Homeless people in Vancouver are increasingly the target of harassment and violence as exasperation toward encampments has grown over the past several years.
The pandemic — a time when the city, following federal guidelines, allowed homeless camps to shelter in place — accelerated resentment toward homeless camps, said Tyler Chavers, the city’s homeless response coordinator and a former Vancouver police officer.
Since then, homeless camps have become more visible, and initiatives to help the homeless population have flooded the news, increasing tensions, said Adam Kravitz, executive director of the homelessness nonprofit Outsiders Inn.
“The bullying most of the time is very stereotypical and derogatory and seems to be coming from folks of a different place of privilege or housed folks,” Kravitz said. “The yelling, the screaming, the rock throwing is very common.”
That’s what happened at two of Vancouver’s Safe Stay homeless shelters operated by Outsiders Inn the first year they opened in 2022, Kravitz said. He said people driving by threw fireworks into the Safe Stays, which each consist of 20 sleeping huts surrounded by a fence.
“We, as the community, are responsible for how our culture has changed,” Kravitz said.
Chavers said he’s seen tires slashed, fireworks and rocks thrown at camps, as well as derogatory graffiti around camps over the last five years.
One homeless woman, who moved her tent away from a camp in downtown Vancouver to be alone, began receiving threatening notes. Recently, she returned to her tent only to find scorch marks in its place, Chavers said.
“That’s another thing that I’ve seen over the last couple of years that I don’t think I’ve really seen before — nonhomeless folks that are setting homeless folks’ tents on fire, burning them to the ground,” he said.
In August, a man was found guilty of shooting a woman in the arm with a pellet gun because she was searching through trash bins on his street for cans. The man told police investigators he was upset over the homeless population coming into his neighborhood on trash pickup days, according to court records.
The strain is especially apparent in public meetings, including Vancouver City Council meetings where some residents have suggested putting people camping outside in jail or placing them in “unpleasant” facilities to punish them.
“You have some folks that are really loud and reactionary,” said Ren Autrey, deputy director of Outsiders Inn. “I think the more our community opens its heart, there becomes more options than those responses.”
Throwing, filming
Every night, Brian Monroe watches uneasily from his tent as cars pass by in downtown Vancouver. For months, teenagers had been throwing full cans of food at tents at night, sometimes ripping holes in the thin fabric and hitting people. The teenagers seemed to be filming or taking photos, Monroe said.
“We’re living in a time where anything that is shocking can get you internet famous,” he said.
Jason Williams, a 60-year-old man with one leg who lives in a nearby shelter, nodded in agreement with Monroe. People seem to drive by just to call them “junkies,” tell them to get jobs or say they “look like (expletive),” Williams said.
Monroe thinks the harassment of homeless people is becoming more acceptable. Some think people in the camp want to be homeless, he said, but no one does.
“I hate being homeless,” he said. “It’s just sad because everyone is a paycheck to being out here. I don’t see why some people look down upon the homeless.”
A few blocks away, Channell Sugar-Star rode a bike along West Mill Plain Boulevard, passing the dozens of tents that have caused outrage in the Hough neighborhood. Formerly homeless but now living in affordable housing, Sugar-Star regularly visits the encampment to see old friends.
As Sugar-Star waited at a traffic light, one car and two trucks honked within a few minutes, seemingly unprompted. It’s a common disruption in the camp, along with flashing high beams at night and revving engines, Sugar-Star explained with a shrug.
“They don’t even understand what we go through,” Sugar-Star said. “They’ve got to stop.”
Unreported
Kravitz said women especially face harassment outside. Some prefer not to have a tent, he said, because it labels them as homeless and therefore vulnerable.
“Every single female we’ve ever talked to has been a victim of some type of crime, specifically sexual or physical in nature,” Kravitz said.
But these crimes, along with others, are unlikely to be reported even though homeless people are far more likely than the general population to be a victim of violent crime, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
When Chavers was a police officer, he’d often ask people in camps why they don’t report crimes that happen to them.
“It’s kind of part of surviving outside — not labeling yourself as a police caller,” he said.
Other times, people feel like the police can’t do anything to help them or feel jaded by the justice system.
“They hear a blaring horn outside their tent. They see headlights. By the time they unzip to figure out what on Earth is going on, glass is broken and the fireworks have been fired, all they see is tail lights and people laughing or screaming or whatever,” Chavers said.
The idea of goading homeless people to get them to move is not a new one. Vancouver residents speak up in city meetings and post on social media about how the city needs to make living outside more uncomfortable for homeless people so they’ll leave.
Destabilizing people living outside will not help them get into housing, especially when they are just trying to survive while dealing with other issues, such as mental illness and addiction, Chavers said.
“If you also add instability by constantly placing somebody in fear that they must move — and if they don’t, they’re going to lose all their earthly possessions and literally have nothing — you’re further increasing that stress response,” he said.
Instead of unleashing frustration onto homeless people, Chavers recommends getting involved or volunteering as an outlet.
“It makes it a healthier community for everybody,” he said.
