Housing Minister Rich Coleman said Monday 180 spaces have been found for homeless people since the squatters occupied the lawn of the Victoria Law Courts.
Let’s hope they are better off than they were living in the mud. But it hasn’t made a bit of difference to the camp itself.
In fact, the biggest problem is over-crowding. While housing officials are trying to find spaces for some of the campers, other authorities are trying to regulate safety for those who remain by getting better spacing between the tents and lean-tos, and overseeing stricter fire-safety measures.
Coleman said it is frustrating to see the camp grow despite the ministry’s efforts to relocate the occupiers to more suitable accommodation.
“We’re seeing a huge influx of people, we saw it through the winter, particularly from places outside of B.C. I think it’s a function of the economy in some other jurisdictions, so we have to be able to handle this as best we can.
“There are people down there who are not homeless. They go down there during the day and they have places to live and hang out.”
He said there are probably 30 to 40 people who are legitimately homeless, and his ministry is looking at options for them.
Coleman said Victoria police are satisfied “there is some movement at this point” on safety concerns. But neighbours continue to complain about their safety. Some of them supplied photos taken Friday of handfuls of empty syringes left on nearby properties. They asked to remain anonymous and that the exact location not be disclosed for fear of retribution.
It’s clear the province was thrown for a bad loss by the Supreme Court decision April 5 denying an interim injunction that would have started the eviction process. The response after that decision was to continue case-by-case attempts to relocate people and retain the Portland Hotel Society, a longtime Vancouver housing agency, to assist with the operation of the camp itself.
That was expected to continue until the permanent-injunction hearing starts on Sept. 7. All the efforts are being documented, and other evidence is being collected to present a stronger case than the one made in March.
There’s one other possible scenario. Justice Christopher Hinkson said: “Should circumstances degenerate between now and the trial date, the plaintiffs are given liberty to renew their application for injunctive relief based upon proof of such degeneration.”
Coleman said if something deteriorates to the point where lives are at risk or “we’re not getting co-operation,” another injunction could be applied for sooner than September.
“If we ever have to go back to court [for a quicker injunction], we’ll need to be able to tell the story of how many people we’ve housed, what we have available and the issues around health and safety.”
He and Citizens’ Services Minister Amrik Virk also responded to the release of a Victoria Police Department warning last November about how unsustainable the camp was. Virk said he read the letter for the first time Monday. It was originally sent to a court administrator, who was not involved in the decision to let the camp develop.
Virk’s ministry is the legal landlord for the site. But it’s not yet clear if any ministry ever wrote back to police.
It’s also unclear how well the city and the province are working together. Deputy Chief Steven Ing’s letter simply makes the obvious point that allowing campers to entrench leads to problems.
“Past experience has also shown that a proactive approach to these types of situations is preferable to a reactive approach once the situation reaches a critical level.”
Coleman appeared dismissive.
“I don’t want to get into an argument or a discussion with the City of Victoria,” he said. Then he started one anyway. “We did ask for things at the front end that they were not prepared to do, that would have helped in the beginning.
“We know how to run a camp.”
Knowing how to run a camp is good. Knowing how to stop a dangerous, unsightly tent city from developing in the first place is better.
