Vancouver's homeless residents get World Cup screenings but supports unchanged

A string of international flags is hung up as part of the World Cup preparations at Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG

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A string of international flags fluttered outside Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park on Thursday as city workers transformed a municipal building into a World Cup viewing space for residents experiencing homelessness.

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At the Downtown Eastside field house — normally a daytime respite space — the site is being set up as part of the city’s World Cup homelessness response, which will turn five city-run sites into temporary viewing and service spaces on five match days: June 13, June 18, June 21, June 26 and July 2.

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City staff were busy at the building Thursday morning, installing a “FIFA viewing parties” poster and arranging the space for the screenings. The field house is expected to function as an unlikely viewing venue during the international tournament, alongside its usual services.

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But for people who spend much of their time in the park, the offering has drawn little attention.

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“Most of us are waiting for the World Cup to be over and done with so we can go back to our regular lives,” said Shawn Hefele, who stood with friends in the park Thursday morning.

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“An event like FIFA doesn’t feel inviting for people like us; it would have really been nice if the city sent some of that money back into the neighbourhood for something like better housing.”

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One of his friends, who goes by “Tuner,” is homeless and carries all of his belongings on a large cart, including his cat, Ursa Major, who was fast asleep on a small cat tower under a wool blanket. Around them, other locals were spread out on the park’s grass and benches, some drinking coffee offered at the field house, others smoking drugs.

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A few blocks away, city bylaw officers with police presence continued clearing sections of East Hastings Street between Gore and Main streets, removing makeshift shelters, tents, garbage and debris. The four-block stretch is one of the busiest in the Downtown Eastside and has long been central to Vancouver’s homelessness crisis.

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‘An event like FIFA doesn’t feel inviting for people like us,’ says Shawn Hefele. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG

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While the city’s host committee has pledged there will be no street sweeps targeting people sheltering outside during the tournament, its plan says bylaw officers will continue enforcing existing daytime camping bans in parks and ensuring “parks remain usable by the whole community during the daytime” and “sidewalks and streets remain safe, clean, and accessible.”

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When asked if he felt increased pressure by the city’s downtown bylaw enforcement tied to FIFA-related preparations, Tuner told Postmedia: “I just keep pushing my cart on the road so I don’t get told to move along.”

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“If we all had tents with wheels, I feel like they wouldn’t ever bug us.”

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The City of Vancouver says the Oppenheimer site, along with four others, will offer what it already provides — low-cost meals, washrooms and a cool or shaded place to rest — but with extended hours on match days and a new addition: live screening of Vancouver World Cup matches.