The executive director of Ambleside’s business improvement association is asking West Vancouver officials for help addressing an increasing number of people sleeping in commercial doorways across the municipality’s shopping districts.
Maureen O’Brien, executive director of the Ambleside Dundarave Business Improvement Association, wrote to Mayor Mark Sager, council members and Police Chief Karin Lo describing conditions that have developed over several months. Business owners regularly arrive to find people sleeping in their entrances alongside belongings, garbage and sometimes drug paraphernalia.
“Staff sometimes feel uncomfortable walking into work, and customers are unsure about entering stores,” O’Brien wrote. “It’s becoming difficult for businesses to manage this on their own, and they’re feeling stuck; wanting to be compassionate, but also needing their doorways to be safe and accessible.”
The issue has concentrated along the 1400 block of Bellevue, Ambleside Lane and the 1300 block of Marine Drive, affecting storefronts in both village shopping areas. O’Brien said businesses recognize homelessness as a complicated human issue and aren’t looking to penalize anyone. But they need support handling situations that currently fall to individual property owners.
She requested more police or bylaw presence in the areas during evening, overnight and early morning hours. She also asked for help from outreach teams who know community members and can connect them with services. “Everyone wants to handle this respectfully and humanely, we just need a bit more structure and support so businesses aren’t dealing with it alone,” O’Brien wrote. She offered to meet with officials or walk through affected areas to discuss concerns.
District cites limited authority
Alisha Rafi, supervisor of West Vancouver’s Bylaw and Licensing Services Department, responded that the municipality’s enforcement options remain limited when individuals camp outside commercial properties.
The department operates under the Parks Regulation Bylaw, which addresses homelessness issues on park land. But no comparable regulations exist for commercial frontages, Rafi said.
“As these situations are occurring in front of commercial properties, the ability for bylaw officers to take enforcement action is limited,” she wrote. “Currently, there are no applicable bylaw regulations beyond the scope of the Parks Regulation Bylaw to address these concerns.”
Rafi said removing individuals and their belongings from public spaces presents additional challenges. The District must ensure all actions comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The municipality will continue connecting people experiencing homelessness with support services while remaining compliant with the Charter, Rafi said. For concerns involving individuals near commercial properties, she recommended businesses continue contacting West Vancouver Police, which the bylaw department will support.
Rafi offered to meet with O’Brien to discuss the concerns further.
This isn’t a “move them along” issue — it’s a “where are they meant to go?” issue. If we don’t fund support services and proper shelter options, doorways become the default.
Meanwhile we keep approving more condos and watching small businesses get crushed by rent/rezoning games. Empty buildings could be used right now as shelters or support spaces, instead of collecting dust and “For Lease” signs.
You are neglecting to mention that most of the homeless population refuse to utilize shelters and/or, many are banned, due to the inability to follow the rules. Detention and rehabilitation is the only answer.
What in the world are you basing that on? I was homeless in West Vancouver, personally, for 3 months. Not a single resource to keep my in the city I grew up in, and people like you looked at me like dirt, after I’d spent years serving the community. No community official reached out unless a citizen called them first, and I was sleeping in the woods behind Ambleside, while cleaning up and packing out every morning. You’d cry your nimby self to sleep if you knew how many of us were there everynight, packed out and walking onto to bus to leave every morning to go to WORK. For you. For no home. If I had a shelter, I wouldve been gone sooner, and I definitely wouldn’t have slept in the rain.
Rent paying, Tax paying, Former homeless now living among you in West Vancouver once again, actively voting for shelters. You’re delusional if you think arresting people for poverty isn’t a cycle that serves no one.
I am shocked that the inevitable has occurred. It was only a matter of time before addicts from the Downtown East Side and beyond found their way to lovely West Vancouver’s commercial door steps. West Van provides showers and rest rooms for these people, so why is everyone surprised? There used to be a on law against such truly uncivilized behaviour, which was called “loitering.”
Mayor and Council, which contains at least two lawyers, should have prepared long ago for this situation!
It sounds like there is more concern for the charter of rights and freedoms for the homeless and not the business community and citizens who support these businesses.
What about the rights for the business owners trying to survive with their businesses but have to put up with this every day.
Doesn’t sound like anybody from byelaw or public offices on their side.
« surviving a business « isn’t in the charter
This one guy at 711 is very dangerous!
He’s has mental issues someone going to get seriously hurt 😞.
We pay the highest taxes ! There must be something they can do.
Move to a country without rights and freedoms
I agree with the writer who commented about the rights of business owners. They are the ones paying the taxes. Isn’t some of that money meant to provide safety and comfort for those same people? It’s like the graffiti. Municipal Hall was notified when the first graffiti showed up in Ambleside. NOTHING was done. Now it’s everywhere! Come on guys!
This is a massive concern.
I have noticed camps set up in the parks between ambleside and dundarave.
And people sleeping in their cars in the church and municipal parking lots near west van rec centre.
Something needs to be done.
We had a staff member chased down the street by the individual hanging out in front of Starbucks on Marine. She is scared to walk home that way now. This is a WV Council decision. Pass a bylaw that restricts sleeping outdoors overnight. Other Muni’s have done it and it works.
Well
This needs to be fixed asap.
I’m the type of person that don’t put up with any of this shit. Come spring when my wife and I start walking our dogs around that area come across any issue regarding these people they will find out the hard way that they will want to go back over the bridge real fast.