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Series #3: Unhoused people's seized belongings

De Facto uses tracking devices to show how people's valuables are often simply thrown into the dump — even brand new tents and other survival items

Series #3: Unhoused people's seized belongings

Naloxone kits pulled off fences and discarded. Memorials for deceased loved ones dismantled. And a person’s death 48 hours after a bylaw sweep trashed rescue medication for their lungs.

De Facto deployed technology to investigate thedevastating impacts of increasingly aggressive bylaw enforcement i BC, and the fallout from officers throwing away possessions that are physically and emotionally important to unhoused people. 

By tracking unhoused people's belongings using Apple AirTags, with owners' permission, we proved that even brand-new tents end up trashed in the landfill within days of bylaw sweeps — despite officials' insistence that no such thing happens to new or otherwise functional items in Victoria.

Victoria bylaw officers trashed newly donated tents within days — contrary to city claims
The city has disputed years of claims that it discards unhoused people's belongings. De Facto reporters tracked new tents and carts to see where they ended up.
De Facto Journalism Co-opDe Facto Journalism Co-op
Podcast: Bylaw trashing unhoused people's belongings (E05: Oct 17, 2026)
Available on major podcast platforms & 11am Saturday on 100.5fm in Vancouver
De Facto Journalism Co-op
'All I have left’: As election cycle spotlights homeless crisis, bylaw seizures ‘devastating’ for Victoria’s unhoused
Many cities are seeing bylaw enforcement ramp up. BC’s capital is a case study — and it’s hurting those already most vulnerable
De Facto Journalism Co-opDe Facto Journalism Co-op
How De Facto investigated what happens to unhoused people’s confiscated belongings
Reporters Brishti Basu and Mike Graeme reveal how they hid tracking devices in resident’s tents and other valued items
De Facto Journalism Co-opDe Facto Journalism Co-op
Podcast: Pivot lawyer on unhoused people's Charter rights (E06: Oct 24, 2026)
Available on major podcast platforms & 11am Saturday on 100.5fm in Vancouver
De Facto Journalism Co-opDavid P. Ball

More to come...