Downtown Eastside 4.35

The Downtown Eastside is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The area, one of the city's oldest, is notorious for its levels of drug use, poverty, mental illness, sex work, homelessness, and crime. It is also known for its strong community resilience and history of social activism.At the turn of the 20th century, the DTES was the political, cultural, and retail centre of the city. Over several decades, the city centre gradually shifted westwards and the DTES became a poor, although relatively stable, neighbourhood. In the 1980s, the area began a rapid decline due to several factors including an influx of hard drugs, the de-institutionalization of mentally ill individuals, policies that pushed prostitution and drug-related activity out of nearby areas, and the cessation of federal funding for social housing. By 1997, an epidemic of HIV infection and drug overdoses in the DTES led to the declaration of a public health emergency. As of 2017, critical issues are an epidemic of opioid overdoses, especially those involving the drug fentanyl, decrepit and squalid housing and a shortage of low-cost rental housing, and a high prevalence of severe mental illness which often co-occurs with addiction.