Homeless encampment in Vancouver’s CRAB Park to close next week: city

The City of Vancouver says the remaining 7 residents of an encampment astatine a Downtown Eastside parkland person a week to battalion up their belongings and leave, oregon they indispensable region their tents each time arsenic the country returns to regular daytime use.

A connection from the metropolis says radical whitethorn proceed sheltering astatine CRAB Park overnight, but structures indispensable beryllium taken down by 8 a.m. each time starting Nov. 7.

It says reserved structure spaces volition beryllium disposable for those who take to leave.

The metropolis says it confirmed the day of the upcoming closure of the designated country for sheltering successful the parkland and a instrumentality to regular daytime usage by the wide nationalist pursuing a week of consultation with the encampment residents.

The associated connection with the Vancouver Park Board says each of the 7 radical has housing, wellness services, income supports and modulation plans successful place, developed alongside metropolis outreach workers, B.C.’s lodging supplier and others.

The metropolis says workers are present focused connected supporting residents successful the determination distant from the waterfront park.

In a connection earlier this month, the metropolis said 7 radical surviving successful the encampment had been offered structure previously, but they declined.

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The earlier connection said “ongoing non-compliance” astatine the encampment continued to airs wellness and information risks, arsenic good arsenic an “unsustainable” strain connected the parkland board’s resources, and interest was increasing arsenic wintertime approaches.

The Crab Park encampment began successful 2021, and remained successful spot successful 2022 erstwhile a B.C. Supreme Court justice acceptable speech eviction notices, partially due to the fact that the metropolis didn’t person capable indoor structure spaces to accommodate those surviving astatine the camp.

The metropolis had antecedently forced radical retired of the encampment successful March to cleanable up the area, and residents were allowed to instrumentality to the designated country successful April.

The parkland committee has said CRAB Park serves astir 6,000 radical wrong a 10-minute locomotion successful an country with precise fewer different greenish spaces nearby.