People living in a small encampment at CRAB Park are preparing to be evicted Thursday morning.

This comes after the City of Vancouver informed people living in seven tents last week that it plans to return the site to what it calls “regular day use.”

“I’m defeated. Defeated. Clearly defeated,” Sacha Christiano, a three-year resident of the park, told CTV News on Wednesday. other.”

It’s an emotional time for those who call this camp home – even though there are only seven tents still standing.

Although some of the people who lived in the park were offered places to stay, the prospect of moving inside is not appealing to those who have already been offered accommodation.

“They all have parasites,” a resident named Jenni told CTV News. “Roaches, ants, they have bedbugs, they have silverfish, they have rats or mice. »

Advocates say the camp provides a sense of community and offers other support, including food donations, and are dismayed by plans to dismantle the camp.

“This doesn’t solve the problem of homelessness,” CRAB Park camp advocate Fiona York said. “It’s about chasing people from one place to another. Take them out of Hastings Street, make them take down their tents. It’s just cruel; it doesn’t help. This doesn’t answer anything.

“You can say what you want about council, housing, all those things, but it doesn’t address the whole picture. »

Overnight camping will still be permitted, but structures must be dismantled each morning.

The city and park board did not make anyone immediately available for comment Wednesday, but said it would comment on the situation Thursday.

An encampment in the park began in 2021 and has existed in various shapes and sizes since then.