'Very Orwellian': B.C.'s proposed 'alternative shelter' standard for clearing homeless camps slammed by critics

Tents and people are seen at a homeless encampment at CRAB Park as the Celebrity Cruises vessel Celebrity Eclipse is docked at port in Vancouver, on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A newly proposed definition of the “alternative shelter” that must be provided before B.C. cities can tear down homeless camps ensures shockingly little for the vulnerable residents being displaced, advocates argue.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Housing announced legislative amendments that would define alternative shelter as a staffed facility where someone can stay overnight and access a bathroom, shower and meal “either at, or nearby” the building.

Numerous court decisions have upheld the Charter rights of homeless people to camp overnight in public when there isn’t suitable housing available, but provincial officials said there's been too much uncertainty around what that means in practice.

“The lack of standard for suitable shelter has both hurt people who have been decamped without proper shelter, and created barriers to resolving encampments. It’s not working for anyone,” Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said in a statement Monday.

Fiona York, an advocate for residents of the CRAB Park encampment in Vancouver, called the claim that the NDP government’s amendments are intended to meaningfully help homeless people “very Orwellian.”

“It’s obviously designed to be an end-run around the courts by putting into law a very, very regressive, very repressive definition,” York told CTV News.

“This is not even the standard that most shelters operate under. It doesn’t talk about safety, it doesn’t talk about cleanliness, it doesn’t talk about belongings.”

There are many reasons some homeless people prefer to camp rather than move into a shelter, according to advocates, including bug infestations, filth and on-site violence. Some shelters also do not allow couples or pets, or provide a secure place for belongings.

York pointed out that even jails have basic on-site necessities such as toilets, something that would not be required for evicted encampment residents.

“If Ravi Kahlon considers this acceptable for shelter, would he be OK with having his washroom down the street somewhere? Would he be OK with not having access to meals within his own building? Not having storage, not having any of these things that are so basic?” York said.

HELPING THE HOMELESS OR HELPING CITIES? 

Homeless advocates worry the proposal’s intention is to make the process of obtaining and enforcing injunctions against encampments easier for cities, rather than setting an appropriate standard for the shelter space on offer. In the Ministry of Housing’s announcement, the province does not mince words that it considers encampments unsafe and supports the efforts to remove them, so long as there is some alternative manner of shelter provided.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kahlon stressed that shelters are only intended to be a “temporary solution” to homelessness.

“Ultimately we want to get people into supportive housing, (or) with rent supplements into market housing, and that work will continue regardless of this legislation,” he said.

Asked about homeless people who, due to a variety of personal circumstances, wouldn't be able to access the kind of shelter mandated in the government's amendment, Kahlon said officials would do their best to work with encampment residents before their tents are torn down.

“We work with all individuals at BC Housing to try to find the right fit with individuals. We’ve been doing that work in every community throughout the province,” he said. “For example, Abbotsford, where there were folks who were struggling, we worked around the clock to identify every single individual’s needs and tried to find them the place that works for them.”

As crews were dismantling that camp, multiple homeless residents told CTV News they had nowhere else to go, including one who said she would likely "pitch a tent somewhere else, or huddle in a doorway."  Kahlon acknowledged at the time that the province was still working on finding suitable spaces for several of the residents. 

The last major decampment in Vancouver, which was conducted back in the spring, left dozens of homeless people displaced. While the city government initially made assurances there would be temporary shelter beds available for everyone, internal emails obtained by the Vancouver Sun showed officials knew that would not be the case before evicting the campers.

INCREASED ENFORCEMENT IN CRAB PARK

As the province was introducing its proposed amendments this week, Vancouver park rangers began ramping up their presence in CRAB Park, where a 2022 B.C. Supreme Court ruling established the rights of campers to remain in a designated area 24 hours a day.

The number of homeless people living in the park has since grown, resulting in some residents camping outside of that designated area, leaving them vulnerable to city enforcement if they leave their tents up during the day.

In a statement, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation confirmed that staff had begun attending CRAB Park daily, and would be “working with people sheltering in the park to do general clean-up” over the coming weeks while also removing tents outside the protected area.

“We’re not asking people to leave,” a spokesperson told CTV News in an email. “People are allowed to shelter overnight, so long as they pack up their tents in the morning.”

York questioned why the city would begin upping enforcement in November, as the weather gets wetter and colder and all-day access to the bare-minimum of shelter provided by a tent is increasingly necessary.

“This is obviously the wrong time of year to be doing that,” she said. “People are just wanting to stay in and stay warm and survive, and not be out making sure their belongings aren’t being taken.”