Deadline approaching for Vancouver, Victoria tent communities to clear out with provincial emergency order

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The deadline is approaching for dozens of people who are living in Vancouver and Victoria tent communities to clear encampments.

The province is using an emergency order to try and clear out Oppenheimer Park and at Topaz Park and Pandora Avenue in Victoria by Saturday.

People in the communities will be temporarily relocated into accommodations at hotels and community centers to protect them from the ongoing pandemic.

50% of #Oppenheimer campers have moved out according to homeless advocate Chrissy Brett. However, she says a few people did decide to return from the hotels because they couldn’t bring their pets or were frustrated with visitor limitations. @CityNewsVAN @NEWS1130 @BT_Vancouver pic.twitter.com/HDrtJdSmiW

— Ashley Burr (@AshleyBurr_) May 5, 2020

About 200 people have been living at Oppenheimer, and homeless advocate Chrissy Brett says, so far about half of the campers have moved out, but there have been a select few who have subsequently moved back.

“I think for people that are getting indoors and that it’s working for things are going pretty amazing. We’ve had a few people that it’s not working out so well for and they’ve already returned to the park,” she says.

She says some weren’t able to bring pets in, didn’t know about the one-guest policy or felt too isolated.

The advocates tells CityNews people in Oppenheimer have developed a plan of action and will implement it in the coming days.

“This has become an epicentre of where people can actually support homeless people in ways that maybe they don’t feel as comfortable doing just skipping down an alley or down Hastings street,” Brett says.

In Victoria, the province is opening in 45 bed emergency response center at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Center, which will house some of the 350 people living into tent encampments at Topaz Park and along Pandora Avenue.

People can start moving in on the weekend with the eventual goal of finding more permanent housing in the coming months.

And while Saturday is the set date to clear all three camps, the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Shane Simpson, says there may be some flexibility.

“The commitment we have is that everybody who is in Pandora and Topaz, we will be doing one on one evaluations, we will be looking at what the best possibilities and opportunities are for people. And that work will continue in the coming days moving forward, including past May the 9th.”