Definitely seems worse to me. The pandemic was really hard on a lot of people, and inflation has kept making it harder and harder for many.
It also seems noticeable since they cleared out the tents around Hastings that the number of people in rough shape has gone up elsewhere, as would be expected. For me, it's also not just the violence and crime that's upsetting . The frequency with which you see people lying on the ground or slumped over in a corner and quite plausibly dead takes a toll.
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Seriously though, we just had tenants switch over and the most attractive application was people moving from Vancouver - reason given was cheaper rent and better personal safety.
A report by CBC Vancouver one month on from the E. Hastings tents being removed by the city.
Look...I dont pretend to have the answers...but when you're dealing with people who have nothing...taking their stuff...their homes, albeit tents...and tossing it into a dump truck?
Something about that feels evil.
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Look...I dont pretend to have the answers...but when you're dealing with people who have nothing...taking their stuff...their homes, albeit tents...and tossing it into a dump truck?
Something about that feels evil.
I agree. I don't know what the answer is here. I can see why you can't let encampments stay, especially when they were bringing a lot of crime into the area, but something about just tossing their stuff in the trash doesn't sit well with me either. It's really sad to see that.
For the city's part, they do claim that they offered shelter space to everyone they encountered, but most people either turned it down or hid out in other places.
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I guess it's easy to criticize the tactics, but at the same time, isn't it easy to say that if you are being forced into a situation that is worse and you don't like, wouldn't that be more motivation to get cleaned up?
Look...I dont pretend to have the answers...but when you're dealing with people who have nothing...taking their stuff...their homes, albeit tents...and tossing it into a dump truck?
Something about that feels evil.
No one has any answers. All across North America especially since the pandemic, more people have found themselves homeless and struggling and it's in people's faces a lot more and harder to ignore.
As someone who has spent a lifetime working with kids who statistically are likely to end up homeless (and I say with some pride that my guy's almost always dont) the problem is you have to set some boundaries, you cannot assume 'well if me and my neighbours were homeless we'd live in tents and it would be fine' the homeless on the DTES are severely compromised, their mental health and drug issues mean tent cities become a magnet for drug use, violence and exploitation and suck more and more people in from the rest of Canada, I have a kid I worked with back from Halifax who hitched back to Vancouver specifically to live in his tent on the DTES because to his mentally ill drug addicted mind it was a great place to get high and party
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Personally I would have passed bylaws allowing say 2 or 3 tents a block, size limits on the tents and an absolute ban on having stuff outside the tents, I would likely also spray the sidewalks down every morning which frankly the area needs anyway as it is literally a toilet and reeks but also causes people to pack up every day.
there are homeless camps outside the DTES that no one hassles because they are pretty clean and unobtrusive, the issue on the DTES is essentially we have told a group of profoundly mentally ill people that they can do what ever they want, take as much cheap deadly drugs as they want, be preyed on by dealers and low level pimps as much as possible and we dont care
Personally I would have passed bylaws allowing say 2 or 3 tents a block, size limits on the tents and an absolute ban on having stuff outside the tents, I would likely also spray the sidewalks down every morning which frankly the area needs anyway as it is literally a toilet and reeks but also causes people to pack up every day.
there are homeless camps outside the DTES that no one hassles because they are pretty clean and unobtrusive, the issue on the DTES is essentially we have told a group of profoundly mentally ill people that they can do what ever they want, take as much cheap deadly drugs as they want, be preyed on by dealers and low level pimps as much as possible and we dont care
Yeah, there are encampments all over the place. A lot of them are in wood lots or areas around rivers. Kind of out of site and out of mind, but the vast majority of homeless in the LML are not in the DTES. I am contantly having to respond to incidents related to homeless camps, and it seems like most of them are actually in the Chilliwack and Mission areas. I even get quite a few on the Sunshine Coast.
A lot of homeless encampments are actually occupied by people boondocking. They aren't necessarily addicts and many even have jobs. They just can't afford to rent or own a dwelling, or just don't want the expense. Some of those camps are actually pretty elaborate, equipped with generators and gardens. This is different issue as it relates more directly to cost of living out here, and less about addiction and mental health, but I think it's related. A lot of people who start off boondocking end up on the other side, so you kind of have to look at solving both issues.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
I agree. I don't know what the answer is here. I can see why you can't let encampments stay, especially when they were bringing a lot of crime into the area, but something about just tossing their stuff in the trash doesn't sit well with me either. It's really sad to see that.
For the city's part, they do claim that they offered shelter space to everyone they encountered, but most people either turned it down or hid out in other places.
I dont really feel like re-hashing that but apparently those places are a lawless nightmare.
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This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a Fire Exit. - Mitch Hedberg
