Downtown Eastside - DTES Issues

[logan5]

Next election somebody will run with a "clean up the dtes" as part of their platform. That's something that will get lots of votes. So I think we will see more "enforcement" with the next mayor.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Do we have an ETA on that detox site at 1st and Clark? I'm guessing that having options for quitters would go a long way.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Dont think its been conclusively proven you can catch it more then once. In the 32M known cases there is only a handful of reinfected. That number probably points to an original misdiagnosis or an extremely rare outlier. Don't think the medical community is worried about infections based on current data.

Back to the dtes did anyone else catch Jon Stovell on CKNW yesterday afternoon talking about the state of the area? Good to see someome with a voice speaking about the failure of abandoning the 4 pillars and focusing only on harm reduction. We need to rebalance and look at prevention, treatment and yes enforcement. I don't see a change with the current political parties running the show though.

There haven't been many reinfections that we know of but a few have been confirmed, starting with:

This may be the first major clue to a still-unanswered question about the COVID-19 pandemic: How long does immunity to SARS-CoV-2 last? There have been some previous reports of potential reinfection cases around the globe, but none have been confirmed with definitive testing, according to The New York Times. People who recover from COVID-19 can shed virus fragments for weeks, which can turn up as a positive COVID-19 test results, even when they aren't actually shedding live virus, according to The Times.

But today (Aug. 24), a group of researchers reported on a case of a patient who was infected with two genetically different strains of the coronavirus, months apart, according to a press release from the University of Hong Kong's Department of Medicine. The scientists found that the coronavirus that infected the patient, a 33-year-old-man in Hong Kong, the second time around had 24 different nucleotides, or building blocks, in its gene sequence than the virus that infected him the first time.

That likely means that the person didn't just continue to shed the same virus months after being infected, according to the study that was just accepted, but not yet published, in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

I'm going to see if I can find that CKNW report. I wonder how many people will be needed to bring it up before politicians do something...

[Sheba]

Well I found this in the Globe & Mail - it's pretty long so I won't post all of it here.

Vancouver’s housing cracks are showing

Jon Stovell is president and chief executive officer of Reliance Properties, which owns several rental projects throughout downtown, including Canada’s first micro-suite rental building Burns Block at 18 West Hastings St. That building is seeing high turnover due to open drug use and heightened disorder, including people urinating at the entrance and spitting on the building speakerphone. Police have accompanied sanitation workers on their clean ups of the street.

A 240-square-foot unit is renting for $1,360 a month on Reliance website. A 300-square-foot apartment is available for $1,500 a month.

Mr. Stovell, whose office is in Gastown, says he’s been attacked on social media for publicly complaining about the area’s mounting social problems. But, he says, we need to discuss the matter of separating drug addiction and treatment from illegal behaviours, which still need to be addressed in order to protect members of society.

“If you’re an alcoholic you’re not allowed to drive drunk … but when it comes to crime related to drug addiction it seems [illegal behaviours] are increasingly being treated as part of the malaise of drug addiction, and therefore are being increasingly permitted and overlooked by society.”

Also

[Housing activist] Ms. Pedersen asks people to see the failure with the system, and not the individuals.

"They need to advocate for systemic solutions, and not get on the wrong side of this, which is to punish the individuals, criminalize people, criminalize the homeless and people addicted to drugs.

“Housing is key. It’s one of those fundamental pillars that needs to be solved.”

[s211]

^Yes, YES! It's always the "system" to blame. <eyeroll>

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by logan5

Next election somebody will run with a "clean up the dtes" as part of their platform. That's something that will get lots of votes. So I think we will see more "enforcement" with the next mayor.

Wilkinson is already talking about this.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I agree, but my point was that a significant portion of these people have "co-morbidities" and overall poor health and nutrition which should be working against their survival rates.

I think COVID transmission overwhelming happens indoors, in constant close proximity (talking, etc). This isn't the lifestyle of the homeless by and large.

They can gather in their tents or SROs, and can keep doing that as I doubt law e nforces care. You only see those sitting around outside, but it doesn't mean the homeless don't gather indoors.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by MIPS

We are missing data. Statistically COVID because of how it spreads should be rampant and extremely visible in the DTES (be it reported/visible illness or an abnormally high mortality rate) given the nature of the high population in COVID's most affected age group outside of the elderly, unsanitary conditions and no distancing....but it isn't, or at least the cases are more mild or more asymptomatic but that makes no sense either.
I have no reason to doubt it's over there but we have yet to figure out why it's seemingly so transparent.

Maybe Covid doesn't like Fentanyl.

Jokes aside, I suppose they have averted the crisis so far in regards to mass Covid infections. During the early stages, those contracting Covid were the ones travelling and returned. I suppose most wouldn't find a reason to go DTES to spread the disease around . It's the saving grace of the DTES, but death comes to the people there in another form : OD from drug use.

[casper]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Wilkinson is already talking about this.

The problem is I (and likely many others) have zero confidence in any political party solving the DTES problem during a four year mandate.

There have been no shortages of different governments and agencies over decades trying to solve this problem.

It has been everything from creating a bank, funding housing societies to buy and operate these "historic" hotels, safe injection sites, different policing strategies.

Do these things help? Yes, perhaps. Has it solved the problem? No.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by casper

The problem is I (and likely many others) have zero confidence in any political party solving the DTES problem during a four year mandate.

There have been no shortages of different governments and agencies over decades trying to solve this problem.

It has been everything from creating a bank, funding housing societies to buy and operate these "historic" hotels, safe injection sites, different policing strategies.

Do these things help? Yes, perhaps. Has it solved the problem? No.

Oh I agree. I think Big Step #1 is to consolidate everything under VCH. If this is a health crisis, let's treat it like one. Give it to the pros to manage.

The housing side of the problem is being dealt with steadily. I'm in support of more temporary modular homes. The problems by and large aren't following those developments around.

[MIPS]

It makes no sense to report on every crime that happens in the DTES, but....

Police searching for suspect after chainsaw incident at Vancouver homeless encampment

A man has been released from custody after an incident at a Vancouver homeless encampment where police say several people were chased by a man with a chainsaw.

The incident happened around 6 p.m. Sunday night at Strathcona Park.

“We got multiple callers calling us in reports of a man threatening people and chasing people with a chainsaw. This man was doing that outside Strathcona Park. He was then witnessed running into the washroom area,” Const. Tania Visintin with the Vancouver Police Department told CTV News Monday morning.

She says when officers arrived at the park they arrested a man with a similar description to the suspect in the park — however, his clothing was different and he was not carrying a chainsaw.

...

While police are still investigating a possible motive, they are looking at the possibility it may have been a case of mistaken identity involving drugs.

However, Lewis says one of the victims who was chased gave her some details on how it may have started.

“He was taking some GoPro footage and it turns out someone was very upset with that. And someone pulled a live chainsaw on him, chased him out," Lewis told CTV News. "He and his partner were absolutely traumatized."

She says the man and his partner, who do not live in the neighbourhood, managed to get into a stranger's car on Prior Street in an attempt to get to safety.

"They literally just jumped into a car to be safe," Lewis said. "No one intervened. They were basically on their own. It was an extremely traumatizing experience."

...

Lewis says Strathcona residents are surprised every week as incidents add up.

"This is abnormal for a neighbourhood and it's unacceptable. We are encouraging our political leaders to step up and do their jobs," Lewis said.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/police-searchi...ment-1.5122972

A gun or a knife sure but this is a bit nuts. For god sake, clear the park out.

[Sheba]

Overdose crisis: An inside look at a Vancouver hotel transformed into supportive housing

A former hotel in downtown Vancouver is now offering supportive housing amid the province’s overdose crisis.

The former Howard Johnson in the 1100-block of Granville Street features a safe medication dispensing machine in the lobby. It scans a registered user’s hand and then dispenses a safe dose of hydromorphone, a medicinal alternative to heroin.

Just above the main lobby is an overdose prevention site, which is monitored around the clock.

The hotel is staffed by health-care support workers who provide outreach, said Atira Supportive Housing director Jose Reyes.

...

The B.C. government bought the building for $55 million in June to use as an emergency shelter for former residents of the encampment at Oppenheimer Park.

Neighbours soon complained of disorder, violence, and noise from bear bangers.

“I would encourage those people rather than focus on and blame folks who are made vulnerable by the system to rail against the system that makes those folks vulnerable,” said Janice Abbott of the Atira Women’s Resource Society, which runs the hotel.

As of this past Thursday, the building is no longer an emergency shelter, but a supportive housing site.

...

“Things are better now,” Reyes said. “People that were causing problems they got transferred to different locations, different buildings.”

“I think that we’re moving towards the right direction. I think that we’ve learned a lot since the beginning of the project and I think that we have the baseline of what we need to create a successful program.”

[Vin]

Spending 55 mil of your money (those who actually pay taxes) to purchase this hotel by the province, they better do something positive with it. As of last couple of days when I walked by, the surroundings indeed looked cleaner. They removed all the garbage, bike and other stuff from the outdoor bike parking hold created on the old hotel parking lot north of the hotel. The previously heavily vandalized concrete barriers filled with grafitti surrounding the fenced bike had also been painted over, but a few new ones had already started to be tagged. The area does not look as orderly as before, but at least those addicts openly shooting up on the sidewalk were gone. Well we shall see if these improvements are permanent, which I doubt. For a while this place really felt like the DTES, and it is improving not because of authority taking initiatives, but because of the numerous amount of complaints from local residents. Keep them coming in I say. Awareness is key.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by MIPS

It makes no sense to report on every crime that happens in the DTES, but....

Police searching for suspect after chainsaw incident at Vancouver homeless encampment


A gun or a knife sure but this is a bit nuts. For god sake, clear the park out.

A new normal downtown, and the City enables it.

[dreambrother808]

Oh man, maybe life is easier if you can just reduce every complex problem here down to "blame the city of Vancouver".

[SpongeG]

has anyone watched the show - Living in Hope, about the HOpe Centre in North Vancouver, it airs on Knowledge Network, its quite interesting and a good look at why proper care and housing is needed and should have never been eliminated for people with mental health issues.

https://www.knowledge.ca/program/living-hope

• Video Link

[Sheba]

Vancouver to consider sanctioned tent cities

Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart has called a special council meeting this Thursday to consider emergency housing relief for the city’s homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council approved a motion on Sept. 14 directing city staff to explore several options from permanent housing to managed encampments on vacant land.

In an Oct. 2 memo to the mayor and council, Arts, Culture and Community Services general manager Sandra Singh identified eight city-owned sites that could potentially support sanctioned temporary encampments with physically distanced tents and services – including two parkades, four empty lots, the lawn at city hall and a public plaza on the north side of city hall.

List of potential temporary sanctioned encampment sites:

* 180 Keefer St. – Chinatown Parkade

* 107 East Cordova St. – parkade

* 800 Quebec St. lot

* 1500 Main St. lot

* 987 East Cordova St. lot

* 2132 Ash St. lot (next to temporary modular housing)

* City hall lawn

* Helena Gutteridge Plaza – city hall public space


Staff estimate about 750 people are sleeping outside in Vancouver. An unsanctioned encampment at Strathcona Park has grown to nearly 400 tents since activists established it in June after being evicted from a Port of Vancouver parking lot near CRAB Park. BC Housing believes about 200 people at Strathcona are currently homeless.

The estimated annual operating costs for a partially supported 40 tent encampment with 24/7 security and daytime staff seven days a week would be upwards of $2.1 million. A fully managed 40 tent encampment with 24/7 security and staffing is expected to cost in excess of $2.6 million per year.

Tom Davidoff, the director of the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, said the price of ignoring homelessness could be much higher.

...

City staff noted that the provincial government has to date not supported the concept of a managed encampment, and they have not previously recommended many of the options because experience in other jurisdictions “have shown them to be less effective, more difficult to manage, and more expensive to implement than providing housing.”

The four other options under consideration are leasing or purchasing units in hotels or SROs, temporarily converting city-owned buildings into emergency housing or shelter space, establishing tiny house villages on vacant land, or providing a serviced space for people living in RVs.

The memo states that it would be extremely challenging and not sustainable for the city to take on any of the five options alone given the limited money it could deploy “without displacing permanent housing investments already contemplated in the Capital Plan, service reductions across the City, or the need for significant tax increases.”

[s211]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Vancouver to consider sanctioned tent cities

I foresee an inevitable Escape From New York vibe in the offing.

[MIPS]

So it's a slum.
I'm not against it. Just don't like the turd polishing that comes with calling it a tent city.

[rofina]

Better than nothing.

But this is going to turn into slums for sure.

Taking into account the glacial pace of change at City Hall, these encampments are going to stay there for the long term.

I look forward to see the type of structures that can be engineered out of pallets and tarps. City planners should take note, no need to wait 18 months for a permit approval.