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SHARES David Wesley lives in the Colonial Hotel, a SRO building in Gastown. He says the building’s rat problem is so bad that he never sleeps with the light off.
Photo by Jen St. Denis.
David Wesley hasn’t slept with the light off since he first moved into the Colonial Hotel three years ago. Night is when the rats come out of the walls, through the holes they’ve gnawed under the sink.
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It’s the same advice you would give someone on the Prairies during a blast of Arctic cold front: Layer up.
It is not as cold as Winnipeg or Edmonton and their minus-30C temperatures, but for those living on the street, this week’s weather poses real and dangerous problems.
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Try refreshing your browser, or People living rough on Vancouver s streets brace for Arctic blast Back to video
“We’re surviving,” Chrissy Brett said. “It helps that we have a warming centre and the sacred fire.”
Brett is a spokeswoman at the tent city in Vancouver’s Strathcona Park, where more than 200 people have decided to brave out the winter rains, wind, and now cold weather.
Hamburger Soup for the Soul
Throughout the pandemic, Downtown Eastside neighbours have come together to feed those in need of a hot meal.
Jen St. Denis is The Tyee’s Downtown Eastside reporter. Find her on Twitter @JenStDen. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. SHARES Erica Grant and other volunteers regularly make hamburger soup in the Savoy Hotel kitchen, part of a large effort to bring food to Downtown Eastside residents. This photo shows Grant cooking earlier this year during the summer, when BC s current health order on wearing masks was not yet in place.