Opinion: Entrusting the park board with regulating campgrounds is a mistake

Article content

In the continuing debate surrounding homelessness and encampments, one critical aspect is underexamined: the role of park boards in regulating homeless populations.

On April 8, Vancouver’s parks board unanimously amended a bylaw to further restrict where and how homeless people can take shelter in city parks. A week later, park rangers dismantled tents in Crab Park while people were away and threw their belongings into trash cans.

Article content

Article content

From both a governance and justice perspective, the resulting situation is shameful: inhumane treatment of a vulnerable group orchestrated by an agency without the appropriate expertise or legitimacy to address this civic crisis.

The Vancouver area has seen a 32 per cent increase in homelessness over the past four years. People sleep in parks because they have no other alternatives. Certainly, the question of how to address homelessness is complex and contentious. But what is not at stake is that the constitutional rights of homeless people to take refuge in public spaces are at stake. British Columbia courts have been clear: under the Canadian Charter, local governments cannot remove people from parks at night when there are fewer accessible shelter spaces than homeless people.

In 2020, Vancouver’s elected parks board, the only one of its kind in Canada, approved a series of rules establishing distances for shelters from features such as flower beds and playgrounds. Homeless people were limited to just over 21 percent of the park space overnight, much of it far from the services they access daily. Now, according to the latest modifications, only 16 percent of the park’s space is available for sleeping at night. As we saw, rangers can search and destroy people’s homes and belongings with few restrictions on the staff’s discretion to do so.

Article content

Article content

Why is our seven-person park on the front lines of regulating accommodation on public civic lands? On the one hand, advocates argue that the park board is well positioned to address the issue of homelessness. Park commissioners are elected by residents and are tasked with representing the interests and priorities of the electorate. As such, they theoretically respond to the concerns of local constituents, including, perhaps, issues related to homelessness. And the campgrounds are usually located on park lands.

Regardless, in our opinion, the park board should not be a default mechanism for addressing complex social issues like homelessness. Their expertise (and mandate) is in park maintenance, recreational programming, and environmental conservation, not in providing housing solutions, regulating housing, or addressing systemic issues of poverty and inequality. Expecting them to effectively manage camps is outside their training, scope and experience. As we have seen, too often park boards approach camping from a very narrow perspective focused solely on the aesthetic and functional aspects of the parks. Of course, we want parks to be clean and widely accessible, but prioritizing these concerns over the human rights and basic survival needs of homeless people is a mistake.

Article content

Management of homeless shelters on park lands should not be left to the park board. The complexity of homelessness—the fact that homeless people occupy public lands for shelter because they have no private space—requires a multifaceted approach that goes beyond the scope of park boards’ jurisdiction. The combination of factors involved is broad: affordable housing, mental health issues, the legacies of colonialism. It cannot be reduced to simply ensuring that shelters are away from various park features and that they use only simple tent materials.

The park’s own board of directors has recognized its own limits. In 2021, it signed an agreement with the province and the city of Vancouver regarding Strathcona Park. The park board committed to enforcing the relevant bylaw only when sufficient shelter spaces were available. The agreement established interjurisdictional coordination. These latest amendments signal a sharp shift from those commitments and a recognition of the limitations of park regulations at a time when homelessness is at a record high.

Decisions made by park boards regarding encampments prioritize short-term solutions over long-term systemic change. Raids and evictions may temporarily clear a park, but without access to adequate housing and support services, homeless people have little alternative but to establish shelter in other public spaces. In the meantime, they will have lost their survival equipment and personal belongings, causing further trauma. Moving homeless people from one area to another does not solve the problem.

Article content

Instead of relying on our parks board to manage encampments, we need a more holistic and compassionate approach to addressing homelessness. This includes investing in affordable housing, mental health services and harm reduction. It means engaging directly with those experiencing homelessness to understand their needs and preferences and involving them in the decision-making processes that affect their lives.

Local governments should establish multidisciplinary working groups or advisory panels comprised of experts in homelessness, social work, public health, and community engagement to develop comprehensive strategies to address encampments. These approaches must prioritize harm reduction, housing first initiatives, and comprehensive supportive services to help people permanently escape homelessness.

Entrusting the park board with camping decisions is a serious mistake. We must recognize the limitations of a parks board in addressing complex social issues and instead adopt approaches developed by appropriate decision-makers that prioritize compassion, equity, deep consultation, and evidence-based responses.

Article content

Alexandra Flynn is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia Allard School of Law. Margot Young is a professor at UBC Allard School of Law.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know – add VancouverSun.com and LaProvincia.com to your favorites and subscribe to our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: for just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The province.

Article content