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Vancouver is Dying ! Vancouver Tent City Removed — Boots on the Ground at Pigeon Park

305 views · Published 11 January 2017 · 2:04 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2017 · News & Politics

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I'm back boots on the ground in Vancouver, and today I'm walking through Pigeon Park around Hastings and Carrall in the Downtown Eastside, taking a look at what remains after a tent encampment that had occupied the area.

A few months earlier, this park looked completely different. There had been numerous tents set up here, creating what people were describing as a tent city. Today most of those tents appear to have been cleared away, although I can still see a couple remaining around the park.

I'm documenting this because Vancouver's housing situation isn't something that exists only in statistics, real-estate listings or newspaper articles.

You can actually see the consequences on the streets.

We're watching Vancouver property prices climb to levels that ordinary people increasingly can't understand or afford, while at the same time we're seeing people living in tents in one of the most centralized parts of downtown.

I'm not here claiming to know every person's individual circumstances. There are shelters, assistance programs and other services available, but homelessness is complicated, and different people end up on the street for different reasons.

My question in this video is what Vancouver should actually do when these encampments appear.

Should tent cities be permitted in downtown parks? Should people be provided somewhere safer and more secluded where there's less traffic and more privacy? What happens to people after an encampment is cleared?

There are also practical concerns when people are sleeping immediately beside busy streets and heavily travelled downtown areas.

I'm interested in hearing from people who actually live here, people who have experienced homelessness, and viewers in other cities dealing with similar problems.

This is another side of the Vancouver housing crisis that doesn't always show up when we're discussing million-dollar houses, foreign buyers, land assemblies and property speculation.

Sometimes you have to actually walk the streets and see what's happening.

Mike Martins — boots on the ground in Vancouver.

Let me know what you guys think.

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