Mayor Kennedy Stewart says feds and B.C. need to step up funding for homeless

VANCOUVER — The deadline to dismantle an encampment along Vancouver’s Hastings Street has passed with little change, but Mayor Kennedy Stewart says he’s reached out to the federal and B.C. governments for urgent funding and other supports.

Vancouver fire Chief Karen Fry issued a safety order last month to remove the tents and structures on the street’s sidewalk in the Downtown Eastside, and the street was supposed to be cleared on Wednesday.

Stewart says in a statement that since the order, the city has increased resources for those living on the street, including creating space to store personal belongings, street cleaning, washroom access and peer support services.

However, Stewart explains while the city is assembling these supports, the operations require significant investments from senior levels of government.

He adds he spoke this week with new B.C. Housing Minister Murray Rankin about how the city and province can co-ordinate their approaches to connecting unsheltered residents to housing.

Stewart says he also reached out to the government of Canada asking for additional urgent housing funding.

“Vancouver has been home to a significant homeless population since starting an official homeless count in 2005 and the pandemic has only made matters worse, requiring all three levels of government to come together to take concerted and sustained actions,” Stewart says in the statement.

Related links:

• Hastings tent removal deadline extended, advocate worries police will show up

• BC Housing CEO retiring, says he no longer feels he can solve ‘complex problems’

• New Surrey affordable housing for at-risk women gets federal funding

Ryan Sudds, an organizer with Stop the Sweeps, is frustrated with what he calls a lack of communication from the city. He says with no city staff showing up Wednesday on what was supposed to be the new “deadline” to leave, the community is left wondering what is going on.

“I would say the city is not communicating a very clear plan,” Sudds said. “It’s changing day-by-day, which worries me because it’s people’s lives and their homes that are at risk through this process.”

He says people living on the block are trying to keep up with the city’s plans, but they’re not sure what happens next.

“I’m not suggesting they start taking people’s tents with no place to go, but this is a disaster. … Why aren’t we looking at creative solutions that take away the fire risk and the apparent ‘catastrophic’ risk that they keep talking about? So to me, it’s not necessarily solely about fire. The city wants to destroy this encampment,” he argued.

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With files from Kier Junos