Fears that street disorder, open drug use will return to Granville Strip post World Cup

The Granville Pedestrian Zone has been extended to Labour Day, meaning eligible FIFA-related temporary patios and public realm expansions will also remain.

Vancouver’s Granville Street and the downtown core were transformed for the FIFA World Cup games. The Granville Pedestrian Zone has been extended to Labour Day, meaning eligible FIFA-related temporary patios and public realm expansions will also remain. However, there are concerns that now the World Cup has ended for Vancouver, the street disorder and open drug use will return.

Just south of Nelson, on Granville Street, an SRO named Granville Villa is still operating. Raymond Jarvis is one resident and told Global News that when matches were still happening at BC Place, drug users like him were encouraged to be out of sight. “Just go in the alley, be kind, otherwise we will confiscate it,” Jarvis explained about what police would tell him.

He added that inside the Granville Villa, it’s “controlled chaos.” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he doesn’t want chaos to return to Granville. He said the city has added more police and more sanitation crews and he believes the barrier to the long-term success of the strip is the provincial government.

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In March, the B.C. government agreed to close Granville Villa and two other SROs. B.C.’s Housing Minister, Christine Boyle, was unavailable for an interview on Tuesday. Also absent from Vancouver’s False Creek during the World Cup were the derelict boats, but when the run ended in Vancouver, the boats came back.

“Derelict boats that just get dumped into False Creek and abandoned or used as chop shops or storage areas — it’s not safe, it’s unsightly,” Sim said. He added that he will ask the federal government to make the no-anchoring restrictions permanent.