Around 12 people who were locked out of a temporary homeless shelter in False Creek North when it shut down yesterday had to be ordered off the property when they refused to leave.
Representatives from B.C. Housing eventually found most people other accommodation, but some who were offered beds at a hotel on East Hastings Street said they weren’t keen on going to the Downtown Eastside.
“The whole reason we were staying here is because we don’t want to be at Hastings,” said Kodie, a shelter user who didn’t want his last name used. “I just don’t like being around crime and drug addiction.”
Sam-antha, who didn’t want to give her last name, said she’s a former a drug addict and prostitute and that her life has improved since coming to the shelter near Granville and Beach streets.
“(If I return to Hastings) I’ll go back to turning tricks and doing drugs,” she said. “I don’t want to go back to that.”
