Delta

Background and Bylaws

Section 13.1 of the City of Delta's Parks Regulation Bylaw No. 7206, 2013 PARKS REGULATION BYLAW NO. 7206, 2013, prohibits camping in public parks. That section states:

A person must not erect, construct, occupy, or build a tent, shelter, pavilion or other building or structure whatsoever, or cause any of these things to be done in a Park or Municipal Land, without first obtaining a Municipal Permit or written permission from the Director.

According to the City of Delta Social Action Plan, the City does not have any permanent shelters. It does, however, have two Extreme Whether Shelters, which are opened, according to the City's website, when the following Extreme Weather Response alerts are issued by the Homelessness Services Association of BC (HSABC):

• Rainfall that makes it difficult or impossible for those experiencing homelessness to remain dry; and/or

• Sleet/freezing rain; and/or

• Snow accumulation; and/or

• Sustained high winds; and/or

• Temperatures at, or feeling like 0 C. or below; and/or

• Rainfall of at least 50mm in a 24-hour period; and/or

• Storm Surge or other Flooding Conditions

The Encampment Eviction Process

The City of Delta rigorously enforces its Parks bylaw. If an encampment resident is found or reported, a bylaw officer is the primary responder, and will approach that resident, to first ask if they require any outreach or shelter. This outreach is offered regardless of where the encampment is located. 

If the outreach offer is refused, and the encampment is located on municipally owned land,  the bylaw officer will notify the resident of the above section of the bylaw, and request that the resident vacate the space. If the encampment is located on lands owned by the provincial government, the municipality does not have the authority to evict those residents, and will instead need to liaise with the provincial government.

If the outreach offer is accepted, a member of the Mobile Outreach Team, as operated by Options Community Services, will come to the site following the bylaw officer, and provides supports to individuals including emergency food supply, harm reduction supplies, linkage to other resources, and housing search support.  Shelter is offered, but only within the City of Surrey, which the team will provide transportation to.  The Mobile Outreach team will connect with the shelters around Surrey to ensure shelter is available, before approaching the encampment resident. If shelter is not available, the resident and the member of the Mobile Outreach Team will make arrangements which will prevent the eviction of the resident until shelter is available.

If the encampment appears vacant, and is located on municipally owned land, the bylaw officer will post a physical notice, under the above section of the bylaw, giving 24 hours for the property to be cleared. If the property is not cleared, it is transported to a yard within Delta for 30 days, and the owner of the property may retrieve it.

Our analysis of bylaw enforcement records shows that  bylaw officers also follow the same approach regarding people staying in vehicles.

Frequency of Encampment Evictions and Outreach

The below table shows the frequency of instances where unhoused individuals were asked to leave, or where the encampment was found vacant and cleared without permission of the resident, but not instances where a resident voluntarily accepted outreach.