The city of Vancouver fired the operator of its Safe Park, where people can legally live in their vehicles, for allegedly ignoring drug deals and overbilling the city by $72,000. In documents obtained by The Columbian, the city also alleges the contractor, Thrive2Survive, ignored complaints from its employees and barred them from talking to city staff. The Vancouver-based nonprofit accused the city of wrongfully terminating the contract and asked the city to pay about $413,000 in damages, according to a letter sent to the city by Thrive2Survive’s attorney. “We are deeply disappointed by the recent termination of our contract,” Thrive2Survive founder Charles Hanset Jr. said in a statement to The Columbian. “Thrive2Survive has always operated with integrity and compassion, and we firmly believe that the decision does not reflect the tremendous impact our work had at the Road2Home Safe Park in 2024.”

Hanset said Thrive2Survive helped 48 people secure stable housing. “We remain proud of our team’s dedication and the positive changes we made in the lives of many, and we hope to continue offering such transformative support in the future,” he said. What is Safe Park? Located at C-Tran’s Evergreen Transit Center in east Vancouver, the city’s Safe Park was created in 2020. With more than 50 parking spaces, the site serves as a lifeline for many homeless people unable to find or afford a legal spot to park. But Safe Park wasn’t seeing as many people leaving for housing as Vancouver’s Safe Stay shelters, which are all operated by nonprofits. So the city decided to hand over operations to Thrive2Survive in 2023, signing a $809,474 contract for five years of service. Thrive2Survive, which officially gained nonprofit status in 2022, provides outreach, resource fairs, hot meals, clothing and community-building events for homeless people.

The contract would have expired in 2028. But the city terminated the contract Jan. 24 and hired Live Love Outreach, a Vancouver-based nonprofit operating the Hope Village Safe Stay, to take over Safe Park operations. Thrive2Survive Vancouver attorney Moloy Good of Good Law Clinic sent a letter to Anna Vogel, the city’s procurement manager, March 5 protesting the contract’s termination. In the letter, Good said the city gave no reason for the contract’s termination other than a provision that says the city may terminate the contract “for convenience at any time for any reason deemed appropriate.” Good argued Thrive2Survive has the right to due process. In the letter, Thrive2Survive demanded the $413,700 it’s losing from the contract’s early termination, and pledged to use the money to benefit Clark County homeless people.

After the contract termination, Jamie Spinelli, Vancouver’s homeless response manager, texted Hanset accusing him of taking supplies from Safe Park, according to Good’s letter. Those items belong to Thrive2Survive, Hanset responded, the letter states. Hanset agreed to return some of the items to Safe Park, but Thrive2Survive still has property left at the Esther Short Commons building, where it operated a winter shelter, according to Good’s letter. (City staff did not respond to questions about whether Thrive2Survive had a contract with the city to operate a severe winter shelter or whether that contract was terminated). The letter states Thrive2Survive is willing to settle outside of court. It proposed the city issue a public statement of support and confidence in Thrive2Survive, return the items from the winter shelter (a television, coffee pot, microwave and two chairs), pay the nonprofit damages and attorney fees, and refrain from making negative comments about Thrive2Survive or anyone associated with it. City of Vancouver The Vancouver City Attorney’s Office responded with a letter to Thrive2Survive’s attorney March 19.

“Your letter states that the site was successfully operated for over a year (from Dec. 1, 2023). This is untrue,” Assistant City Attorneys Tricia Juettemeyer and Dan Lloyd wrote. Their letter references alleged Thrive2Survive employees’ complaints to city staff calling the site “an abomination” and saying “nothing gets done” when they report issues. Among other issues, the assistant city attorneys listed incidents in which Thrive2Survive employees allegedly failed to take action, including not intervening in a fight, ignoring complaints about staff member behavior, and failing to immediately remove people using drugs on site and suspected to be dealing drugs. The city discovered Thrive2Survive “wrongfully required employees to enter nondisclosure agreements to keep them from engaging with Spinelli or city employees,” the assistant city attorneys said in the letter.

Financial issues After noticing substantial discrepancies in billing amounts and unusual reimbursement requests, the city conducted an internal review and audit of Thrive2Survive’s invoicing practices, according to the city’s letter. The audit found a total overpayment to Thrive2Survive, based on inaccurate invoicing, to be $71,932.80, according to the city’s letter. The issues included duplicated payrolls, nonreimbursable purchases and “numerous errors” on one invoice totaling almost $25,000, the letter states. Lloyd, one of the assistant city attorneys, told The Columbian the city is in communication with Thrive2Survive’s attorney about the overpayment and are discussing a resolution. The city attorneys said Thrive2Survive should retrieve its items left in the Esther Short Commons building. However, items taken from the Safe Park, including a $357.62 solar generator, $192.56 jump box and a box of donations — belong to the city and must be returned, according to the letter. If not, the city will deduct their fair market value from any final payment that may be due.

The city refuses to pay Thrive2Survive its requested amount from “lost income,” according to the letter. The income was budgeted for overhead and administrative expenses to support the contract, the assistant city attorneys said. The city will continue auditing Thrive2Survive’s invoices, according to the letter, and deduct any discrepancies from the city’s final payment to the nonprofit. “As expressed repeatedly throughout this letter, the goal of terminating the Thrive2Survive contract for convenience was to avoid calling unnecessary attention to the substantive issues arising under your client’s leadership of the site while ensuring public health and safety were addressed,” the city attorneys wrote. City staff declined to provide any additional comment.

This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.