More fencing went up on Pandora Avenue this week as the City of Victoria moves forward with a plan to clear an encampment on the 900-block.
The city began installing fencing around the boulevard in the 900-block of Pandora in September in an effort to prevent camping. It was a phased approach, with fencing first at the ends of the block and eventually meeting in the middle to close off the boulevard and allow the grassy area to recover, said Mayor Marianne Alto.
The fencing, which has cost around $10,000, will remain for the foreseeable future, she said. The city will give the grass time to grow and will then likely begin landscaping the area.
While sheltering is not allowed on the boulevard, the city turned a blind eye to an encampment that began during the pandemic, Alto said.
“There’s a point at which that type of use is simply no longer tenable,” she said. “The threshold for the city has been there is no point in simply saying, ‘You have to go, unless there’s some place to go.’”
B.C. Housing and community partners have assessed 62 people who were sheltering on the block and offered them all a shelter space, a B.C. Housing spokesperson said. Of those people, 29 had moved into a shelter as of Oct. 25.
No tents remain on the block and Our Place shelters are now full, said Grant McKenzie, director of communications for Our Place Society.
There are still people hanging around the block, but it’s feeling quieter than it has since camping on the block exploded during the pandemic, he said.
Demand for meals at Our Place is up about 30 per cent, and McKenzie attributes the increase to people feeling safer. Staff are seeing familiar faces who have been absent for a while and the centre is starting to expand its programming to match its pre-pandemic offerings, including yoga, music and craft workshops.
“It feels hopeful,” McKenzie said, adding he thinks the block will look very different by the end of the year.
Plans for a city-owned lot at 926 and 930 Pandora Ave. are also moving forward, with a proposal for a 20-storey development with 205 new homes.
The proposal, a partnership between the city, B.C. Housing and the Capital Region Housing Corporation, would include 158 affordable rental homes, 47 supportive housing units and a 16,000 square-foot community space.
B.C. plans to operate the supportive housing through a non-profit service provider and it would include supports such as meals, counselling, health care referrals and life skills training. Residents are assessed and selected by B.C. Housing based on the services they need.
Eligibility for affordable housing is based on income.
The project is awaiting a building permit and is expected to start construction in early 2025.
“It’s a couple of years before it’s actually finished, but it will be a really significant difference there, and a lot of people are going to come into the area,” Alto said.
