The tent city that has sprung up on the lawn of the provincial Law Courts building should be supported and used as a launching pad to help people find housing, says Coun. Ben Isitt.
Anecdotal evidence is that the encampment is easing pressure on small neighbourhood parks, Isitt said, adding that he would be prepared to oppose any move by the province to clear away the campers.
“I hope the province doesn’t move against the camp,” Isitt told fellow councillors Thursday night.
“I personally will give strong consideration to putting my views into an affidavit to support those people sheltering there as part of a strategy of finding them proper housing and preventing any attempt by the province to displace them.”
Isitt acknowledged that some residents and businesses near the courthouse have concerns, but said the city should manage the site rather than trying to relocate campers.
The encampment should be considered “ground zero” for the city’s Housing First strategy to end homelessness, he said. “[It would be ] essentially the intake place. We now know where people are. … I think this is a window of opportunity and we don’t want to let it pass.”
In recent weeks, the growing homeless campsite has taken hold behind the courthouse on a patch of lawn bordered by Courtney Street, Burdett Avenue and Quadra Street.
The land is owned by the province, so is not subject to city bylaws governing parks, where police and park workers normally wake tenters at 7 a.m. and require them to move on. Tents at the courthouse have been staying up and inhabited all day.
Meanwhile, Victoria councillors on Thursday night approved two initiatives designed to help homeless people.
Council agreed to spend $130,000 — $85,000 for operations and $45,000 in capital funding — to establish a facility where homeless people can store their belongings during the day. Council had approved $45,000 for the project in June in the hope a service provider or partner would match the city’s funding, but no one came forward.
The facility will be run on a one-year pilot basis.
Coun. Geoff Young spoke against the expenditure, saying it raises the question of whether the facility will help homeless people who want to improve their situation or is “simply making it easier to stick with a lifestyle which is not conducive to their long-term health.”
“Of course, the purpose of this facility is exactly to be a substitute for permanent housing — one of the benefits of which, of course, is people get a place to store their stuff,” Young said.
The storage facility would allow homeless people to leave their belongings in a secure place for the day, rather than having to carry them around. The proposed facility would be modelled after one operating in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Council also agreed to provide $75,000 in funding toward 40 rent supplements for the Pacifica Housing Society’s streets to homes program.
“Very clearly, getting people into housing is important,” Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said.
A decision on a staff recommendation to increase funding for an outreach worker to $80,000 was postponed. Council had previously authorized $35,000 for the project, which would help homeless people find housing.
In September, about 400 people — many of them homeless paid $20 apiece to participate — attended a sheltering solutions workshop.
The top three suggested solutions were funding to make existing buildings into temporary shelters; funding to create new shelters or temporary housing facilities; and supervised tenting facilities, or tent cities, on public or private land.
