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Vancouver removes homeless from West Hastings tent city

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – People living in a Gastown tent city are once again without a home after the City of Vancouver kicked them off the land, citing health and safety concerns.

The tents at 58 West Hastings Street began appearing on the vacant lot in July and now include several dozen residents. The city issued an eviction notice last Friday and said residents must be out by noon Tuesday.

“[The city] says the tent city isn’t safe, but who’s to blame for that?” Carnegie Community Action’s Project Maria Wallstam says. “Is it the residents who are staying here that are homeless or is it the government’s fault for creating a situation where people are forced to sleep on the street, sleep out in the winter when they don’t have access to things like basic income?”

The city has offered temporary shelter spaces to the campers, but many say a shelter doesn’t fulfill many of their needs including privacy, the freedom to come and go at will, a sense of community, keeping couples together and living by their own rules.

Chris Garcia says his health pushed him out of the labour market as an asbestos remover and floor installer. Now battling drug addiction and lacking the proper equipment to go back to his trades, he moved into the tent city six weeks ago.

He says he was kicked out of another shelter for having children’s scissors.

“A place like this is absolutely suited to a lot of people because of the rules and expectations that they (shelters) have, because a lot of us have a lot of issues that we’re dealing with,” Garcia says. “In a place like this we can actually look out for each other.”

Since the camp started, police have responded to more than 65 calls at the site, at least four reported assaults on site, and over 20 emergency calls. When the rains began, mud began to mix with the piles of trash and belongings. Two Fire Chief’s Orders have been given to campers for the removal of fire hazards.

The eviction comes the same week the city is hosting a housing summit, a fact that wasn’t lost on Wallstam and others.

“It costs $370 [for a ticket] and that’s the shelter component of welfare. That’s all you get if you’re on welfare for housing,” she says. “I think it’s a disgrace and a shame.”

She says the city needs to build more affordable housing, improve shelters and implement rent controls while including low-income people in discussions about choices that affect them.

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