City says 75 Oppenheimer Park residents have accepted housing offers as eviction deadline passes
The city of Vancouver says 75 residents of Oppenheimer Park, a tent city in the Downtown Eastside, have accepted offers to move into housing as the deadline to clear out of the park passes.
On Monday, residents of the park were ordered to remove their tents and other structures by Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The tent city, located between Powell and Cordova streets, two blocks east of Main Street, has grown significantly in size over the past few months.
Paul Mochrie, deputy city manager with the city of Vancouver, said officials are "confident and optimistic" they have sufficient units for the people ordered out of the park, adding "our priority now is assisting them to transition to those units."
Mochrie said the city estimated that there were fewer than 140 people in the park, and that there are 140 units available through BC Housing.
"Our hope is that people will comply with the order, again really what we've been communicating to everybody, if they want housing, it's available. They really need to connect with our outreach team and make that move."
Mochrie said that if for some reason there is not enough available housing, some additional housing spots could be made available through BC Housing.
Over the weekend, residents of the tent city decried what they called a lack of communication from city officials, and estimated there were over 200 tents in the park.
Mochrie said that if people in the park do not want to access housing and refuse to remove their belongings, it will become an issue for the Vancouver Park Board "over the coming days."
The Vancouver Park Board is an elected board with jurisdiction over parks in the city.
