldn’t be in the middle of a crisis, but we are. And more people are dying than ever from smoking and inhalation,”

In an email, Kenstone says, “OPS is not being forced out of the site. This was a fixed lease term which will come to its natural end date on March 31, 2022. We need to proceed with environmental testing of the site which requires some drilling to take samples.”

REEF Technology tells CityNews it is not involved in rentals because it’s a parking management company, while Impark did not return a request for comment.

The City of Vancouver says, “OPS staff have requested an extension on their lease, and city staff are working with Vancouver Coastal Health to find a longer-term site.”

While the site saves lives, Blyth says what it offers goes far beyond that.

“It’s a private area where people feel safe and comfortable. They can come and, and they can get help. We help them, bring them to the hospital, with medical care, we give them clothes if they’re cold, we have a place for their dogs, we have sprinklers when it’s warm. We try to do the best that we can to help people in the moment of crisis sometimes, and sometimes that’s an overdose,” she told CityNews, adding the site also offers drug testing, bathrooms, respite from the streets, and a place to gather and mourn people who have died from poisoned drugs.

“People from the community are the ones that work here. We only hire people who actually use here to work here.”

Chris is one of those people. When he was first hired, he was living in a tent on the street.

“This opportunity came along, and I took it, and I love it,” he said.

“I never knew how to respond to an OD. I’d never felt someone’s heart stop under my hands before. As of today, I’ve got over 1,000 under my belt.”

Now, he’s a supervisor, and says he can’t imagine what he’ll do if the site shuts down — even temporarily.

“They’ve given me some room for growth, I’m no longer on the streets,” he said. “I love my job. I wouldn’t do anything else. Even if I was offered more money to go do something else I wouldn’t do anything else.”

Blyth says the hope is that they can at least have their lease extended long enough to find another space, but stresses how disruptive a move will be.

“We’re a good neighbour, in the community. But that takes time to establish, and there’s some fear around overdose prevention sites. So, moving is complicated, It’s not easy,” she said.

“With everything that people go through in the Downtown Eastside, they don’t need this … some stability would be great. That’s the most important thing for people is knowing where they’re going to come, and having the community develop there — which we’ve done … We’re going to be scrambling to find a place. So, at the very least, if they could just give us some time.”

Chris says he wants people to understand what will be lost if the site shuts down.

“A lot of people don’t like to think what we do here is beautiful, but it is in its own right. I mean, maybe people drugs isn’t beautiful, but at least they’re doing it in a safe manner and a safe place. And we’ve never lost anybody.”

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today