Controversial “street sweeps” carried out by the City of Vancouver between 2021 and 2023 to clear makeshift housing and personal belongings from public spaces put homeless residents at greater risk, a new Simon Fraser University study suggests.

The study found that those who had items confiscated during the street sweeps were twice as likely to report an overdose and more than twice as likely to face violent victimization or barriers in accessing health or social services.

Published this week in the journal Public Health, the study analyzed data from nearly 700 unstably housed people who used drugs between 2021 and 2023, drawing on three long-running Vancouver-based cohorts. Participants included people living in single-room occupancy hotels and people experiencing homelessness…