Businesses have yet to voice concerns about the City of Vancouver’s November 30 opening of the second of four new temporary emergency winter shelters at 1442 Howe Street near the Granville Bridge.
Two years ago, several business owners complained about a shelter in that neighbourhood because some shelter inhabitants were loitering in front of businesses and urinating in lanes, causing urine to flow into stairwells.
“When shelters do open, there’s a dramatic improvement when it comes to street disorder issues,” Downtown Business Improvement Association executive director Charles Gauthier told Business in Vancouver.
“Aggressive panhandling drops off, trespass[ing] on private property drops off, open drug use drops off," Gauthier said.
"So, we see positive indicators surfacing rather than negative ones. It makes sense. People are provided a place to stay and are given meals. They interact with counsellors and health-care professionals and we typically see an improvement.”
The 40-bed Howe Street shelter is set to operate until April 2011. It joins the Mount Pleasant shelter at 677 East Broadway, which opened November 25.
Two remaining temporary shelters – one in Kitsilano and one in the West End – are set to open as soon as possible.