All calm at Oppenheimer Park as eviction deadline passes
Credit to Author: Zak Vescera| Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2019 04:29:36 +0000
Marco Tynakou smokes a cigarette in a small canvas tent in Oppenheimer Park that, for months, has been his home.
A small Panasonic radio powered by a generator plays a Radio-Canada station that Tynakou listens to attentively in between spurts of conversation. He speaks French and Cree, but struggles with English, which makes it hard for him to access city services and find permanent housing, even though he works full-time in construction.
It was six hours before Tynakou and roughly 100 other homeless residents were supposed to pack up and leave under an eviction notice served Monday morning.
But no one was worried. Residents were relaxed, chatting under makeshift awnings to take shelter from the rain. A drum circle that formed near the field house competed with a small stereo blasting Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.”
Residents packing up to leave Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver on Tuesday after being ordered out by the city.
Vancouver police maintain an active presence in the park for safety reasons but would not force residents to leave after the eviction deadline passes at 6 p.m., according to a Wednesday afternoon news release from the City of Vancouver. In a release, the park board said it would “be assessing the situation in the park and considering whether further legal action may be required to enforce the GM order.”
Tynakou doesn’t think they’ll be moving people out anytime soon.
“Even if they could,” said Tynakou. “Where would everyone go?”
The camp’s size has shrunk considerably from a peak of over 200 tents since B.C. Housing began offering permanent social housing Monday. The agency says it’s accumulated about 140 units and that around 75 campers had accepted offers of housing as of Wednesday afternoon.
After the deadline passed, roughly 100 tents remained in the park. Some residents said they had found a home, either from B.C. Housing or elsewhere, but many intend to remain in the camp for as long as they can.
Gary Humchitt was one of the original occupants of the Oppenheimer tent city in 2014. He’s staying in the camp now because of repeated bad experiences at single-room-occupancy rooms common in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, which he says were often infested with bedbugs and other vermin.
Gary tosses his old tent onto a pile of rubbish at Oppenheimer park.
B.C. Housing says the units they’re providing are run by trusted public organizations, but Humchitt has little faith that he’ll find suitable housing. He’s unhappy with the city’s eviction notice, even though he doesn’t expect to be forced to leave.
“Give me a place I can actually live in — a place I can feel at home,” he says.
As the 6 p.m. deadline passed without incident, Humchitt was busy relocating from his spot near the sidewalk to a better spot on the grass that opened up as the tent city shrank during the day.
Humchitt shares his tent with three albino rats, two of whom, Misty and Daylong, were being held by another resident as Humchitt moved into a larger tent given to him Wednesday afternoon by a visitor to the park.
“They asked me who needed a bigger tent,” he said, tossing his old tent onto a heap of belongings he planned to throw away.
Hector Bravo with his pet mouse Stuart Little at Oppenheimer Park Aug. 19.
One item Humchitt kept from the trash pile, however, was the city’s eviction notice, printed on corrugated plastic cardboard. He has big plans for that.
“When I get my place, it’s going to be on my wall,” he said.
In 2014, the Oppenheimer encampment was dispersed under a city injunction after the overdose death of a resident. Police have warned the current encampment is dangerous, citing a shooting in the area last month and repeated calls for service.
Tynakou says he’s close to finding a home elsewhere. Until that happens, it’s more of the same.
“I’ll stay here for as long as I have to,” Tynakou said. “Until I can find something better.”
This article has been updated to include new estimates and comment from the City of Vancouver.