Crab Park's designated encampment area reopens after cleanup

New sheltering spaces using parking stall concrete blocks at Crab Park's designated encampment area, April 2024. (Crab Park Tent City)

The temporary designated area for daytime sheltering at the northwest corner of Crab Park has reopened today, following extensive repair and cleanup work by the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board over the past 10 days.

In a bulletin yesterday, the municipal government stated that the designated area at the waterfront park, located just north of Gastown and the railyard, will only welcome people who had been regularly sheltering there as of February 26.

According to the municipal government, crews entering the site found the conditions at the homeless encampment to be “worse than anticipated,” with the cleanup and repairs deemed to be necessary due to the highly hazardous nature of the structures, with significant debris and garbage, non-compliant materials, propane tanks, needles, and feces.

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During the cleanup, crews removed over 90,000 kg (90 tons) of debris and material and over 20 propane tanks, including two large tanks and six generators.

crab park homeless encampment vancouver february 2024

February 2024 condition of the Crab Park homeless encampment. (Vancouver Park Board)

After the cleanup process reached completion, work began on repairing the ground conditions, with crews surfacing the area with fresh gravel to improve drainage and prevent muddy conditions.

Additionally, the designated area has been designed to have 27 clearly demarcated 10 ft by 10 ft sheltering spots — one per person who had been previously sheltering regularly in the designated area and has not already been housed. BC Housing is funding new tents and canopies.

As of April 1, 27 people were on the municipal government’s list for the designated area — down by three people when the temporary relocation of the campers was first announced on March 18, as these three individuals have since moved into housing. Those sheltering in the designated area were given a week, until the end of March 24, to relocate to a temporary location in the park to enable crews with heavy equipment and machinery to move in.

The bulletin states that as each intended individual leaves or moves into shelter, housing, or other reasons, the Park Board will remove one of the 27 10 ft by 10 ft sheltering spots from the designated area, effectively reducing the size of the encampment over time.

“This was not intended to become an established, permanent encampment for anyone to relocate to. The ongoing shared Park Board and City goal is to restore this area as parkland for broad community use by bringing everyone inside,” reads the municipal government’s rationale for the cleanup last month.

However, according to a press release today by the “Crab Park Tent City” activist group, critics of the municipal government’s moves are calling the 10 ft by 10 ft sheltering spots a “dystopian parking lot style encampment,” with the same thin concrete blocks typically found to demarcate vehicle parking stalls used to create each of the 27 sheltering spots at the repaired designated area for the encampment.

From #cattlepens to parking stalls.

This is the new design for #CRABPark 🦀 #tentcity

🚗🚗🚙🚙🏕️🤔@HousingLogement @APTNNews @CTVVancouver @CKNW @crackdownpod @JulsBudau @bccla @pivotlegal @COPEVancouver @defund604 @TheTyee @globeandmail @CBCNews @democracynow @leilanifarha pic.twitter.com/fASUqcXYwO

— Fiona York (@fionaeyork) April 4, 2024

“The new ‘design’ was done without consultation, and the cramped quarters have shocked the residents,” states the group, citing individuals sheltering in the park who assert there is a need to keep the sheltering spaces open “for when people show up.”

“Residents have felt increasingly marginalized by the lack of consultation that fails to acknowledge the contributions of those with lived experience.”

The current encampment at Crab Park first began after the closure of the Strathcona Park encampment in April 2021, when some campers who did not want to move into the provided shelter spaces and housing decided to move to Crab Park. The encampment has only intensified since.

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