Residents defy city order to vacate Sugar Mountain
Tent camps flourish across region amid sluggish progress on housing
Residents of the Sugar Mountain tent city in Vancouver are digging their heels in and refusing to leave the city-owned site after they were served a trespassing notice earlier this week.
The city will need a court injunction to force out residents, said J.J. Riach, an organizer with the Alliance Against Displacement. Residents had been asked to leave by noon on Friday so the city can begin construction of modular housing.
Nicknamed Sugar Mountain because of its proximity to the B.C. Sugar Refinery, the encampment was erected early last summer on an empty city-owned lot in the Strathcona neighbourhood at 1131 Franklin St.
“There’s no guarantee the people in camp will get a place (when the modular housing is complete),” Riach said.
“We don’t want to leave this lot until we are offered a dignified alternative.”
In September, the provincial government announced plans to build 2,000 modular housing units over two years in communities across B.C. Each module is a small, inexpensive home that is trucked to a site and stacked with others to quickly assemble a small apartment building. With the first 1,000 units expected to open in the new year, it could be several cold weeks before the number of people living in camps and emergency shelters decreases.
In the meantime, several municipalities are looking for more immediate solutions.
In Maple Ridge, where 40 to 50 modular housing units are being considered, the city has decided to keep an established homeless camp in place “to provide the province time to develop a plan to offer housing solutions for the occupants,” according to a city news release.
Earlier this month, the city reached an agreement with residents of the Anita Place homeless camp to address safety issues.
Campers will be prohibited from having open flames and fires, while B.C. Housing will provide fire-resistant tents, cold-weather sleeping bags and in-tent heaters. It’s also expected there will be a warming centre, washroom unit and water supply at the camp.
Unlike Vancouver, where the city has approved two modular housing complexes and plans for more are on the table, a site has not been selected in Maple Ridge. The city is urging the province to engage in a public dialogue, given several past housing proposals were met with strong community opposition.
Meanwhile, in Surrey, where a Facebook video showing the expanding tent city on the Whalley strip recently went viral, Mayor Linda Hepner is calling on the province to speed up plans for 150 units of modular housing. With the units slated for completion in February, the camp could grow through some of the coldest months.
Premier John Horgan said the government is “moving as quickly as we can,” but agreed it is not fast enough for the people living on the streets.
“We need to do more to ensure that we’re getting these modular homes in place as quickly as possible,” he said in early December. “The challenge is obvious, but … we’ve been doing our level best to knock down barriers to get access to housing.”
Metro Vancouver housing committee chairman Mike Clay said while “each city is doing their own thing, the gist of it is the same” as they work with the provincial and federal governments on solutions.
Housing is not within the mandate of municipal governments, but Clay, who is also the mayor of Port Moody, said it’s impossible to ignore.
“The people are on our streets, in our parks and on our park benches,” Clay said.
With the federal government contributing funds to address the issue, the key will be ensuring the money is spent “on the street level,” he added.
Clay also emphasized the benefit of considering homelessness from a regional perspective.
“I’m not only concerned when that park bench is in Port Moody. I want to help people no matter what city they’re living in,” he said.
“Only local government knows where our boundaries are. Our residents move around the region.”
Clay was optimistic about the work being done, although he recognized the delays are difficult.
“We’ve heard that (housing) is a priority for the new NDP government … The problem has been a long time coming, and the solution will take some time too.”