How do you explain Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to tourists? It’s complicated…
Vancouver's DTES became a poor neighbourhood although relatively stable. The area rapidly decline due to several factors, including an influx of hard drugs, policies that pushed sex work and drug-related activity out of nearby areas, and the cessation of federal funding for social housing. The drug overdoses in the DTES led to the declaration of a public health emergency and critical issues include opioid overdoses, especially those involving the drug fentanyl; decrepit and squalid housing; a shortage of low-cost rental housing; and mental illness, which often co-occurs with addiction.

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