Abbotsford homeless campers pack up and leave park

People who were living in a homeless camp in a city park inAbbotsford, B.C.,are now looking for new places to stay.

The city won a court injunction allowing police toforcibly remove the campers from Jubilee Park by 4 p.m. PT this afternoon.

Many of those staying in the campwere already packing up Saturdaymorning,and didn't offer much resistance to the court order.

"The city got their way, the people are out of the park," said Pastor WardDraper, executive director of 5 and2 Ministries.

Draper said a couple of positive outcomes came from the city's action, including the offer of permanent housing that was made to at least twowomen who had beenhomeless in the camp, but the crisis is not over for many of the campers.

"This is not ideal because we still have people with no place to go," he said.

The local Salvation Army shelteropened extra shelter beds to meet the additional demand expected due to the shut-down of the Jubilee Park camp, but Draper was not certain that all the campers would choose the shelter.

He said some were determined to set up camp on another piece of city property.

Abbotsford Salvation Army shelter spokeswomanDeb Lowell said she understands some people have concerns about shelters.

"We try as much as possible to havea dignified space and respect privacy and all of that,but at the end of the day we are living in close quarters with one another and for some people that is a challenge," she said.

The city of Abbotsford has a bylaw that bans people from sleeping in public parks, and isnow trying to apply for a court order to have anyone who violates that bylaw charged and arrested.

Thebattle between the city of Abbotsford and its homeless populationhas been raging on for months.The issue made headlines this summer whencity workers dumped chicken manureat one homeless camp in an effort to drive out the residents.

Last month camp organizersannounced plans to sue the city.