The City of Vancouver’s latest effort to break up encampments in local parks is “devastating,” says Gary Davison. The community liaison for Downtown Eastside grassroots organization Heart Tattoo Society believes the recent crackdown on tent shelters at Oppenheimer Park will only make the situation worse. 

“It disconnects them,” he says, “and it pushes them further away.”

Over two weeks ago, park rangers began to ramp up their enforcement of a city bylaw in Oppenheimer Park. The bylaw states that, while people experiencing homelessness may take up temporary shelter in parks, shelters must stay in designated areas, be temporary, and be taken down during the daytime.

Though there have been tents in Oppenheimer Park in the past, a new influx started popping up in November of last year. The increase could be a response to November 14 and 15, 2023, when law enforcement escalated their response towards people who were sheltering outside the small designated area in CRAB Park. 

Devin O’Leary, an advocate who works with local housing advocacy group Carnegie Community Action Project, says that some people may not feel safe sheltering there anymore. Just recently, there was another tense stand-off at CRAB Park when authorities blocked volunteers with materials to build tiny homes from entering the park. 

The City’s shift in attention toward Oppenheimer Park has so far resulted in the displacement of roughly 10 to 15 people. Some of this took place on the cusp of heavy snowfall.

Davison says the effects of the decampments at Oppenheimer Park are felt “in every doorway that opens for that population—in meeting places like Carnegie, the drop-in centres. It displaces people to further clutter up transit systems. I’m sure, of all those people that got displaced from Oppenheimer Park, two of them were using a bus all day as a form of housing.” 

Although there are shelters and emergency warming centres in the area, they aren’t always an option for people. 

“Up until January 16—so, not too long ago—we had to turn people away some nights when our shelter was at capacity,” says Sarah Chew, a local spokesperson for Union Gospel Mission, which has a location in the Downtown Eastside as well as one in New Westminster. In these cases, they will refer people to other shelters, but Chew says the “reality is: there isn’t enough shelter space” in the city.

Even when there is shelter space, it might not be a fit for every person. Some women and LGBTQ2S+ people don’t feel safe in all shelters, and not all shelters are equipped to meet the unique needs of seniors. Additionally, says Chew, warming centres aren’t open all day or all winter, and are only a short-term solution.

Advocates share concerns about the lack of shelter options and the vulnerability this poses for people after decampments. Not only are they put at increased risk of weather exposure, theft, and gender-based violence, but they are also faced with disconnection from their support networks.

Once displaced, “people are a lot harder to find,” says O’Leary. As a result, the relationships between unhoused folks and support workers become strained. 

“While they are in one spot for an extended period of time, it's easier for those workers to find them and check in on them and update them,” explains O’Leary. “But once they are displaced, you have no clue where they go.”

These decampments can also affect existing infrastructure, putting additional pressure on low-barrier health clinics such as the Overdose Prevention Society and Insite.

Navigating displacement is always complicated, but it becomes even more so against the backdrop of winter. People require more gear in the cold weather, and O’Leary says that every item or tent lost requires work to regain.

“A tent is a container for your things. Once it’s broken down, now you have to somehow claw that back,” he says. “You have to find donations, you have to do whatever you can to get your home back together.”

Davison stresses that encampments are largely misunderstood and that the City has missed an opportunity to understand the needs of the encampment group. 

“These encampments are looked at with a derogatory filter, but they are communities,” he asserts. “They are fundamental expressions of human intimacy and community.”