Officials said campers in Regina Park will need to comply with the latest and second order issued to leave but said they are still allowed to be in the park overnight.
The residents have been living in the park for a few months, and tensions between nearby neighbours and the residents continue to rise. On July 13 Saanich police announced they arrested eight people associated with a growing tent city for shoplifting.
Saanich councillor Colin Plant said he's at his wits-end over the issue.
“I find this very frustrating,” Plant said. “Saanich is doing everything it can to mitigate the situation. We have 3,200 units of BC Housing, and we’re looking to do more. When we’ve gone through every process known to us, and then to have residents just not respect the laws, it’s really frustrating.”
Saanich councillor Colin Plant said they will still be allowed to be in the park overnight.
“I think it’s fair to say for these people that they have nowhere to go,” Plant said. “Therefore they are choosing to be together and there is an argument to be made that it’s safer for people who are homeless to be together.
“However this is a public park, and the public is being denied access to this park because of the way the encampment is being set up. It is being set up permanently.”
Police said they've been receiving tips over the last few weeks that indicated a large amount of thefts were taking place at businesses near the Regina Park encampment.
A nearby business employee said he thinks people are being too hard on the residents of tent city.
Lee Bly is a mechanic at Recyclistas, which sells bikes from donated used parts. He said the shop has not had any problem with the residents of the encampment, but the neighbourhood is growing more resentful of the residents.
“I don’t think people should hate on the tent city, but maybe be more proactive in trying to come up with solutions to help folks dealing with transitional issues like housing,” Bly said. “Not everyone at tent city is necessarily looking for housing there’s probably a few people that don’t mind living outdoors, or at least in tents, or a community like that.”
He said Recyclistas has not seen an increase in crime. They have had someone break into their back yard, but that was also a regular occurrence before tent city was there, so there isn’t necessarily a correlation between the two.
Ashley Mollison, a spokesperson for Alliance Against Displacement said the camp provides a sense of home, which improves health and safety for campers.
“When people are able to set up at the tent cities, they actually get a sense of home,” Mollison said. “[They] can have secure storage for their belongings. They don’t have to carry their worldly belongings on their backs every day. They actually get to look after each other and have a sense of community.”