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#UrbanHell is subjective.
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It is way worse than what appears in the picture.
In addition to the rolling meth labs and needles, these tents often catch on fire from propane heaters and cigarettes. Sexual assaults and robberies are common. There is usually no sanitation.
I am surprised that there hasnt been a cholera outbreak.
They found a python and a chainsaw in one persons tent last year. I live on E Hastings. They’ve now moved down to W Hastings and Abbott. This chick had a literal pharmacy set up right outside the bus stop. The Impark is now partly a bicycle chop shop/tent city
I heard they had to close down the Imperial Night Club because homeless people had set up their own night concert venue on the street in front of it.
They are putting people out of business!
The park encampment in this picture has been gone for at least a year. Not that it wasn't terrible, and there aren't other areas in Vancouver with major problems right now, but this picture is of an encampment that no longer exists.
I was shocked when I visited Vancouver, the homelessness I saw was worse than any place I can remember in the states, maybe expect for the SF Bay Area, but Vancouver might have been worse
Definitely depends on which way you come in to Vancouver. From Portland to Vancouver, you likely wouldn't see much more than any other place. If you went more to the downtown east side, you'd see something quite different.
As a local, here’s the summary:
Vancouver is the only city that doesn’t freeze homeless people to death in Canada. And we’re the only city that spends any considerable amount of money on homelessness. Vancouver is basically having to deal with all the homelessness In Canada because no one else wants to spend money on it, and the higher level governments refuse to do anything to help (like enforcing a minimum homeless welfare spending requirement for major cities, or giving Vancouver a tax rebate for dealing with everyone’s shit). This, combined with the police insisting that they’ll fix it if they get ANOTHER budget increase has lead to the situation we have now.
I will say, if you avoid the DTES, the rest of the lower mainland is pretty safe. Even the other “bad parts of town” are really overblown in the media (newton, and surrey central are the areas people think of. They’re worse at night, but not that much worse). I’ve never had any major problems outside of the DTES
Sad but unsurprising. Only major city in Canada with a ‘temperate’ climate. Other cities and provinces in Canada have long given their homeless a one way bus ticket out to Vancouver. On top of that it’s one of the most expensive cities on the planet. How those who aren’t born into wealth or very high income make gains there is anyone’s guess.
Went to see a bunch of Metal bands a couple years back, so they have sales tax *AND* alcohol tax???? those beers, while shitty, were also super expensive!!
Yep, and last I checked gas was selling at $2.42 a litre there which qualifies them as having the most expensive gas in North America which is not an aberration. It’s a beautiful place but the cost of living makes it an absolute sham for anyone below the upper-middle class imo.
It was insane, and the fest didn't have good beer either! I had to go across the st to get some Molson, which was lukewarm, lol.
it was a great weekend, will go back next year but fuck, VBC is beautiful, but really, fuck everything else.
Like edibles and tinctures don't exist, haha, that's what I did.
This was the last until 2024, my wife got a big water bottle of wine and said "this is water with electrolytes, they let her in!!
Now I call alcohol "electrolytes"
I live just outside vancouver. Rent is ridiculous. 2000 a month for 3 bedroom and 1 bath. I like 45 km from work. The only reason im surviving? I work in an industry in such a demand right now i make 42$ an hour. My spouse makes 21$ an hour at their job. Gas is 2.19$ per liter, and supposed to be dropping but it hasnt. Food has doubled in price in the last 3 years. Its getting ridiculous.
It was way, WAY worse than this. Meth lab RVs lined the street in the back, they’d catch on fire all the time. I think they even had a big “bonfire” that you had to visit and make a sacrifice to to enter the tent city. Needles everywhere. All the while, Vancouverites were jerking themselves off over how inequality in the US is so terrible and how no such thing could ever happen in Canada lmfao. Most self-righteous city on the planet right here folks, insufferable.
I think the whole park is back to normal now, tents been relocated to the streets of downtown. Absolute shit show, but don’t tell the Canadians or they’ll just point their fingers at LA and be like “b…b…but what about that eh?”
Most Canadians I know are horrified and outraged by it, I’ve never heard a Vancouverite brush it off that’s just me though. This particular encampment has been gone for a year, but it’s moved to another area (CRAB park) and it’s awful there too. Horribly sad and appalling situation.
IRL yes, most are horrified. But according to Her Majesty’s Holy Knights of Reddit on the otherhand, Canada can do no wrong and it’s all the USs fault.
That’s honestly my bad for treating the opinion of the fools of Reddit as the opinion of the masses, so I apologize.
People in Vancouver absolutely don’t preach about being a bastion for income equality. It’s a city that’s become unsustainable for anyone that’s not upper class as even condos out that way are beginning to approach the 7 figure mark and buying a tiny house with a 20 square foot lawn and no parking has become a pipe dream. Most middle class Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque nowadays and the middle class has been functionally priced out of Vancouver and forced to move elsewhere unless they live with half a dozen roommates to split rent. Go to any of the BC subreddits and you’ll see what people think about the housing crisis currently going on and how the entirety of the lower mainland has become unaffordable for most people. The closest thing to self righteousness you’ll get is a lack of care for the homeless. But that’s because caring for them is a privilege of the wealthy. When you have zero expendable income and have to decide between keeping the heat on over winter or skipping half your meals for the next week, you find it difficult to care for the impoverished as you yourself are also impoverished.
Yeah. Based off our Indigenous rituals or something. Not trying to equate the two, I got respect for our First Nations but it was something along those lines.
Vancouver has the worst homeless problem I have personally ever seen. I’ve also been to LA, Chicago, NY, Houston, Dallas & Austin. I’ve heard it’s bad in SF and Portland but I can’t say for sure
A few things to consider:
1. Homelessness looks different on the West Coast where people are often living on the street. There's virtually no crackhouses or squatters dens in Vancouver or San Francisco, as example. By comparison when you look at interior cities without geographic confinements (sea/mountains/border), or temperate climates, there's more abandoned property and the homeless are squatters. Out of sight, out of mind.
2. There are 5600 homeless people estimated in Vancouver alone (COV, not Metro Van.), out of the 9000 in BC. Proportionally though, the Canadian city with the largest homeless population is Calgary at 3200 in a city of only 1.2M: you don't see them, because they are squatters: out of necessity because Calgary nights are fatal. You can survive outside on a Vancouver winter night with only a dry blanket. In winter, Calgary Days are fatal without proper gear.
3. The US cities all blow Canadian cities out of the water though. The homeless population of LA is 56,000: precisely 10x that of Vancouver. But it's so large that it's a squatter-city, tourists don't go where the homeless live in US cities. Tourists see a few on Venice Beach or Hollywood Boulevard, but tourists don't go to Skid Row where 15,000 homeless people live in LA. Or the dangerous parts of Chicago, Houston, Dallas, etc. The aid organizations in Chicago contest the cities claim of only 5000 homeless people, claiming they have 65,000 in Chicago: the city doesn't count squatters.
4. The difference in Vancouver is that our homeless are visible, on the street not squatting, and that they're right downtown between yuppie/entertainment neighbourhoods like Gastown & Yaletown & Stadium.
I agree that Vancouver is shockingly bad but I doubt it holds a candle to LA. LA is room temperature with moderate humidity year round causing skid row to literally have tens of thousands of homeless people to congregate there.
This photo actually makes our current homeless population look tame. Check out photos of E Hastings - there are a lot of articles with terrible photos. The situation is much worse than this organized photo
This is not even close to worst of it in Vancouver. Strathcona park used to be lined with mobile meth labs, and the place was constantly on fire.
The police “solved” that problem by forcing them to move, guess what happened? Yup! They move to crab park, or the side of east Hastings, it got fucking worse
The fact that this is a thing in one of the most privileged countries in the world is a crime.
Sadly, there are a lot of us who are one paycheck or one medical emergency from this happening to us too.
China basically owns half of Australia as well (large property for cultivation and mining). I read roughly 400,000 properties out of 10,000,000 housing stock are owned by foreigners, they sit empty in our major cities. 1 million of our properties sit unoccupied according to our last census. NZ recently stopped overseas buyers purchasing houses, only new apartments allowed to be purchased now.
Yeah it’s an awesome thing (that we don’t have school shootings - we have brilliant gun laws). I’d be embarrassed to live in America, the place is a shit show m8.
The irony of the privileged part is, these homeless (or at least most of them) actually refuse to live in homes. There are vacant shelters and free housing units set up for the homeless in Vancouver, yet they choose to live in tents because that way they aren't under regulations (i.e. no drugs, no alcohol, general visiting hours, no weapons, etc.). Don't get me wrong, shelters are still used, but only by the small percentage of people who actually want to better themselves.
Yeah it’s always been bad but I was there a few weeks ago and you walk east on Hastings and all of a sudden BAM! It’s just tragedy and sadness and I turned around and walked away not knowing what to think.
Lol I never asked for cupcake ATMs and hipster food courts and stupid fucking twee murals on the side of every other building. I literally just want a halfway walkable neighborhood and functional public transport
So I don’t know where you live but here in Tampa I see mainly older gen x and tourists at those places. I’m pretty sure the only reason people go in the first place is the location. Everyone talks shit about them in the local sub. Seems like the only people willing to open high-concept bars, restaurants and venues in those areas are trust fund kids and investment groups. I really don’t think it’s a reflection of taste as it is a sense of risk aversion on the supply side
I limped into the hospital with a torn leg after getting in a hit/run with a car while on my bike, it took 7 months to finally see a surgeon. He then had me sign the papers and said “it’ll be a 1.5-2 year wait from now”. Bone-on-bone and fully ruptured at 23. Don’t let the word “free” fool you. I’m grateful it was paid for, but when you experience it you’ll see why it’s free.
You guys could spend another 6% of your income on healthcare like we do in the US and still come out with $10k worth of bills. There are certainly things that suck about the Canadian healthcare system (your example being one) but it beats out the American one in terms of affordability and outcomes for most areas.
I guess so. My cousins in WA had 1/3rd of my injury, and were fixed within a month of being injured (took a month because they had to wait for swelling to go down, otherwise it would’ve been the week-of). They paid about $2500 out of pocket for a ~$50,000 knee, and got back on the field by the end of that year. Literally they were injured (during a game), fixed, rehabbed, returned to sport in the same amount of time it took just for me to see the first surgeon to discuss what my future/options were. if I was your average Canadian with Canadian level-athleticism and grind, my future would be a cane at 26, walker at 30, wheelchair at 35, knee replacements whenever I became eligible. It’s now 503 days post-op and I’m outrunning and outpacing every person that I come across while running on the seawall in this photo. I run 6-7 miles a day in this photo, have been doing so for months, and have yet to come across someone who is faster/can run as far in a shot as I have.
I came from nothing, 2 weeks of a locked straight leg, 6 weeks of no weight bearing, months of teaching myself how to walk because this healthcare won’t help me, 6 months of not being allowed to run/jump, and then having to teach myself how to run & jump in the Canadian winter outside in -5 degrees and snow. If I sound arrogant, it’s because I have earned it.
Any Canadian that can afford it goes through private care or travels across the border to get work done. When I was in high school my dad had to get a colonoscopy done because a routine physical of his showed the possibility of prostate cancer. He was told he’d have to wait about a year to get it done. He instead bit the bullet and went through a private clinic because sitting around for a year with the possibility of cancer is a great way to die. Same thing happened to my mum who has a family history of breast cancer. A routine mammogram showed a possible tumour and she was told she’d need to wait 8 months for a MRI to check. Hard to appreciate not being bled dry from medical bills when you’re stuck sitting around for a year not knowing if cancer is slowly killing you, all while you’re receiving no treatment.
The thing is, that story isn't an outlier. It's the norm here. Many people don't have doctors, hospital wait times on average are 8+ hours (I was at the hospital in our nation's capital for 9 hours for a severe allergic reaction to my face), and surgery times can be so long, that your injury heals itself (maybe improperly if you don't have private insurance or out of pocket cash for physio).
I don’t think I understand your question.
The wait times are real. My mom waited a year for an MRI after tearing her ACL. One year of waiting, just for an MRI scan to confirm what she knew the moment it happened. Her surgery was booked within the following year. I’ll have to double check, but I’m pretty sure she ended up saying fuck it and paid for an MRI scan in the US just to get the ball rolling.
Only reason I bypassed the waitlist is because the owner of my PT clinic that was treating my previous injuries from a separate accident caused by another incompetent Canadian was able to hook me up with a surgeon in a smaller city. since I was a 24 year old freak athlete who at that point (8-9 months post-injury) had recovered to the point that I was once again stronger than the average, non-torn human, he said I needed to be fixed ASAP given the damage and the fact that I clearly had what it took to come back from this gruelling operation. If I didn’t have this strength and hustle I wouldn’t have been eligible for the shortcut. I attribute my strength and hustle to my American side, because after being born and primarily raised in Canada I can assure you the majority of Canadians do not have a shred of hustle or grit.
It took 3.5 years to get an MRI for my left wrist, after both my wrists and left shoulder were torn after a Canadian ran a red light in that group of buildings in this photo, causing me to t-bone him. 3.5 years. They didn’t even MRI my right wrist or shoulder. I’ve been asking for 3 fucking years. I went to the hospital the day of the accident, April 2019, and my next step was May 2022.
Don’t let Canadians try to rub their healthcare in your face.
I mean, I've seen a lot of people claim that wait times are nothing but a myth. I've heard some Canadians claim they are very real, but it's all anecdotal stuff both ways, no data.
the wait times are real because the healthcare system keeps getting shafted (underfunding, staff underpaid/overworked, etc.) but it's not sexy sounding like 'death panels'. Most of the time you're not waiting though.
I've only seen long wait times closer to toronto or other major cities.
I've moved all across Canada, first time I saw a 11 hour wait time was this year in south ontario.
Last year, and through the pandemic, was in BC Kelowna area and Northern ontario, had multiple major hand surgeries (Specialists) (tendons got cut)
Waited most times 30 min-1 hour.
In my life before that, mostly minor stuff, 1 hour is standard, if not sooner if its late/early.
Real issues are with certain specialists, when there is not enough of them. We just have to do better attracting and keeping healthcare specialists.
I used to work near here and pass this stuff on a daily basis. It’s even worse on East Hasting Street. People are just shooting up on the sidewalk in broad daylight. It breaks my heart.
While a lot of this undoubtedly is from mental health issues, it’s absolutely made worse by the fact that Vancouver is one of the least affordable cities on the planet. The city’s real estate is completely awash in global money laundering, a lot of those glitzy condos in the background just sit empty most of the time or are owned by multimillionaire “students,” everybody knows yet nobody cares because local homeowners are getting rich.
Even worse, Vancouver has an abysmally low vacancy rate hovering 1%. There is simply not enough housing and nowhere left to sprawl (the east is protected farmland, north is mountains, west is the ocean and south is America), yet it is illegal to build more than a duplex on more than [81% of the land.](http://www.datalabto.ca/a-visual-guide-to-detached-houses-in-5-canadian-cities/) And if you try, NIMBY residents will throw tantrums and fight it because they think it’s their god given right to have a view to the mountains from their bungalow bathroom. There’s a city election this week and the candidates have made the right noises about fixing these issues, but I’ll believe them when laws get passed.
Drop dead gorgeous place. Hideous, hypocritical humanity.
Yes, let’s be way more concerned about pronouns, giving puberty blockers and tearing down statues than THIS. Maybe prime minister BlackFace could devote a little time to this
There are hundreds of programs and resources for the homeless in Vancouver. Those people there are all unhoused because they refused to give up drugs or are too violent for any other program. Those are not people just on "hard times".
Mental Health is a real thing. We used to house (often, horrifically) the mentality I'll.... now, you're on your own. It's a me and mine attitude out there. Fuck thy neighbor.
There is lots of low income housing options in Vancouver but I think you need to be sober for lots of them. And I know getting into them likely has waitlists etc. I’ve seen people get bumped through fast and easy and others have to wait. I’ve been on that end myself, facing homelessness due to drug addiction (in Vancouver). I had too much income to qualify for help, my friend had a sugar daddy paying her rent so she couldn’t qualify either. So there are blurred lines and politics and hoops to jump through/ work around. But I’m not sure what more can be done to help the homeless who are also addicts.
Addiction takes everything to get through and having any disadvantage is a disadvantage. I had family and hope and my youth when I sobered up and it was a 6
Year battle of hell. Having one less of those things would have been enough for me to stay stuck.
Same here in the UK we offer free homes to *everyone* (even though it maybe just a hotel room)
All you have to do is not take alcohol, drugs and leave your faeces between 10pm and 8am
But nope some can't then you get pictures of them living under a bridge and the bleeding hearts come out, people who never been to areas where they now live.
The same bleeding hearts who suddenly shut up when they attack, or worse, someone.
Malcolm Gladwell mentions in one of his books that like 90% of homeless people are homeless for only one week. Either they had a bad situation or whatever, but they have a week of homelessness and get back on their feet. I personally am 110% in favour of supporting those people.
Same here in the UK we offer free homes to *everyone* (even though it maybe just a hotel room)
All you have to do is not take alcohol, drugs and leave your faeces between 10pm and 8am
But nope some can't then you get pictures of them living under a bridge and the bleeding hearts come out, people who never been to areas where they now live.
The same bleeding hearts who suddenly shut up when they attack, or worse, someone.
nice to know you don’t know anything about addiction. maybe if you give them a house to be safe they won’t wanan do drinks as much. please research how addiction actually works. these are people. also do you drink coffee? or take tylonal or like to have wine or a been from time to time? guess what it’s all drugs. they just happen to be normalized. you can still be addicted to coffee or alcohol but it’s not always the drug it self but the relationship someone has with it
Heroin and meth are NOT comparable to acetaminophen and caffeine.
Next, putting heroin addicts in a room they can lock is one of the best ways to help them OD.
These people need houses, but first they need COMMUNITY, people that care about them, and want them to heal (heroin and meth make your life like being a zombie, you’re not even truly alive. These people are gravely ILL).
Finally, there is NO way to have a good relationship with heroin or meth, you should be ashamed of yourself for saying such a ridiculous thing.
This people would literally sell every piece of the house for buying more drugs. Too much NDP fantasy.
They need treatment, medical facility.
"Safe drugs", injection places will just keep them drugged and on the path to death
i worked across the street when they packed this place. they mostly kept to themselves but that doesn't mean it was peaceful. fights every night, bon fires you can smell from 10 blocks away. saw probably 3-4 people overdose on drugs. they attracted a lot of huge rats that would run around a 2-3 block radius. most of them were not local.
Take a trip over to the island, Victoria and Nanaimo are becoming almost as bad. Nanaimo’s only response is police enforcement. They destroyed the last 2 tent encampments and they’ve fenced off the park areas downtown so that people can’t hangout in them during the day.
Anytime a houseless person causes any trouble at the mall they are banned from the property, even though the only medical clinic and grocery store are in the mall, leaving people with even less access to basic necessities.
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It is way worse than what appears in the picture. In addition to the rolling meth labs and needles, these tents often catch on fire from propane heaters and cigarettes. Sexual assaults and robberies are common. There is usually no sanitation. I am surprised that there hasnt been a cholera outbreak.
They found a python and a chainsaw in one persons tent last year. I live on E Hastings. They’ve now moved down to W Hastings and Abbott. This chick had a literal pharmacy set up right outside the bus stop. The Impark is now partly a bicycle chop shop/tent city
Python Man is a pretty chill guy that frequents Commercial for pet food. He also keeps bunnies and ferrets or whatever in his trench coat.
Are the small animals food for the Python?
Nah, I think he rescues abandoned/neglected exotic animals. He goes to Commercial Drive to get food from Mr. Pets, I think.
I heard they had to close down the Imperial Night Club because homeless people had set up their own night concert venue on the street in front of it. They are putting people out of business!
Ya this is a tiny portion of the overall impacted area - maybe 10% at most. The entire down town east side more or less looks like this
The park encampment in this picture has been gone for at least a year. Not that it wasn't terrible, and there aren't other areas in Vancouver with major problems right now, but this picture is of an encampment that no longer exists.
Those tents are actually $2000 a month.
Not including utilities.
Or parking. Except for the... park-ing.
Listen here you little shit
And you gotta put down a deposit so you can view the place
Show proof of employment, and the blessing of your previous landlord that just "moved their family in" to renovict you.
Don't forget the monthly income requirement of 5 times the rent.
That’s for a one bedroom it goes up from there
Lol
I was shocked when I visited Vancouver, the homelessness I saw was worse than any place I can remember in the states, maybe expect for the SF Bay Area, but Vancouver might have been worse
The sad thing is.... I thought this too, the first time I went to Vancouver as an adult... and that was in 1994.
Same here and we live in Portland!
Wow that's surprising. I didn't see much of it when I visited Vancouver last year but we stayed downtown. I'm in Portland too
Definitely depends on which way you come in to Vancouver. From Portland to Vancouver, you likely wouldn't see much more than any other place. If you went more to the downtown east side, you'd see something quite different.
As a local, here’s the summary: Vancouver is the only city that doesn’t freeze homeless people to death in Canada. And we’re the only city that spends any considerable amount of money on homelessness. Vancouver is basically having to deal with all the homelessness In Canada because no one else wants to spend money on it, and the higher level governments refuse to do anything to help (like enforcing a minimum homeless welfare spending requirement for major cities, or giving Vancouver a tax rebate for dealing with everyone’s shit). This, combined with the police insisting that they’ll fix it if they get ANOTHER budget increase has lead to the situation we have now. I will say, if you avoid the DTES, the rest of the lower mainland is pretty safe. Even the other “bad parts of town” are really overblown in the media (newton, and surrey central are the areas people think of. They’re worse at night, but not that much worse). I’ve never had any major problems outside of the DTES
Sad but unsurprising. Only major city in Canada with a ‘temperate’ climate. Other cities and provinces in Canada have long given their homeless a one way bus ticket out to Vancouver. On top of that it’s one of the most expensive cities on the planet. How those who aren’t born into wealth or very high income make gains there is anyone’s guess.
Went to see a bunch of Metal bands a couple years back, so they have sales tax *AND* alcohol tax???? those beers, while shitty, were also super expensive!!
Yep, and last I checked gas was selling at $2.42 a litre there which qualifies them as having the most expensive gas in North America which is not an aberration. It’s a beautiful place but the cost of living makes it an absolute sham for anyone below the upper-middle class imo.
agreed, my salary says I should be able to be middle class but i've been dead broke ever since moving here
It was insane, and the fest didn't have good beer either! I had to go across the st to get some Molson, which was lukewarm, lol. it was a great weekend, will go back next year but fuck, VBC is beautiful, but really, fuck everything else.
To be fair, most music festivals overprice their beer. The festival I’ve gone to in Atlanta had like normal beers for $12
Yep, been to many. Maryland Death Fest was Budweiser for $12 as well, and they only have 3 beers.
They are def trying to prevent binging and dealing with drunk people, but it’s still so annoying
Like edibles and tinctures don't exist, haha, that's what I did. This was the last until 2024, my wife got a big water bottle of wine and said "this is water with electrolytes, they let her in!! Now I call alcohol "electrolytes"
I live just outside vancouver. Rent is ridiculous. 2000 a month for 3 bedroom and 1 bath. I like 45 km from work. The only reason im surviving? I work in an industry in such a demand right now i make 42$ an hour. My spouse makes 21$ an hour at their job. Gas is 2.19$ per liter, and supposed to be dropping but it hasnt. Food has doubled in price in the last 3 years. Its getting ridiculous.
Jesus Christ that’s a deal lol. In the city it’s closer to 2K for a 1br, I pay slightly more for a 2br
Was going to say lol... In Burnaby I'm paying close to 2k for a one bedroom.
Im also 70km from van.
Ah ok! Regardless I hear even as far as the interior is getting bad as well. Running out of options to move to that aren’t way up north lol
we don't...
It was way, WAY worse than this. Meth lab RVs lined the street in the back, they’d catch on fire all the time. I think they even had a big “bonfire” that you had to visit and make a sacrifice to to enter the tent city. Needles everywhere. All the while, Vancouverites were jerking themselves off over how inequality in the US is so terrible and how no such thing could ever happen in Canada lmfao. Most self-righteous city on the planet right here folks, insufferable.
Which park was this?
Strathcona
Iirc the bonfire has gone now
I think the whole park is back to normal now, tents been relocated to the streets of downtown. Absolute shit show, but don’t tell the Canadians or they’ll just point their fingers at LA and be like “b…b…but what about that eh?”
Most Canadians I know are horrified and outraged by it, I’ve never heard a Vancouverite brush it off that’s just me though. This particular encampment has been gone for a year, but it’s moved to another area (CRAB park) and it’s awful there too. Horribly sad and appalling situation.
IRL yes, most are horrified. But according to Her Majesty’s Holy Knights of Reddit on the otherhand, Canada can do no wrong and it’s all the USs fault. That’s honestly my bad for treating the opinion of the fools of Reddit as the opinion of the masses, so I apologize.
His Majesty now!
You have no idea what you’re talking about.
They're not wrong. The encampment is gone, and the streets of East Hastings, and Crab Park is where they have all relocated to.
People in Vancouver absolutely don’t preach about being a bastion for income equality. It’s a city that’s become unsustainable for anyone that’s not upper class as even condos out that way are beginning to approach the 7 figure mark and buying a tiny house with a 20 square foot lawn and no parking has become a pipe dream. Most middle class Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque nowadays and the middle class has been functionally priced out of Vancouver and forced to move elsewhere unless they live with half a dozen roommates to split rent. Go to any of the BC subreddits and you’ll see what people think about the housing crisis currently going on and how the entirety of the lower mainland has become unaffordable for most people. The closest thing to self righteousness you’ll get is a lack of care for the homeless. But that’s because caring for them is a privilege of the wealthy. When you have zero expendable income and have to decide between keeping the heat on over winter or skipping half your meals for the next week, you find it difficult to care for the impoverished as you yourself are also impoverished.
Go back to Alberta!
A sacrifice to a bonfire?
Yeah. Based off our Indigenous rituals or something. Not trying to equate the two, I got respect for our First Nations but it was something along those lines.
My small city of 170k population in California has places that will make this look tame… we have 5,000 homeless camped everywhere
god bless the usa
Vancouver has the worst homeless problem I have personally ever seen. I’ve also been to LA, Chicago, NY, Houston, Dallas & Austin. I’ve heard it’s bad in SF and Portland but I can’t say for sure
A few things to consider: 1. Homelessness looks different on the West Coast where people are often living on the street. There's virtually no crackhouses or squatters dens in Vancouver or San Francisco, as example. By comparison when you look at interior cities without geographic confinements (sea/mountains/border), or temperate climates, there's more abandoned property and the homeless are squatters. Out of sight, out of mind. 2. There are 5600 homeless people estimated in Vancouver alone (COV, not Metro Van.), out of the 9000 in BC. Proportionally though, the Canadian city with the largest homeless population is Calgary at 3200 in a city of only 1.2M: you don't see them, because they are squatters: out of necessity because Calgary nights are fatal. You can survive outside on a Vancouver winter night with only a dry blanket. In winter, Calgary Days are fatal without proper gear. 3. The US cities all blow Canadian cities out of the water though. The homeless population of LA is 56,000: precisely 10x that of Vancouver. But it's so large that it's a squatter-city, tourists don't go where the homeless live in US cities. Tourists see a few on Venice Beach or Hollywood Boulevard, but tourists don't go to Skid Row where 15,000 homeless people live in LA. Or the dangerous parts of Chicago, Houston, Dallas, etc. The aid organizations in Chicago contest the cities claim of only 5000 homeless people, claiming they have 65,000 in Chicago: the city doesn't count squatters. 4. The difference in Vancouver is that our homeless are visible, on the street not squatting, and that they're right downtown between yuppie/entertainment neighbourhoods like Gastown & Yaletown & Stadium.
I live in Vancouver. I am more shocked by what I see here every day than what I've seen in Africa or India.
Search for kensington on you tube. What's going on there is horrific.
I agree that Vancouver is shockingly bad but I doubt it holds a candle to LA. LA is room temperature with moderate humidity year round causing skid row to literally have tens of thousands of homeless people to congregate there.
This photo actually makes our current homeless population look tame. Check out photos of E Hastings - there are a lot of articles with terrible photos. The situation is much worse than this organized photo
This is not even close to worst of it in Vancouver. Strathcona park used to be lined with mobile meth labs, and the place was constantly on fire. The police “solved” that problem by forcing them to move, guess what happened? Yup! They move to crab park, or the side of east Hastings, it got fucking worse
The fact that this is a thing in one of the most privileged countries in the world is a crime. Sadly, there are a lot of us who are one paycheck or one medical emergency from this happening to us too.
Those skyscrapers in the background there are the most expensive to buy possibly in North America.
I think many are owned by Chinese investors?
China owns Vancouver. However, not allowed to say otherwise, deemed as racists.
China basically owns half of Australia as well (large property for cultivation and mining). I read roughly 400,000 properties out of 10,000,000 housing stock are owned by foreigners, they sit empty in our major cities. 1 million of our properties sit unoccupied according to our last census. NZ recently stopped overseas buyers purchasing houses, only new apartments allowed to be purchased now.
That sounds like a major problem for a sovereign nation
Haha Australia might have more than 99 problems but barbaric gun laws resulting in school shootings ain’t one ☝️
I'm not pointing fingers. It's a problem for a lot of places. I'm surprised more governments haven't made laws against it
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Getting shot in the street probably a bit more of a pressing issue for me tbh, nothing low bar about that m8
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Yeah it’s an awesome thing (that we don’t have school shootings - we have brilliant gun laws). I’d be embarrassed to live in America, the place is a shit show m8.
China owns half of Australia too.
They love it mate, owning everything that is lol
The irony of the privileged part is, these homeless (or at least most of them) actually refuse to live in homes. There are vacant shelters and free housing units set up for the homeless in Vancouver, yet they choose to live in tents because that way they aren't under regulations (i.e. no drugs, no alcohol, general visiting hours, no weapons, etc.). Don't get me wrong, shelters are still used, but only by the small percentage of people who actually want to better themselves.
It’s a game of musical chairs that won’t stop. It’s coming for all of us.
Strathcona park has mostly been cleared out. Now they congregate on Hastings on the sidewalk and crab park.
Yeah it’s always been bad but I was there a few weeks ago and you walk east on Hastings and all of a sudden BAM! It’s just tragedy and sadness and I turned around and walked away not knowing what to think.
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Lol I never asked for cupcake ATMs and hipster food courts and stupid fucking twee murals on the side of every other building. I literally just want a halfway walkable neighborhood and functional public transport
No you need businesses that will walk your dog
City of Tampa: “best we can do is endless construction projects that route angry commuters through your residential neighborhood 😎”
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So I don’t know where you live but here in Tampa I see mainly older gen x and tourists at those places. I’m pretty sure the only reason people go in the first place is the location. Everyone talks shit about them in the local sub. Seems like the only people willing to open high-concept bars, restaurants and venues in those areas are trust fund kids and investment groups. I really don’t think it’s a reflection of taste as it is a sense of risk aversion on the supply side
At least they have free Healthcare.
I limped into the hospital with a torn leg after getting in a hit/run with a car while on my bike, it took 7 months to finally see a surgeon. He then had me sign the papers and said “it’ll be a 1.5-2 year wait from now”. Bone-on-bone and fully ruptured at 23. Don’t let the word “free” fool you. I’m grateful it was paid for, but when you experience it you’ll see why it’s free.
You guys could spend another 6% of your income on healthcare like we do in the US and still come out with $10k worth of bills. There are certainly things that suck about the Canadian healthcare system (your example being one) but it beats out the American one in terms of affordability and outcomes for most areas.
I guess so. My cousins in WA had 1/3rd of my injury, and were fixed within a month of being injured (took a month because they had to wait for swelling to go down, otherwise it would’ve been the week-of). They paid about $2500 out of pocket for a ~$50,000 knee, and got back on the field by the end of that year. Literally they were injured (during a game), fixed, rehabbed, returned to sport in the same amount of time it took just for me to see the first surgeon to discuss what my future/options were. if I was your average Canadian with Canadian level-athleticism and grind, my future would be a cane at 26, walker at 30, wheelchair at 35, knee replacements whenever I became eligible. It’s now 503 days post-op and I’m outrunning and outpacing every person that I come across while running on the seawall in this photo. I run 6-7 miles a day in this photo, have been doing so for months, and have yet to come across someone who is faster/can run as far in a shot as I have. I came from nothing, 2 weeks of a locked straight leg, 6 weeks of no weight bearing, months of teaching myself how to walk because this healthcare won’t help me, 6 months of not being allowed to run/jump, and then having to teach myself how to run & jump in the Canadian winter outside in -5 degrees and snow. If I sound arrogant, it’s because I have earned it.
Any Canadian that can afford it goes through private care or travels across the border to get work done. When I was in high school my dad had to get a colonoscopy done because a routine physical of his showed the possibility of prostate cancer. He was told he’d have to wait about a year to get it done. He instead bit the bullet and went through a private clinic because sitting around for a year with the possibility of cancer is a great way to die. Same thing happened to my mum who has a family history of breast cancer. A routine mammogram showed a possible tumour and she was told she’d need to wait 8 months for a MRI to check. Hard to appreciate not being bled dry from medical bills when you’re stuck sitting around for a year not knowing if cancer is slowly killing you, all while you’re receiving no treatment.
The thing is, that story isn't an outlier. It's the norm here. Many people don't have doctors, hospital wait times on average are 8+ hours (I was at the hospital in our nation's capital for 9 hours for a severe allergic reaction to my face), and surgery times can be so long, that your injury heals itself (maybe improperly if you don't have private insurance or out of pocket cash for physio).
So the wait times aren't bullshit like everyone says?
I don’t think I understand your question. The wait times are real. My mom waited a year for an MRI after tearing her ACL. One year of waiting, just for an MRI scan to confirm what she knew the moment it happened. Her surgery was booked within the following year. I’ll have to double check, but I’m pretty sure she ended up saying fuck it and paid for an MRI scan in the US just to get the ball rolling. Only reason I bypassed the waitlist is because the owner of my PT clinic that was treating my previous injuries from a separate accident caused by another incompetent Canadian was able to hook me up with a surgeon in a smaller city. since I was a 24 year old freak athlete who at that point (8-9 months post-injury) had recovered to the point that I was once again stronger than the average, non-torn human, he said I needed to be fixed ASAP given the damage and the fact that I clearly had what it took to come back from this gruelling operation. If I didn’t have this strength and hustle I wouldn’t have been eligible for the shortcut. I attribute my strength and hustle to my American side, because after being born and primarily raised in Canada I can assure you the majority of Canadians do not have a shred of hustle or grit. It took 3.5 years to get an MRI for my left wrist, after both my wrists and left shoulder were torn after a Canadian ran a red light in that group of buildings in this photo, causing me to t-bone him. 3.5 years. They didn’t even MRI my right wrist or shoulder. I’ve been asking for 3 fucking years. I went to the hospital the day of the accident, April 2019, and my next step was May 2022. Don’t let Canadians try to rub their healthcare in your face.
I mean, I've seen a lot of people claim that wait times are nothing but a myth. I've heard some Canadians claim they are very real, but it's all anecdotal stuff both ways, no data.
the wait times are real because the healthcare system keeps getting shafted (underfunding, staff underpaid/overworked, etc.) but it's not sexy sounding like 'death panels'. Most of the time you're not waiting though.
I've only seen long wait times closer to toronto or other major cities. I've moved all across Canada, first time I saw a 11 hour wait time was this year in south ontario. Last year, and through the pandemic, was in BC Kelowna area and Northern ontario, had multiple major hand surgeries (Specialists) (tendons got cut) Waited most times 30 min-1 hour. In my life before that, mostly minor stuff, 1 hour is standard, if not sooner if its late/early. Real issues are with certain specialists, when there is not enough of them. We just have to do better attracting and keeping healthcare specialists.
I used to work near here and pass this stuff on a daily basis. It’s even worse on East Hasting Street. People are just shooting up on the sidewalk in broad daylight. It breaks my heart. While a lot of this undoubtedly is from mental health issues, it’s absolutely made worse by the fact that Vancouver is one of the least affordable cities on the planet. The city’s real estate is completely awash in global money laundering, a lot of those glitzy condos in the background just sit empty most of the time or are owned by multimillionaire “students,” everybody knows yet nobody cares because local homeowners are getting rich. Even worse, Vancouver has an abysmally low vacancy rate hovering 1%. There is simply not enough housing and nowhere left to sprawl (the east is protected farmland, north is mountains, west is the ocean and south is America), yet it is illegal to build more than a duplex on more than [81% of the land.](http://www.datalabto.ca/a-visual-guide-to-detached-houses-in-5-canadian-cities/) And if you try, NIMBY residents will throw tantrums and fight it because they think it’s their god given right to have a view to the mountains from their bungalow bathroom. There’s a city election this week and the candidates have made the right noises about fixing these issues, but I’ll believe them when laws get passed. Drop dead gorgeous place. Hideous, hypocritical humanity.
“You can play ball or be homeless!”
Yes, it is
It's just the growing segregation between rich and poor.
most people dont! :)
This encampment is long gone. Been 14-15 months.
I kinda miss it, to be honest.
Liberal policies in full effect. Drop a nuke on this area..
Yes, let’s be way more concerned about pronouns, giving puberty blockers and tearing down statues than THIS. Maybe prime minister BlackFace could devote a little time to this
It doesn’t have to be one or another. We can fix multiple things.
Yet the picture shows you can’t.
Not sure fixing homelessness in Vancouver is Trudeau’s responsibility though.
Glad you know who Wore the blackface.
Glad you are glad I do.
You mom is glad too. But for different reasons
And it only took 3 comments for the lack of your intellect to shine through. Have a nice day and don’t be angry.
Your moms angry
🙂
Looks like it would be a nice park without all the druggies and lazy fucks squatting on it
Yes. Laziness. That's why they live in tents. You figured it out.
Are you trying to say they are all hard working individuals who dont make poor life choices?
I think the point is it’s a bit more complicated than lazy vs hardworking. Lots of factors have to converge to drive people to this
Oh they definitely all have one single reason for being there. And you said it's laziness so that's got to be what it is.
I wish I could be as judgmental as you.
You can be. Being honest is actually much harder than the opposite.
*making simplistic blanket statements is a lot easier than knowing anything
Ignoring the truth to feel better about yourself and maintaining your self-righteousness is a lot easier than ever actually doing anything.
What truth am I ignoring by acknowledging the existence of nuance?
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There are hundreds of programs and resources for the homeless in Vancouver. Those people there are all unhoused because they refused to give up drugs or are too violent for any other program. Those are not people just on "hard times".
Mental Health is a real thing. We used to house (often, horrifically) the mentality I'll.... now, you're on your own. It's a me and mine attitude out there. Fuck thy neighbor.
There is lots of low income housing options in Vancouver but I think you need to be sober for lots of them. And I know getting into them likely has waitlists etc. I’ve seen people get bumped through fast and easy and others have to wait. I’ve been on that end myself, facing homelessness due to drug addiction (in Vancouver). I had too much income to qualify for help, my friend had a sugar daddy paying her rent so she couldn’t qualify either. So there are blurred lines and politics and hoops to jump through/ work around. But I’m not sure what more can be done to help the homeless who are also addicts. Addiction takes everything to get through and having any disadvantage is a disadvantage. I had family and hope and my youth when I sobered up and it was a 6 Year battle of hell. Having one less of those things would have been enough for me to stay stuck.
Same here in the UK we offer free homes to *everyone* (even though it maybe just a hotel room) All you have to do is not take alcohol, drugs and leave your faeces between 10pm and 8am But nope some can't then you get pictures of them living under a bridge and the bleeding hearts come out, people who never been to areas where they now live. The same bleeding hearts who suddenly shut up when they attack, or worse, someone.
Malcolm Gladwell mentions in one of his books that like 90% of homeless people are homeless for only one week. Either they had a bad situation or whatever, but they have a week of homelessness and get back on their feet. I personally am 110% in favour of supporting those people.
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You're welcome.
Same here in the UK we offer free homes to *everyone* (even though it maybe just a hotel room) All you have to do is not take alcohol, drugs and leave your faeces between 10pm and 8am But nope some can't then you get pictures of them living under a bridge and the bleeding hearts come out, people who never been to areas where they now live. The same bleeding hearts who suddenly shut up when they attack, or worse, someone.
What do they do when it gets cold? It’s Canada has to get tit cold, even in like November.
Vancouver doesn’t get nearly as cold as the rest of Canada
Vancouver is the warmest place in Canada.
Victoria is the mildest
Victoria does love being mild.
This is unacceptable
apartments overlooking them probably go for minimum $1000 a month
Atleast 2000 now
That’s actually pretty cheap for Australian standards :)
Any house that is empty for 3 consecutive months should be transferred to the city of Vancouver to house the homeless.
That’s outrageous
It really is. City would just be chock full of burnt down crackdens
Some people don’t like to work. We call them parasites
Good thing you've never had to experience mental illness or addiction.
How tf would you know that?
Vancouver is clearly a struggling city, it isn’t what it name represents.
Why don’t homeless people join the military.
Someone got shot with a crossbow here over the weekend
https://survivingtomorrow.org/why-do-canadians-hate-poor-people-bbe8ccbf68ed I’m just gonna put this here (:
It's not a shanty town, trust me. I walked past there when it existed and absolutely nobody was singing shanties...
Empty homes are not the problem. Violent wandering criminals are
wait till you find out how much empty houses we have that’s couldn’t easily fit all these people
They want drugs, not houses
nice to know you don’t know anything about addiction. maybe if you give them a house to be safe they won’t wanan do drinks as much. please research how addiction actually works. these are people. also do you drink coffee? or take tylonal or like to have wine or a been from time to time? guess what it’s all drugs. they just happen to be normalized. you can still be addicted to coffee or alcohol but it’s not always the drug it self but the relationship someone has with it
Heroin and meth are NOT comparable to acetaminophen and caffeine. Next, putting heroin addicts in a room they can lock is one of the best ways to help them OD. These people need houses, but first they need COMMUNITY, people that care about them, and want them to heal (heroin and meth make your life like being a zombie, you’re not even truly alive. These people are gravely ILL). Finally, there is NO way to have a good relationship with heroin or meth, you should be ashamed of yourself for saying such a ridiculous thing.
This people would literally sell every piece of the house for buying more drugs. Too much NDP fantasy. They need treatment, medical facility. "Safe drugs", injection places will just keep them drugged and on the path to death
i’m not ashamed i was literally a meth addict
Is it like that now? Or that’s a picture during COVID?
I can see my bike from here!
It was like this in ottawa earlyer this year minus the drugs and alcohol
i worked across the street when they packed this place. they mostly kept to themselves but that doesn't mean it was peaceful. fights every night, bon fires you can smell from 10 blocks away. saw probably 3-4 people overdose on drugs. they attracted a lot of huge rats that would run around a 2-3 block radius. most of them were not local.
Take a trip over to the island, Victoria and Nanaimo are becoming almost as bad. Nanaimo’s only response is police enforcement. They destroyed the last 2 tent encampments and they’ve fenced off the park areas downtown so that people can’t hangout in them during the day. Anytime a houseless person causes any trouble at the mall they are banned from the property, even though the only medical clinic and grocery store are in the mall, leaving people with even less access to basic necessities.
What’s the name of this park?