Closing services in Vancouver's poorest neighbourhood before 2010
Wednesday, October 3, 2007 by David Eby
Much has been made about the Federal government's reluctance to continue to permit Insite, Vancouver's safe illicit drug injection site, to operate despite the fact that it is proven to save lives and reduce HIV and Hep C infection rates. Most recently, Insite dodged a fatal bullet and was given a six month stay of execution. However, Insite is just one of five key facilities that serve Vancouver's most marginalized populations that will be closing in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics in the Downtown Eastside. Here are four others that are rarely reported on.
United We Can
United We Can is a social enterprise business that collects cans and bottles from the "binners" who dig through Vancouver's garbage to retrieve the beverage containers and return them for deposit. Many stores limit the number of empties you can return, and as a result, recycling depots like United We Can are binners' only options. United We Can is located in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, and has accidentally created quite a social scene out front where binners sell the non-returnables that they find in your garbage, and line up to return their cans.
The business was slated to close temporarily and relocate next door to a social housing building that is being constructed. Rumours in the hood have people asking whether or not this plan will actually come to fruition given friction with police and neighbours about the scene out front and in the alley behind. If no alternative location is found in the Downtown Eastside for United We Can, the neighbourhood will lose an essential wealth generator for its poorest population, but also a social scene for binners - a population that doesn't have many friends left in Vancouver.
Oppenheimer Park
Oppenheimer Park is one of the three key parks in Vancouver where the homeless, addicted, poor, mentally ill, along with everybody else, can hang out without getting "moved along." Located in the Downtown Eastside, it is now victim of a "revitalization" plan to improve the sports fields (that nobody currently uses) and renovate the "clubhouse". The entire park may be closed for as long as one full year. The bathrooms in the clubhouse will not be replaced during the renovation, nor will any other location be provided for people to hang out without being harassed by security or worse. The loss of this park for a year will be a huge loss to the low-income community in the Downtown Eastside - the community that has formed around Oppenheimer will be forced to find new digs. But not in Pigeon Park.
Pigeon Park
Aside from Crab Park and Oppenheimer, Pigeon Park is the second of the only 3 parks available to the visibly poor or drug addicted where they won't face harassment. Located at the corner of Carrall and Hastings Streets in Vancouver, Pigeon Park will be closed and fully renovated as part of the Carrall Street Greenway project. This project will likely take all of a year to complete, displacing the current users of the park without providing any replacement greenspace. Crab Park, it should be noted, will also be changed dramatically from a hangout for the homeless to a walkway for soccer fans with the opening of the proposed Whitecaps Stadium.
Marie Gomez Place
Sheltering the very hardest to house, the 75 units at Marie Gomez Place are located just steps from Oppenheimer Park. The building is managed by the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association, and will be closed within the year with all 150 residents displaced from its self-contained apartments. BC Housing is doing its best to relocate folks, but with the types of challenges faced by the people housed at the Gomez, and the shortage of available housing, they'll be lucky to relocate half of them.
United We Can
United We Can is a social enterprise business that collects cans and bottles from the "binners" who dig through Vancouver's garbage to retrieve the beverage containers and return them for deposit. Many stores limit the number of empties you can return, and as a result, recycling depots like United We Can are binners' only options. United We Can is located in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, and has accidentally created quite a social scene out front where binners sell the non-returnables that they find in your garbage, and line up to return their cans.
The business was slated to close temporarily and relocate next door to a social housing building that is being constructed. Rumours in the hood have people asking whether or not this plan will actually come to fruition given friction with police and neighbours about the scene out front and in the alley behind. If no alternative location is found in the Downtown Eastside for United We Can, the neighbourhood will lose an essential wealth generator for its poorest population, but also a social scene for binners - a population that doesn't have many friends left in Vancouver.
Oppenheimer Park
Oppenheimer Park is one of the three key parks in Vancouver where the homeless, addicted, poor, mentally ill, along with everybody else, can hang out without getting "moved along." Located in the Downtown Eastside, it is now victim of a "revitalization" plan to improve the sports fields (that nobody currently uses) and renovate the "clubhouse". The entire park may be closed for as long as one full year. The bathrooms in the clubhouse will not be replaced during the renovation, nor will any other location be provided for people to hang out without being harassed by security or worse. The loss of this park for a year will be a huge loss to the low-income community in the Downtown Eastside - the community that has formed around Oppenheimer will be forced to find new digs. But not in Pigeon Park.
Pigeon Park
Aside from Crab Park and Oppenheimer, Pigeon Park is the second of the only 3 parks available to the visibly poor or drug addicted where they won't face harassment. Located at the corner of Carrall and Hastings Streets in Vancouver, Pigeon Park will be closed and fully renovated as part of the Carrall Street Greenway project. This project will likely take all of a year to complete, displacing the current users of the park without providing any replacement greenspace. Crab Park, it should be noted, will also be changed dramatically from a hangout for the homeless to a walkway for soccer fans with the opening of the proposed Whitecaps Stadium.
Marie Gomez Place
Sheltering the very hardest to house, the 75 units at Marie Gomez Place are located just steps from Oppenheimer Park. The building is managed by the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association, and will be closed within the year with all 150 residents displaced from its self-contained apartments. BC Housing is doing its best to relocate folks, but with the types of challenges faced by the people housed at the Gomez, and the shortage of available housing, they'll be lucky to relocate half of them.
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Wow. Thanks for pointing these out. What's the reason for the Gomez closure? And was that a half-positive comment I heard about a gov't agency (BC Housing)? I have to say it took me by surprise...
Gomez is closing for a number of reasons, not the least of which it was built during the leaky condo phase in Vancouver and it is full of mould. The lack of incentive to clean it up and retrofit it comes from the pressure the police are putting on BC Housing to close it.
D.
David,
Isn't United We Can involved in the Dumpster-Free Alley proposal. Supposedly this will replace dumpsters in some DTES alleys and provide binners with more "socially acceptable" work of collecting recyclables and garbage from the various businesses in the DTES. The side benefit of the project is supposed to make the alleyways more passable for regular foot traffic and potentially open them up for businesses like small cafes and shops.
There is supposed to be a similar very successful ongoing project in Seattle.
Any comment on this?