On June 19th, residents of the Gordon Avenue homeless encampment in Coquitlam, B.C. were given an "eviction notice" by the municipal government. They were told they had only one week to pack up all of their belongings, or else the city's bylaw officers would come by and dispose of anything that was left on the site.
Residents were told by the city's "Bylaw Services Division" to remove all of their belongings from the 3000 block of Gordon Avenue between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. every day beginning on June 26th, 2025. The city says that the sweeps are not "meant to punish or displace" individuals and are being conducted in the name of cleanliness and risk reduction.
According to city councillor Matt Djonlic, the sweeps are being conducted so as to "prevent the accumulation of hazardous materials" at the encampment. However, local residents often face various difficulties accessing sanitation facilities around the Gordon Avenue Encampment.
Kimberley, a local resident of the Gordon Avenue Encampment told North Star that local businesses, including the nearby homeless shelter, don't let homeless people use their washrooms or showers, and the lack of a nearby laundromat makes it "pretty hard to stay clean".
Kimberley's mother, who used to be unhoused and now travels from Abbotsford to Coquitlam (a 45-90 minute drive) to visit and support Kimberley, mentioned how Abbotsford has implemented portable showers where local houseless individuals "can go in and clean up". When Kimberley and her mother went to Coquitlam city council to present the idea however, local city councillor Ron McKinnon told Kimberley that if she could "come up" with $2,500 for the port-a-potty, then he would "chip in the other half".
Maggie Moudatsos, a resident of the Gordon Avenue Encampment, told North Star about the link between the pandemic, rent increases and the homelessness crisis:"COVID happened. Rents went up. COVID and having strokes and seizures was my downfall".
According to Statistics Canada, the average cost of a month's rent for a 1 bedroom apartment has jumped from $1910 in 2020 to $2380 in 2025, constituting a 25% increase. However, the median wage in B.C went from $30.04 in 2020 to $35.20 in 2024, a mere 17% increase.
The recent BC Budget includes a $90M increase to the HEART (Homeless Encampment Action Response Team) and HEARTH (Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing) budget — both with the stated goal of closing homeless encampments — over the next 3 years. While the BC government (through BC Housing) has partnered with multiple municipalities in the Lower Mainland to construct multiple HEARTH sites, Maggie said that the city of Coquitlam opposed the shelter proposition.
"BC Housing had funding, and they went to city council with that funding to build another shelter, but it was denied”.
Maggie told North Star that bylaw officers already come by to throw resident's belongings away.
"If you're not here at your tent every Monday and Thursday they throw everything out. They will take whatever they want and throw it in their truck".
Maggie's boyfriend, another Gordon Avenue Encampment resident, once confronted a bylaw officer during one of these cleanups, asking the officer why they were taking peoples belongings that weren't garbage. In response, the officer pushed Maggie's boyfriend, causing him to land on his back right against the edge of the curb.
"Why is it okay for them to put their hands on us?" said Maggie. "If we did that to the [officer], we would've been put in handcuffs and in jail."