Storage facility for Downtown Eastside campers nearing capacity

Nearly 3,000 containers stuffed with tents, clothing and other personal belongings fill an old bank on East Hastings Street in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Established by the Aboriginal Front Door Society and funded by the city, the facility across the street from the Carnegie Community Centre opened its doors in August following an earlier crackdown on tents in the area.

When police and city crews moved in on Wednesday, there was suddenly more demand for storage.

“Because we are overflowing upstairs, we had to find other spaces in our facility,” said employee Ian Bee, as he opened the door to an old bank vault that’s filled with more boxes.

The team’s meeting room has also been converted.

Every client is allowed a recycling-bin-type container, plus a smaller box.

They don’t have to give staff their real name, but their photo is taken, and they must check-in every 30 days to ensure they still need the storage room.

The rules also allow the society to do a health check on the individual.

“We don’t take food, we don’t take gasoline stuff, we don’t take firearms or drugs or alcohol,” said Bee.