The seven remaining residents of Vancouver’s CRAB Park encampment are expected to be moved Thursday after more than three years there.

Residents have survived numerous eviction notices issued by the city since setting up their tents in the waterfront park in 2021, with a BC Supreme Court judge overturning the orders and drawing attention about the lack of indoor shelter options.

But two weeks agoThe Vancouver Park Board said the final residents had been offered alternative living arrangements and there was no longer justification for the encampment to continue in its current form.

City officials said the park represents an “unsustainable” strain on the park board’s resources, to the tune of $21,000 per week.

Residents and advocates, however, say the closure will shatter a friendly, close-knit community built over years and leave people precariously housed with very few options.

“We’re more than just drug addicts. We’re more than just degenerates,” resident Sasha Christiano told CBC News. “There are a lot of really, really smart and capable people who are just unlucky.”

Christiano, 38, said he had been offered indoor accommodation options, but would likely find himself sleeping rough, as many single-occupancy (SRO) buildings can be unsafe.

“We have so many people on the precipice, right on the edge, because the city and the system and everything else is pushing us so close,” he said. “And then, just when we’re on the edge, we might tip over.”

WATCH | CRAB Park residents face camp closure:

CRAB Park residents upset and unprepared for November 7 eviction deadline

The handful of remaining residents of Vancouver’s CRAB Park will be evicted on Thursday. City staff say he must remove his belongings by 8 a.m. and the section of waterfront park he occupies will be returned to general community use. Rafferty Baker spoke with one of the seven residents to see what the camp’s closure means to him.

Christiano said he expects park rangers to be more aggressive than in the past toward camp residents as they enforce the closure order starting at 8 a.m. PT, THURSDAY.

Night shelters will still be allowed at CRAB Park, but the shelters must be dismantled by the morning, the park board says.

“Fictitious” consultations

The Vancouver Park Board did not provide an interview Wednesday. However, during a press conference on October 23, the organization said it would only proceed with cleaning the camp once consultations had taken place with residents.

Officials said at the time that there was “no longer a fair and reasonable justification” for individuals in the camp to have priority and exclusive access to public daytime spaces, with more than 6,000 people living nearby. and having little access to other green spaces.

But Fiona York, a longtime advocate for CRAB Park residents, said residents were not adequately consulted and were now considering far worse housing options than they had in the encampment.

“We just want to be very clear: This is a forced eviction,” she said. “There was no consultation. Any consultation that took place was a sham.”

York said the city is devoting significant resources to removing residents from the encampment, when there are larger crises that deserve more attention, in his opinion.

“Nothing has been done to really address the fact that almost 5,000 people are homeless in the Lower Mainland. None of this helps,” she said.

Long story

The CRAB Park camp has existed for three and a half years and was created for the first time as homelessness increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He survived several attempted eviction notices from the City of Vancouver. in January 2022as a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled that camp residents could stay.

Over the years, the camp has seen cleanup efforts by the city and a removal of tents as the city reduces the “designated area” accessible to campers.

WATCH | Residents celebrate 3 years at CRAB Park with barbecue:

Residents celebrate CRAB Park’s 3rd year

Residents of Vancouver’s CRAB Park encampment celebrated its third anniversary with a barbecue. Liam Britten stopped by the park to hear residents talk about what’s changed and what still needs to be done.

York said the camp had been studied by housing experts around the world for its “unprecedented nature” as a licensed homeless encampment, and that community members cared for and celebrated each other. .

Christiano called Thursday’s closure “the end of an era” for a unique venue.

“This whole environment you’ve created for yourself, trying to put things together. Just when you think you’ve got it – boom – taken away because of where you are and the position you’re in find it,” he said. .