To:

City of Vancouver: City Manager Paul Mochrie (paul.mochrie@vancouver.ca), Mayor Ken Sim (Ken.Sim@vancouver.ca), Councillor Rebecca Bligh (clrbligh@vancouver.ca), Councillor Christine Boyle (clrboyle@vancouver.ca), Councillor Adriane Carr (clrcarr@vancouver.ca), Councillor Lisa Dominato (clrdominato@vancouver.ca), Councillor Pete Fry (clrfry@vancouver.ca), Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung (clrkirby-yung@vancouver.ca), Councillor Mike Klassen (clrklassen@vancouver.ca), Councillor Peter Meiszner (clrmeiszner@vancouver.ca), Councillor Brian Montague (clrmontague@vancouver.ca), Councillor Lenny Zhou (clrzhou@vancouver.ca). 

Vancouver Park Board: steve.jackson@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky (Brennan.Bastyovanszky@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Laura Christensen (laura.christensen@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Tom Digby (tom.digby@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Angela Haer (angela.haer@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Marie-Claire Howard (marie-clare.howard@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Scott Jensen (scott.jensen@vancouver.ca), Commissioner Jas Virdi (jas.virdi@vancouver.ca). 

Premier David Eby: premier@gov.bc.ca 

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon: hous.minister@gov.bc.ca 

BC Housing CEO Vincent Tong vtong@bchousing.org

Federal Housing Minister: The Honourable Ahmed Hussen (ahmed.hussen@parl.gc.ca) 

Port of Vancouver: only publicly available email is for Media Contact Alex Munro (alex.munro@portvancouver.com). 

Unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Swx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories

CRAB Park tent city residents and supporters are calling for the underused adjacent parking lot (so-called Parking Lot 5) beside CRAB Park to serve as a site for tiny homes and year-round outdoor sheltering with community amenities (showers, washrooms, and kitchen facilities). The tiny home and transitional village would serve the current unhoused population at CRAB Park as well as many of the other homeless and underhoused residents of the Downtown Eastside. 

CRAB Park encampment residents urge the City of so-called Vancouver to rent the unceded MST land known as CRAB Park Parking Lot 5, adjacent to CRAB Park and currently under the authority of the Port of Vancouver, as an outdoor sheltering space. Encampment residents also urge the City to create tiny homes as an alternative, interim housing measure (not tiny shelters, as in the City’s $1.5 million shelter-adjacent pilot project approved in 2022 (CoV Press Release). Tiny homes would help meet the urgent need for housing and could also be developed and built with local and Indigenous-led talent and by hiring people in the park to help build it. For an example of a community project that employs and draws on the skills and knowledge of those they serve, refer to the local Binners’ Project and their annual report describing the membership system. Many residents of CRAB Park have experience in construction, landscaping, or related fields.

CRAB Park tent city recently marked its two-year anniversary, and there is no immediate end in sight. Homelessness numbers continue to grow, other outdoor encampments have been violently evicted, and housing announcements make it clear that there’s fewer units becoming available in the short term than needed by the current under-housed population. (rising homelessness, violent sweeps, underhoused population increasing) The parking lot would provide a dry surface and sheltering space for the rainy and cold months, as well as a flat surface for a shower trailer and other amenities, and a suitable sized space for a true tiny homes pilot community that is peer-led and grassroots-supported. 

The peninsula at CRAB Park is currently the only legally designated outdoor sheltering space in the Lower Mainland (and the first in the entire country), yet the homeless population far exceeds the available space (2020 homelessness PIT count, 2023 Homelessness Count being released in “late 2023”). In letters and correspondence immediately after CRAB Park was legally designated by the Vancouver Park Board (as noted in this article on the 2 year anniversary), tent city residents urged that further parks be similarly designated, in order to create sufficient legal space throughout so-called Vancouver for people who are homeless to exist. The parking lot would help meet this need.

This proposal does not negate the necessity of having access to sheltering in parks or other public spaces. It builds on the experiences and knowledge of unhoused people, advocates and supporters. CRAB Park residents and supporters continue to believe that it is viable, necessary and obligated to have access to sheltering in parks and other public spaces, and that designated daytime sheltering spaces can and should be established in parks as long as sufficient and suitable housing does not exist to meet the needs of unhoused people.

Residents of CRAB Park have established links with health care and service providers both within the encampment and in the close neighborhood of the park. Any interim sheltering space needs to remain accessible to nearby services and supports and provide a continuum of service, as indicated in Bamberger v. Vancouver (Board of Parks and Recreation) (particularly in clauses 144-147). Residents state that a successful outdoor transitional housing model also needs to operate with autonomy and peer leadership, rather than through third party housing providers, contracts or “program-based” housing agreements. A rights-based, peer-led, community-supported tiny homes village and sheltering space in the parking lot would meet these needs (an explanation of rights-based housing is available on page 27 of the Federal Housing Advocate 2021 Report). 

Residents have talked to the Park Board about the importance of community and how hard it is to move into an SRO and lose your community, and shared their thoughts:

“A tiny home village or mobile homes in the parking lot next door would be great.” – resident S

“To me, this camp is spiritual. People here have the spirit. The unconditional love for each other.” – former resident R

“I came here a year ago with less stuff than I have now. They took care of me. They didn’t ask for anything except that I be part of the community. So they’ll look after you too, you just have to help yourself a bit too.” – former resident C

“Don’t  judge us by our appearance and class. We’re human beings. Whatever happened to supporting the most vulnerable in society?” – resident S

“If we’re living a better life, then guess what? The community around us is living a better life too.” – resident G

“UBCIC stands with the grassroots community who tirelessly supports residents in CRAB Park and the DTES and demands the Parks Board and City of Vancouver uphold dignity and human rights for those experiencing homelessness.” – Union of BC Indian Chiefs 

“I have some ideas here about, the powers that be are thinking “how do we get rid of this homeless problem?” From down here, it’s surprising because this is a unique place. We don’t feel that we’re homeless. Because we’re a community, so along those lines, why could we not take a risk and become part of the housing plan, and make this a type of transitional housing? Because you think of it in terms of how much it would cost to house 80 people in an SRO, what they could do for us and our quality of life - we benefit, the whole community benefits, because we become less of a problem, we become more proactive, we care about the community more. It’s a win-win-win situation. So if we are allowed to exist - not only exist but permanently exist - that’s what I was thinking would be awesome if we could do that. It’s the legacy that I’m thinking about. We got to think not just about us here and now and our own selves, we have an opportunity to be the people that 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now people say, “wow, look what those guys did for us.” We have an opportunity to be those people. It’s not just a pipedream or a bunch of baloney. It’s real, because we are obviously in a unique situation, we could do that.”  – resident G 

“I feel better here than I did at my so-called SRO. I feel safer, I feel more comfortable around other people. I mean there’s issues and that, but all in all we’re okay.” – resident G  

Background and references​

Coverage from the CBC

Petition written by Fiona York, research support by Olivia, and input from CRAB Park residents

Petition supported by Defund 604 Network, Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG), and Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA), WePress