On the heels of the crises of opioids and housing, a fatal shooting rampage has added to fears of people living on the streets and a tense atmosphere.
LANGLEY, B.C.—As they hold each other in a tight embrace, sunlight reflecting off car hoods in the parking lot beams through the doorway.
It comes against the back story of twin crises — opioids and housing — reverberating through the Vancouver area and increasingly the rest of the country.“They were telling us before the shooting happened that they were subject to kicking and swarms and they were feeling unsafe,” she says. “You see it everywhere now. The violence is increasing. Why?”
There were more than 3,600 people in the region identified as experiencing homelessness in 2020, according to Vancouver’s most recent homeless count, conducted every three years. Government efforts to address the issue are affected by the housing crisis. Metro Vancouver has lost 36,000 private-stock rental units listing for between $750 and $1,000 a month from 2016 to 2021, according to Jill Atkey, CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association. She said nationwide, 100,000 such units have been lost, according to figures from the 2021 census.
Vancouver police said stranger attacks on victims were, earlier this year, reported to be occurring at an alarming rate of four a day. The attacks have had a variety of victims and perpetrators but a look at comments below news articles shows, no matter what actually happened, many assume the attacker was a drug addict and/or someone struggling with homelessness.
On Aug. 2 Shayne Ramsay, the CEO of BC Housing, a Crown corporation tasked with managing social housing,because of the Downtown Eastside violence and after he received violent threats for speaking in favour of a housing initiative in the city’s well-heeled Kitsilano area. On a hot summer day, one man, shirtless and wearing one shoe and with an old shirt tied around his other foot, struggles up the sidewalk, yelling intermittently. Another man, appearing dazed, walks into shops asking for food or money. The story of a purse snatching is recounted by one woman strolling with a friend.
Kyle Krawchuk, who handles media relations for Stewart’s Forward Together Vancouver party, last week said Stewart had since arranged to walk through Chinatown with the assaulted security guard.
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