The City of Vancouver has terminated a controversial contract it awarded to a group of activists to help clean sidewalks at a downtown Eastside encampment that grew last summer.
When Vancouver police stopped supporting city engineering workers in their daily sweep of the block up to the 300 block of East Hastings Street on July 1, the number of tents in the area quickly grew, prompting a warning from Vancouver Fire and Rescue that the build-up of structures was a major safety hazard.
Read more: Vancouver fire chief orders DTES tent city cleared, cites ‘catastrophic’ safety risk
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Vancouver fire chief orders DTES tent city cleared, cites ‘catastrophic’ safety risk
Prior to Fire Chief Karen Fry’s July 25 order to clear the tent city due to a “catastrophic” safety risk, the city’s Arts, Culture and Community Services (ACCS) team awarded the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) a contract worth $320,000 for a six-month block farming pilot program to develop an alternative street cleaning process.
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VANDU said it entered into an informal agreement with the city on July 1 and began work immediately before signing the contract in the middle of the month.
Since then, VANDU Neighborhood Stewardship Program manager Al Fowler and other Downtown Eastside residents have been making up to $20 an hour to clean up the block.
“Many of the residents have also joined in keeping the areas clean,” Fowler told Global News on November 4.
“It kind of brought the community together to do this.”
Robert Lee Holloway said he joined the broom program because he took so much from the community and wanted to give back.
“There’s nobody better or worse, we’re all down here, we all have to take care of each other,” Holloway told Global News.
When Global News asked for an update on VANDU’s contract work last month, the city said in an Oct. 19 email, “The pilot program empowers people experiencing homelessness and other DTES residents to keep sidewalks and doorways passable and clean for all .”
Jonquil Hallgate, who manages a building on the block of East Hastings, said the area doesn’t look any cleaner. She added that this is not a criticism of VANDU, but the reality of life in the Downtown Eastside.
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Read more: ‘Good progress’: Vancouver mayor on controversial effort to remove Hastings Street tents
“The huge thing is that it can be clean for a couple of hundred yards and then five minutes after people have cleaned it, then there’s more stuff,” Holgate told Global News on November 4.
“They’re doing what they can, but they’re actually going to have to be there 24 hours a day to make a significant difference.”
On Wednesday, the City of Vancouver confirmed that VANDU received a 30-day notice on Nov. 10 that the contract will end before January 2023.
“After an interim evaluation of the program, it is apparent that VANDU has placed an emphasis on community development and individual empowerment rather than street cleaning,” the city said in a statement.
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“While this has value – and an upcoming assessment will provide additional information for future consideration – the city requires a focus on cleanup and, as a transition, will engage with other community groups to provide cleanup services.”
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VANDU told Global News he was disappointed, but not surprised, that the funding was stopped because the group had reported to the city and been honest about its activities.
In an interview Thursday, VANDU community organizer Vince Tao said decent street cleaning for people who need it is just one part of the pilot program.
“We were here to give people a say in their community, that was in the contract and we fulfilled every part of it,” he said.
It is not clear how much VANDU has been paid for the work done so far.
The nonprofit said it received about five months of cash, or more than $250,000 — while the city said it provided about 50 percent, or $160,000, of the funding and will give VANDU a prorated amount for the transition period.
When asked how the money was spent, Tao said it mostly went to block leaders and residents participating in the decent work programs plus “personnel costs to essentially double, triple our capacity here at VANDU.”
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Former Vancouver city councilor George Affleck said keeping the streets clean should be a priority and focus of the city’s engineering department, and he doesn’t believe welfare benefits should be given to clean streets.
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“I think the priorities of the government and the priorities of the nonprofit may not always line up, and I think that may be a challenge in this case,” Affleck said in an interview Thursday.
“I think the city needs to think about these things when they’re doing big contracts.”
Global News requested an interview with Lon LaClair, the city’s general manager of engineering services, but staff did not provide one.
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The city also did not make anyone from ACCS available for an interview. When asked why the VANDU cleaning contract was awarded by ACCS and not the engineering department, ACCS General Manager Sandra Singh responded with a statement.
“ACCS is partnering with Engineering Services at the suggestion of Council, which directs staff to work with several community groups, one of which is VANDU, to explore alternatives to VPD’s involvement in sidewalk cleaning,” the statement said.
“As the Hastings camp grew in early July and staff were working quickly to try to deploy an immediate response, ACCS and Engineering Services discussed with the community task force and the VANDU project emerged from those discussions. ACCS works closely with Engineering Services to outline the scope of work and contract management is a joint effort between ACCS and Engineering Services.”
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The city’s fire chief said buildings and exits remain blocked as winter approaches and her biggest fear is being able to evacuate single room occupants (SROs) in the event of a fire.
4:19 ‘It’s not a matter of if a fire will happen, it’s a matter of when’: Vancouver fire chief on camp safety concerns
“It can be deadly for the occupants that are in the tent, it can be devastating and potentially deadly for the occupants in the buildings,” Chief Fry told Global News.
VANDU said fire safety is part of the city contract and worked with Vancouver Fire and Rescue before the chief’s order to train people on the block how to use fire extinguishers.
In the coming weeks, the city said a request for proposals will be issued through its engineering department to nonprofit organizations with experience in providing “focused cleanup programs.”
City crews will also continue their street cleaning efforts, which remove more than 2,000 pounds of materials from East Hastings each day.
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Although block management funding has been eliminated, VANDU said it will not abandon the people of the Downtown Eastside.
“We will continue to do our jobs, we have a community to serve,” Tao said.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim declined an interview request.
Sim Communications Director Taylor Verrall said in a Nov. 11 email that “the mayor and council are still awaiting recommendations from city staff regarding the VANDU contract.”
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