The Vancouver Police Department is on track to rack up $1 million in overtime costs by the end of the year for escorting city crews as they continue to clean East Hastings Street sidewalks and ensure the strip doesn’t become an encampment again.
The estimate is based on a VPD budget report that went before the Vancouver Police Board June 20 that says the department has already spent $530,000 in overtime for the officers’ time on the street.
“At the time of this report, there is approximately $530,000 of overtime costs to assist city staff with Hastings Street cleaning and VPD finance staff is working with city staff to have it fully funded,” the report said. “It is projected that overtime will be over budget at the end of the year.”
The work is a continuation of a ramped-up effort the City of Vancouver led April 5, 2023 to decamp East Hastings Street, where people were living in tents and structures that triggered an order from Fire Chief Karen Fry to clear the sidewalks.
Dozens of officers were involved in the initial push, resulting in a bill of $409,536 between April 5 and 12, according to documents the VPD released via a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA).
Since then, the VPD has scaled down its efforts in the Downtown Eastside, with Glacier Media observing small groups of officers over the last year on East Hastings with city sanitation workers.
On Wednesday afternoon, five officers accompanied city workers as they moved up East Hastings to Main. The workers, dressed in high visibility orange and yellow overalls, were equipped with rakes and shovels as they swept up garbage and loaded various debris into a garbage truck.
The strip was busy with people, some of whom were in tents. Others slept openly on the sidewalks, which are expected to fill up as the hot weather comes and many occupants of single-room-occupancy hotels seek relief from their non-air-conditioned rooms.
'Giving the VPD the tools they need'
The work is expected to continue indefinitely, with Mayor Ken Sim telling Glacier Media the month after the ramped-up action that “we’re not letting up,” noting the police-city worker teams were making the corridor a cleaner, safer area for all people.
The mayor recommitted to his plan last week in an interview.
“We're committed to public safety, and we are committed to giving the VPD the tools they need to make sure that we have safe streets in the city,” Sim said after a police board meeting.
Sim made the comment with Police Chief Adam Palmer at his side.
Palmer emphasized the police’s role in the ongoing operation is to stand by and keep the peace, noting it is “a challenging area” of the city.
“Remember what it was like when the street cleaning stopped down there — what a disaster it was — it's way better now, and we're heading in a really good direction with it, so it’s money well spent,” the chief said.
The overtime, however, was not allotted for in the VPD’s operating budget this year, with Palmer saying he expected the department “will get some reimbursement” from the city.
VPD's operating budget $411.7 million
Asked about a reimbursement, the city’s communications department provided the following emailed statement this week:
“City staff will monitor VPD cost pressures through the quarterly financial reporting process, including options to fund. The Vancouver Police Board, as part of their oversight of the VPD, can make requests to council for budget adjustments. If such a request is received, staff would bring forward a report to council.”
There is precedent for such a move.
In November 2023, council agreed to cover $3.6 million in VPD overtime costs accrued last year for work related to the East Hastings Street decampment and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The VPD’s operating budget this year is $411.7 million, an increase of roughly $32 million, or 8.44 per cent over the 2023 budget. The budget is only expected to rise, as Glacier Media reported last fall.
A VPD report predicted the department will need an operating budget of $486 million by 2028.
The prediction is based on estimated salary and payroll benefit increases of 1,400-plus officers, covering attrition from retirements and the financial impact of hiring 100 new cops over the next couple of years.
Potential future collective agreement wage increases, anticipated E-Comm levy hikes and minor inflation adjustments for some non-salary items are other factors driving the need for bigger budgets.
Wage settlements alone from ratified or arbitrated collective agreements continue to grow at a rate faster than inflation, according to the report that went before the police board in November 2023.
'Not actively tracking shelter offers'
Critics of the East Hastings decampment have previously told Glacier Media money spent on policing and city crews would be better dedicated to operating a shelter, or building temporary housing.
Concern has been raised that homeless people on East Hastings are being displaced to alleys and other neighbourhoods, with drug users more vulnerable to overdose; the Vancouver-Centre North local health area, which includes the Downtown Eastside, reported a rate of death more than 12 times greater than the provincial average in 2023, according to the BC Coroners Service.
The city’s communications department said in another email this week that the city’s homelessness services outreach team works with more than 100 people daily at its office at 390 Powell St., and more in the community, “but are not actively tracking shelter offers to people along East Hastings.”
The city said, on average, approximately 1,700 kilograms of material is removed per day from East Hastings. The removal of the material is necessary to ensure sidewalks remain clear for pedestrians and others using the sidewalk for travel, building access and egress, and fire safety, the city said.
“When removing materials on East Hastings, staff work with individuals to pack up their belongings and identify what items need to be stored or disposed of,” the city said.
“City staff will remove tents, structures and other items when the items contravene bylaws, or when they represent a hazard, are combustible or create an environment that attracts pests.”
The city said individuals are encouraged to take excess items to the accessible temporary storage facility at Main and Hastings, which is operated by Aboriginal Front Door and funded by the city and BC Housing.
'Approach remains the same'
The city declined to provide the daily tab for deploying city crews on East Hastings, saying such a request would require “information from multiple departments and significant staff time.”
The city recommended Glacier Media file a FOIPPA request.
The city, however, pointed to a previous public request for information that broke down some of the costs of the city-led push from April 5 to 12, 2023.
The document indicated the combined labour costs of field staff and employees working for the community services department totalled $107,803.59. Time and costs for non-field staff, including managers, were not tracked, according to the document.
Additional costs included leased equipment ($950.64), city vehicles ($20,622), “tents at impound site” ($934.50) and a storage container ($280.50). The cost of the many garbage cans used for people to store their belongings was not included in the document.
As for the continuing daily operations this year, the city said the number of staff in the area varies, “but our approach remains the same: staff are accompanied by VPD officers to ensure their safety and the safety of the public is maintained while they do this work.”
