'A broken system': Rangers stop volunteers from building tiny home in CRAB Park

There were more than 20 centimetres of snow on the ground when a handful of volunteers walked into Vancouver's CRAB Park on Thursday, carrying two-by-fours and bags of insulation.

There were more than 20 centimetres of snow on the ground when a handful of volunteers walked into Vancouver's CRAB Park on Thursday, carrying two-by-fours and bags of insulation.

A man who spends his time building temporary structures for residents of a Prince George homeless encampment said he wanted to try it here—to make a point.

“There’s a broken system that is in play here that is increasing the problem of homelessness,” Brad Gustafson told a group of park rangers who were there to stop him, because doing so violates park control bylaws.

“That’s why we’re here. We’re trying to solve the problem,” he continued, in the speech posted online.

The bylaws in question—that building any structure in the park would violate—are park control bylaws 1(O), 11, 11A, 11B and 13, according to a Thursday statement from the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.

Before construction of a tiny home in the park began, rangers confiscated one bag of insulation and two or three two-by-fours and took them away in a truck, the park board confirmed.

“It will pose safety hazards, contribute to the degradation of the parklands, and disrupt use of the park for the entire community,” the board said in its statement.