Vancouver man urges caution with Surrey ban on sleeping in vehicles
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2019 17:33:28 +0000
Peter Carson, who lives in a motorhome on a city street in East Vancouver, wonders whether stronger rules against sleeping in vehicles in Surrey will do more harm than good.
Carson, in his 60s, was evicted from his previous home ahead of renovations about two years ago and for the past six months has slept in his motorhome near a SkyTrain station after parking near Trout Lake, off National Avenue and in various residential areas in Vancouver, he said.
Last week, council in Surrey voted 5-4 to change a bylaw so as to prohibit people from occupying large vehicles such as motorhomes and campers while parked on their city roads between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Bylaw officers can now ticket people who do not comply with an order to move elsewhere.
Carson said he hopes Surrey bylaw officers will carefully consider the situation of each large-vehicle dweller before towing or ticketing, as parking enforcement officers have in Vancouver.
According to a report by Surrey city staff, the occasional complaints they receive about large vehicles typically come from residents and businesses concerned about the effect on parking availability for residents, staff and customers. Other concerns complainants raise include debris, noise, improper waste or sewage disposal, unsightly or wrecked vehicles, improper electrical connections, and parking violations such as blocking sidewalks.
The staff report says the proposed changes address these “growing” concerns while allowing vehicles to be parked on city roads for a limited amount of time and providing “greater motivation to the occupants of large vehicles to move to suitable housing.”
Carson said he couldn’t speak on behalf of all motorhome dwellers but said his experience in Vancouver has been that parking officers are respectful and allow him to move along rather than hand him a ticket.
“If people are respectful, if they take care, they clean up, they interact with some of the people that come by, they don’t cause problems and they’re self-sufficient, their vehicles are insured and there’s no mess, no shopping carts full of crap, then maybe there should be a little bit of leniency there,” he said.
He also understands why enforcement officers would focus on people parked near playgrounds, schools and in residential areas, he said. At the same time, he is concerned that ticketing and towing people who sleep in large vehicles is targeting those who are unable to afford staggering rents in a market with low vacancies.
“How many ‘reno-victims’ are living in cars and RVs?” he asked. “How many are living in tents or rough on the street? How many men and women live in vehicles?”
Peter Carson lives in his motorhome on the streets of Vancouver.
In an Oct. 21 report, Surrey said it had received 27 complaints in 2019 about large vehicles on city streets, six of which were about the same vehicle. Three complaints were about large vehicles in which a person was living, all of whom complied with requests to move elsewhere.
Of the 27 complaints, 15 led to the occupants driving away before bylaw officers could investigate, 10 led to the occupants leaving voluntarily after meeting with bylaw officers, and two occupants were given tickets after not complying with requests to move.
The staff report says enforcement and ticketing is “entirely discretionary and not used unless absolutely necessary.”
During the 2017 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count, volunteers counted 3,605 homeless people in the region, of which 58 were living in vehicles.
Coun. Brenda Locke, who voted against the Surrey bylaw changes, said they are inappropriate and unnecessary, given that there were only 27 complaints, of which 25 were resolved.
“I think it was mean-spirited to the people who may be in a situation where they have to stay in their vehicles,” Locke said.
Locke said that the timing is terrible, too, with winter coming and the recent serving of eviction notices to residents of the Peace Arch RV Park.
Coun. Doug Elford told the Surrey Now-Leader last week that his decision to vote in favour of the changes was about “keeping the citizens of Surrey safer.”
“This is getting ahead to make sure our bylaw people have the appropriate tools,” he told the paper. “In my sense, you get on top of an issue that could get out of hand down the road. Really it’s just tidying up the bylaw to more of what Vancouver has in place right now.”
Carson said it is hard to be certain how the changes in Surrey will affect people living in large vehicles and the communities where they live, given that the number of them is unknown.
He expects some to stay put, but others may move to neighbouring municipalities such as New Westminster or Coquitlam, or to try the Fraser Valley.
“Abbotsford, Chilliwack, it really depends,” he said. “If they’re working in the area, they’ll want to stay as close as they can. If they’ve got friends that live there, services they depend on, these are things that dictate.”
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