A number of East Vancouver shopkeepers say a neighbourhood homeless shelter has been bad for business, and they claim it has brought more crime to the area.
But Vancouver police data is not conclusive.
Darcey Houser, who owns the Supervalu on East 1st Avenue, directly across from a shelter that houses about 40 people.
"Mostly it's the crime and the increase in violence towards our staff that I'm really concerned about,” said Houser.
He provided CTV News with security footage that shows a man leaving the store with a basket full of groceries as an employee gives chase.
A second video from an exterior camera shows the man appear to threaten the employee with a pipe before taking off down the street with the basket of groceries.
There’s nothing in either video to indicate the man is connected to the shelter.
"Are all of our shoplifting incidents directly tied to the shelter? No,” said Houser. “But, we definitely see an uptick when they're open."
Mohinder Singh Khunkhun has been staying at the shelter, which is run for the city by an organization called Community Builders, since January.
"Well, I would like to know where the proof comes from,” said Kuhnkuhn when told about the accusation about shelter residents. "We are not allowed to do anything illegal, like what you're talking about, in a four block area. If we're caught doing anything illegal, we're thrown out."
Since November, police have been called to the shelter 148 times and during the same timeframe they’ve had to attend the Supervalu just 12 times.
"I'm not sure if the statistics or data would reflect what we're seeing on the street,” said Nick Pogor, director of the Commercial Drive Business Society. “I think people have become very accustomed to these types of issues in the City of Vancouver so a lot of people tend to turn a blind eye."
Residents who use drugs do so under the supervision of shelter staff.
The City of Vancouver says this is an operational decision based on the need to prevent overdoses during a national opioid epidemic.
“Temporary shelters save lives by providing shelter guests with necessary health, social and housing services,” the city said in a statement.
CTV News spoke to other business owners in the area who said they had no problem with the shelter but they didn’t want to publicly contradict the business society.
According to the city, the lease at the shelter’s current location on East 1st Avenue just west of Commercial Drive is set to expire in June.
The city is exploring options to relocate the shelter, saying homelessness continues to be a problem on Commercial Drive and it’s important to provide shelter and support in the neighbourhood.
