Local News
Coquitlam calls on province to do more to help unhoused population
A clean-up took place at an encampment in Coquitlam Thursday, and the city’s mayor is now calling on the province to do more to help the unhoused.
The 13-tent encampment on Gordon Avenue, which sits next to Coquitlam’s only shelter, has been plagued with issues including fires, unsanitary conditions, violence, and drug-related incidents.
Mayor Richard Stewart says the provincially run shelter doesn’t have enough space in it to support the unhoused population across the city.
“We want the province to step up and properly manage this; it’s their facility,” Stewart said.
“We gave the land, but it’s their facility, and they haven’t been able to or haven’t been willing to actually do what’s needed to make the facilities safe and make the people on that street safe.”
The city says Thursday’s clean-up was not a clearing out or a decampment but rather a coordinated approach in response to ongoing serious safety concerns at the encampment. It says the approach includes asking people to deconstruct tents and structures during daytime hours.