Where to move the Hastings st tent city

[Mrmotorscooter]

There is quite the dilemma about where the homeless tent occupants can move to after the fire chief declared it all a huge fire Hazzard.
I would recommend the livestock barns after the PNE fair ends for the season, a good pressure washing and some suitable flooring. The individual stalls would work great and there are plenty of washrooms and kitchen facilities already in place. The downsides would be that most likely they would not be able to find suitable housing before the fair next year and it would cause another dilemma at that time. They could leave during the fair times and move back in after, just seems that area is wasted by being empty, don’t know if there would be heating for winter.
It seems a bit absurd that they would locate problem street people into the brand new social housing going up in the Kitsilano neighborhood next to a school, something is not making sense with the decision making capabilities of those in charge.🤔

 

[masterpoonhunter]

They chased them out of Oppy Park and then Crab Park and then Strathcona Park. All of which were better choices than the sidewalk of Hastings Street. Walking down in that area is like a war zone. The sheer amount of dumpster dived and stolen property on display for sale down there on any given day is astonishing, puts any flea market to shame. The mental health, chronic care and drug issues are heart breaking.

The problem with a lot of those in the tents is that they do not trust any authority figures and/or are severely drug addicted and have refused shelter offers before. They want to continue their habits and no facility that could help them will allow drug use within is my understanding. A solid sized group of them will never move inside, have no interest in rehabilitation or improving their lives. They want a clean drug supply and to be left alone.

You have encapsulated much of the problem. A serious mental health issue such that even if many are given homes, they will not stay there, choosing to live rough. And that could be where ever they can establish a foot hold.

The logistics of trying to address this kind of issue are enormous and I really doubt any government has the ability or the will to take it on to completion.

 

[angry anderson]

You have encapsulated much of the problem. A serious mental health issue such that even if many are given homes, they will not stay there, choosing to live rough. And that could be where ever they can establish a foot hold.

The logistics of trying to address this kind of issue are enormous and I really doubt any government has the ability or the will to take it on to completion.

Kind of a cockroach problem really. Happening everywhere. Society seems completely powerless to remove them. Ideally the solution would be to transport the homeless to the camps in the wilderness and attempt to clean them up and dry them out. But they prefer to live with the rest of society in cities, most of them are too far gone to salvage.
People Power statement going on here and in the US. Government is to blame. They are to blame. "We are helpless! Do something for us!"
Any solution would have an Orwellian authoritarian look about it. And who could be trusted to enforce it? So it is easier not to enforce any tough love. End result is an ever enlarging scab, on in this case, Hastings Street. I came here in 1981 when it wasn't good, but it was contained to a couple of blocks. It keeps growing. When I see it all I think is "Clean it up!" When you have gangrene. Amputate.

 

[MixedDude]

I think it's another example of a problem that can be fixed but that no polician will fix for fear of having nothing to campaign on/blame their on their opponents come election time.

 

[luvsdaty]

When the government of the time closed the last mental institution is when they really opened up Pandoras box. When i was a kid back in the 70s my Aunt lived by the Pacific coliseum and she would give my cousin and I some money to see a movie matinee on Saturday.
We'd catch the bus downtown and to have more money for candy We'd use our return bus fare for snacks and walk home after the show.
Back then we'd walk home all the way down Hastings and all you'd ever see was whinos and they'd never bother us, and we weren't even teenagers yet. We'd take our time going home too,stopping off at the Army & Navy and Woodwards department stores. Nowadays Hastings looks like a Somalian shanty town , and many of the homeless have obvious mental health issues. Seems like the drug use is self medication too me and the only way they can self medicate is to steal.
As a society, we've let these people down because so many of them need to be institutionalized but they have rights, so the government shut down all the institutions and set them free.
Just my 2 cents

 

[Oldfart]

Maybe they should put portable air conditioners into the SRO apartments to make them more livable.

 

[PuntMeister]

They chased them out of Oppy Park and then Crab Park and then Strathcona Park. All of which were better choices than the sidewalk of Hastings Street. Walking down in that area is like a war zone. The sheer amount of dumpster dived and stolen property on display for sale down there on any given day is astonishing, puts any flea market to shame. The mental health, chronic care and drug issues are heart breaking.

The problem with a lot of those in the tents is that they do not trust any authority figures and/or are severely drug addicted and have refused shelter offers before. They want to continue their habits and no facility that could help them will allow drug use within is my understanding. A solid sized group of them will never move inside, have no interest in rehabilitation or improving their lives. They want a clean drug supply and to be left alone.

Nicely stated.

There is a segment of society that simply want to live on the street with other troubled souls. So 50 more years of expensive social housing projects will come and go, and we will still have tent city squatters and all the associated problems.

People talk about all the complexities around the homelessness and drug abuse, but actually I think real leadership simplifies complex situations and commits to the best overall path forward. I only see three options, and none of the politicians have the balls for A or B, so we are stuck with C.

A) Buy a large chunk of land and make it the permanent official tent city area (or designate some land already owned such as a de-commissioned school, seldom used park, or PNE type grounds). Until there is a legitimized spot that governments decide to allow homeless people to use, they will choose their own spots on city streets or parks. No one will want the tent city in their back yard, and the health/crime implications are massive, so no politicians have the balls to go this route even though it could clean up our streets.

B) re-Open mental health institutions. The politicos and planners would likely over think it and squander billions in bad ideas, construction delays, and administrative incompetence. New museum anyone? But this ultimatum to get off the street or end up in the loony bin can break the cycles of systematic street dwelling migrations.

C) Don’t give them any place to go and continue watching shanty towns move from place to place without any oversite or planning, just periodic evictions when it inevitably gets out of control.

😢 Sad.

 

[Equity Market investor]

Speaking of the DT east side. This major grizzly incident occurred today, There are 2 video's posted in the article. Disturbing. A freak show!!

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/maj...9VkpLPDHOdewS5tFyay78Hkbbz0g-uY5hm03K1FhHmYmw

 

[Big_Guy_Rye]

A) Buy a large chunk of land and make it the permanent official tent city area (or designate some land already owned such as a de-commissioned school, seldom used park, or PNE type grounds). Until there is a legitimized spot that governments decide to allow homeless people to use, they will choose their own spots on city streets or parks. No one will want the tent city in their back yard, and the health/crime implications are massive, so no politicians have the balls to go this route even though it could clean up our streets.

Or they choose this plot of land on the outskirts of the city away from any other neighbourhood. Stack up a bunch of converted Sea-Cans, set up a clinic, have some government sponsored "Skip the Dishes". Another benefit it putting distance between a vagrant and the negative elements that keep them in their cycle of despair and addiction....

only downside would be to listen to the bleeding heart simps who'll cry "discrimination", and "segregation", and "ghettoization", or "gentrification"... as if their current way of doing things were any better. I mean, in perspective, that would be like myself crying about how I can't live in the most affluent neighbourhood in the Vancouver, or some top-floor penthouse suite in Coal Harbour....I'm sure some rich-ass yuppie 'earned' his way getting that penthouse suite, as me being a working class hero earned his 60 year old house, in an old suburb.....so what would I guy living in a tent in DTES have to cry about being forced to a compound of 'tiny homes' in the far outskirts of the lower mainland where all his needs are met?

 

[appleomac]

so what would I guy living in a tent in DTES have to cry about being forced to a compound of 'tiny homes' in the far outskirts of the lower mainland where all his needs are met?

What would they have to cry about? You said it, "being forced" to do something they may not want to do. When you force people into an encampment based on some "criteria" that is not necessarily illegal (like being homeless) but rather subjectively "undesirable", there's a term for that, an internment camp. Think about it this way, how would you like to be forced into an internment camp for, I don't know, being Japanese or Jewish or Uyghur or any other feature/characteristic YOU may have that others find "undesirable".

 

[Mrmotorscooter]

What would they have to cry about? You said it, "being forced" to do something they may not want to do. When you force people into an encampment based on some "criteria" that is not necessarily illegal (like being homeless) but rather subjectively "undesirable", there's a term for that, an internment camp. Think about it this way, how would you like to be forced into an internment camp for, I don't know, being Japanese or Jewish or Uyghur or any other feature/characteristic YOU may have that others find "undesirable".

I'm sure if they offered them all the drugs they needed there would be a lineup to get in there.

 

[westwoody]

Japanese or Jewish or Uyghur or any other feature/characteristic YOU may have that others find "undesirable".

Slippery slope when you start calling people undesirable instead of human beings.
Someone already compared them to cockroaches.
Almost everyone is more concerned with getting rid of them instead of helping them.

Remember guys, there but for the grace of God go you. Anyone here could end up in the same situation. Maybe it’s that subconscious fear that motivates the contempt…if they don’t see it they won’t have to be reminded that it could happen to them.

 

[Equity Market investor]

Exactly Apple!! Well said. Just like the Vaccination --- you don't get the injection, you'll get fired. Get injected and you'll be fine, or get side effects ---some severe ---that they didn't tell you, or wouldn't tell you about! LOL...Ya, riiiiight! Entrapment, eh?

What would they have to cry about? You said it, "being forced" to do something they may not want to do. When you force people into an encampment based on some "criteria" that is not necessarily illegal (like being homeless) but rather subjectively "undesirable", there's a term for that, an internment camp. Think about it this way, how would you like to be forced into an internment camp for, I don't know, being Japanese or Jewish or Uyghur or any other feature/characteristic YOU may have that others find "undesirable".

 

[Equity Market investor]

True W.W but.... isn't it true that a large percentage of these people aren't " treatable" What i mean by this. #1) they are now self complacent in their lifestyle. #2) They don't want to be helped due to reason #1 and #3) They are so far beyond mental capability that you can't help them? Hope what I wrote made sense.

Slippery slope when you start calling people undesirable instead of human beings.
Someone already compared them to cockroaches.
Almost everyone is more concerned with getting rid of them instead of helping them.

Remember guys, there but for the grace of God go you. Anyone here could end up in the same situation. Maybe it’s that subconscious fear that motivates the contempt…if they don’t see it they won’t have to be reminded that it could happen to them.

 

[angry anderson]

Slippery slope when you start calling people undesirable instead of human beings.
Someone already compared them to cockroaches.
Almost everyone is more concerned with getting rid of them instead of helping them.

Remember guys, there but for the grace of God go you. Anyone here could end up in the same situation. Maybe it’s that subconscious fear that motivates the contempt…if they don’t see it they won’t have to be reminded that it could happen to them.

Maybe the cockroach analogy was poorly chosen. The situation, not the people. However, it looks like an infestation. As far as slippery slope, I think that ship has sailed. And arrived. The fact that in this country and times ten that, in the US, the government, which is supposed to be in charge of the situation, has proven for decades that they intend to do fuck all.

 

[angry anderson]

There is quite the dilemma about where the homeless tent occupants can move to after the fire chief declared it all a huge fire Hazzard.
I would recommend the livestock barns after the PNE fair ends for the season, a good pressure washing and some suitable flooring. The individual stalls would work great and there are plenty of washrooms and kitchen facilities already in place. The downsides would be that most likely they would not be able to find suitable housing before the fair next year and it would cause another dilemma at that time. They could leave during the fair times and move back in after, just seems that area is wasted by being empty, don’t know if there would be heating for winter.
It seems a bit absurd that they would locate problem street people into the brand new social housing going up in the Kitsilano neighborhood next to a school, something is not making sense with the decision making capabilities of those in charge.🤔

Actually, that is a good suggestion. Apart from moving in and out at fair time. Anyway. Not the PNE, but somewhere in a large group setting. Off the fucking streets.

 

[appleomac]

Exactly Apple!! Well said. Just like the Vaccination --- you don't get the injection, you'll get fired. Get injected and you'll be fine, or get side effects ---some severe ---that they didn't tell you, or wouldn't tell you about! LOL...Ya, riiiiight! Entrapment, eh?

What the heck are you even talking about - I can't even make sense of what dots you are trying to connect.

 

[Equity Market investor]

Well, that's your problem then lol. One person gave me a thumbs up so he understood it. It was pretty simple.

What the heck are you even talking about - I can't even make sense of what dots you are trying to connect.

 

[westwoody]

isn't it true that a large percentage of these people aren't " treatable"

No.
They are treatable. But nobody wants to pay for it.
It's more fun to sneer at them and pat yourself on the back for feeling superior.

they are now self complacent in their lifestyle

If you think any of these people are complacent or happy that's nuts.

They don't want to be helped due to reason

Almost all of them desperately want help, they know they are sick but there is nowhere to get help.

I have a friend who is a medical doctor and his kid was homeless in the DTES for years. The kid is ok now but his parents had a huge struggle to fix him up. If you guys think it's easy to get help you have never tried.
Another friend had a brother who had brain cancer, and ended up homeless because he couldn't function. She tried unsuccessfully for years to get him into assisted living or similar. He died in an alley.

 

[westwoody]

What the heck are you even talking about - I can't even make sense of what dots you are trying to connect.

Look at it from the point of view of someone who only sees homeless people as a blight on the scenery.