Vancouver is a place that is must to visit. The provides wide variety of things to satisfy visitors. From snow sports like skiing, outdoor ice hokey, and snowboarding to summer activities such as hiking, biking, and strolling to see some of the most beautiful scenery of mountain and ocean views you will ever see. Like other cities however, Vancouver also has its fair share of bad side; a place that is branded as the worst neighborhood in the city.
Downtown Eastside (DTES) is located between Gastown and Grandview Woodland and known to be the poorest part of entire Vancouver. The area is famous for its high level of community disorder like homelessness, sickness, sex trafficking, and Illegal drug use. The reputation of the place is so bad that Basketball player Danny Green who visited the place said that East Hastings Street is the worst street in North America.
However Downtown Eastside was significantly different a few decades ago if you compare it to the present. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Downtown Eastside was the center of Vancouver’s political and cultural activities. It was booming with its community and said to be a best place to visit if you want to see what Vancouver is like. Overtime, the place gradually lost its reputation and went downhill from what it was before due to bad decisions to the place.
It started when the authorities decided to do a process of gentrification for the place. They thought that it would be better to make the area to be more tourist attraction-oriented than being a neighborhood-oriented place, but they were wrong. With all the new buildings, hotels and condominiums that was not affordable for the residents, low-income houses were mitigated, and large numbers of people were kicked out of their homes. By mid 90’s, numbers of homeless people within the area emerged. They occupied and sleeps in alleyways and parks of the place. With the economy on a decline, the presence of the drugs emerges and thicken in the area. the presence of illegal activities continues to pull the city down until the place became the Downtown Eastside that we know today.
By far, the most famous attribute that the place is known to us is its economy of illegal drugs. The most famous hard drug being sold and use within the area is crack cocaine. However illegal injectable drugs such as opioid drugs, fentanyl and crystal meth are also popular in the area. drug movements do not stop even when there’s daylight, but evening is when it at its peak. Providers such as gang groups and illegal business owners usually resupplies pushers and members in the area at night. Then, pushers sell their product incognito anytime a customer approach them. There are many people who are drug addicts in the area. You can always find them roaming in the streets of East Hastings or hanging in their home at Strathcona Park. In these places, you will see things like syringe and excess portions of blunt wraps on every sides and corners of the place, or sometimes, being use.
The residents of the homeless community in DTES survives in quite a few ways. Most of the way they get money will messed up your mind. Proven stories like people would sell body parts they cut off from their neighbors or serves you with cooked male genital parts as food. Others would also pickpocket passersby and rob houses. It is recommended to not walk in the area alone, specially at night. The most famous way to earn money, specifically for woman, is probably sex work. Selling your body for pleasure is the easiest way to make a good buck for women in the street of DTES. An estimation of over a thousand sex workers are found in Vancouver and most of them are in DTES area. These survival sex workers must do it in order to support daily needs such food, shelter and of course, illegal substances.
With its bad environment, there is no doubt the place is concentrated with different kinds of diseases. Ones that could easily spread within the population of the area. According to a study made in 2013, 70% of the residents at DTES was confirmed to have Hepatitis C. that is more than half of the population with a deadly and easily spread disease. HIV is also highly concentrated within the community with 18% positive estimated. Tuberculosis and skin infections are common to the residents as well, due to their use of hard drugs and blunts. Residents say you will always hear ambulance sirens every single night in the area.
People of the Eastside does not only suffers from physical illnesses. In fact, mental illness is a more serious topic compared to their physical well being. It’s not really surprising, most residents of the area are drug addicts, alcoholic and have horrible traumas. Many of them are involved with traumatic experiences caused by their bad environment as a child. Residents would tell stories about them being mentally and sexually abuse by people and residential schools, sometimes even by their own parents.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest issues of the area is homelessness. There are more than two thousand people estimated that are identified as homeless in DTES. Most of them can be found in the tent city of Strathcona Park, south of the area. The rest are found hanging ang sleeping around alleys and streets of East Hastings or close by. As bad as it sounds, the neighborhood is not in chaos. They are quite united as a community. You can say that they are a well organized and neat community compared to what is expected. Residents would say they love living there despite the harsh environment. The area is not that dangerous at all. In fact, there are other areas in Vancouver that is far more dangerous than the place.
Despite all the problems of Eastside, authorities are doing their best to bring back the area’s former glory. Last October 2020, the Vancouver City Council approved a $30 million dollar budget to house Vancouver’s homeless residents in hotels and commercial sites. They partnered with Jericho Hostel and 2400 motel at the time. Although it is mainly because for Covid-19 protection, it is also to help people to jump start their life again. This year, they acquired six more buildings including Patricia Hotel and Ramada Hotel for the housing.
Authorities are also doing its best to treat and help people’s health in the area. Vancouver Coastal Health Chief Dr. Patricia Daly reported that they will be facilitating health programs. They will be helping to prevent the use of illegal substances, treating people with disorders, and donating regulated supply of drugs and supplements.
DTES is trying its best to stand up again and from the looks of it, it’s working. With a right amount of perseverance and a plenty amount of patience, it’s not going to be surprising if the place becomes rich again.