City issues third homeless emergency situation report
March 8, 2024
Eight people have died since the National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day ceremony held in downtown Vancouver in December.
“With one person dying roughly every eight days on the streets of Vancouver, the critical nature of this work cannot be emphasized enough,” said Incident Commander Aaron Lande in a recent update to the City Council.
Since declaring a state of emergency related to homelessness in Vancouver in November, the City continues to make addressing this crisis, and its impacts on all of us, our top priority.
Below is a summary of key efforts to address homelessness in January – early February:
Increased response capacity
Our Homelessness Assistance and Resources Team (HART) welcomed Vancouver Police Corporal Sean Metevia as a HART Officer and Tiffini Dillard as our second Outreach Specialist. With Officer Tyler Chavers retiring this month, we’ll be working to fill our second officer position on the HART team as quickly as possible.
Encampment clean-ups
We conducted clean-ups to address sanitation and safety concerns around Share House (115 W. 13th St.), along the E. Mill Plain sound wall and on N.E. Campus Drive.
Property closures
We closed publicly-owned real property sites to camping and outdoor habitation at 313 N.E. 112th Ave. and 2606 N.E. 112th Ave/2516 N.E. 112th Ave. on Feb. 13. 2606 N.E. 112th Ave/2516 N.E. 112th Ave. on Feb. 13.
Safe Stay Communities
- 415 West (Safe Stay 3): Since opening Nov. 2023, 31 community members have been served and more than 122 referrals to local partner agencies/providers for medical, social service, housing and other services were made in January.
- Kiggins Village (Safe Stay 4): Since opening in Dec. 2023, 21 unsheltered community members have been served and 4 are preparing to move into permanent housing.
- Our community’s four total Safe Stay locations have served more than 240 people, helped more than 50 gain employment and placed more than 80 in stable housing to date.
Bridge shelter
We’re working to identify a location to open a bridge shelter this year. The shelter would provide up to 150 people experiencing homelessness with a place to stay and supportive services to “bridge” the space between living outside and the next step on their journey to permanent housing.
Safe Park
New operators Thrive2Survive took over management of the Road2Home (formerly Safe Park Zone) at the Evergreen Transit Center in January. Last month, the community hosted its first resource fair, welcoming more than 50 attendees. The fair provided a great opportunity to connect houseless neighbors with physical/mental health assessments and follow-up appointments, haircuts, veterinary care for pets, food distribution, children’s toys/clothing and dental hygiene supplies, housing application support and more.
Severe weather response
HART helped unsheltered community members access shelter and obtain motel vouchers during the February storm. The team also assisted River City Church with day/overnight shelter operations. s.
Learn more
Follow the City’s Emergency Declaration page to read the latest situation report and learn more.