The B.C. government has extended its lease at the Travelodge on Gorge Road East, where it has been providing temporary shelter and supports for people without homes.
David Eby, attorney general and the minister responsible for housing, announced Wednesday that the lease will run until Dec. 31, by which point all 94 residents will have transitioned to permanent housing.
No new residents will move into the Travelodge after the end of March.
The facility opened last May to house people from the homeless encampments at Topaz Park and Pandora Avenue and provide them with a range of supports, including mental-health and addiction services.
Nearby residents have complained that a disproportionate number of supportive-housing sites are located in the Burnside-Gorge area. Rob Fleming, transportation minister and Victoria-Swan Lake MLA, said during the election campaign last October that an NDP overnment would not be renewing the Travelodge’s lease when it expired March 31.
But he made the comments before a fire at the Capital City Centre Hotel in November removed about 90 supportive-housing units from the mix.
As a result of the blaze, the government says it needed to extend its lease on the Travelodge to prevent more people from being displaced to the streets and parks.
The city and province have pledged to move about 200 people currently living in parks indoors by April and put an end to around-the-clock camping.
“We are making real progress on short- and long-term housing solutions to address Victoria’s encampments by the end of March, and opening new housing will allow us to close the Travelodge by the end of the year,” Eby said in a statement. “Sending Travelodge residents out to join encampments by closing this temporary facility prematurely is simply not an option.”
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said in an interview that she supports the decision.
“I think we can’t be getting 200 people inside by the end of March and putting another 100 people out on the street at the same time,” said Helps, adding she trusts Eby and B.C. Housing. “When they say that the extension will be until December, and there’ll be places for people to move into at that time, and when they say after March 31 no one else will be moved into the Travelodge, I believe them.”
Helps acknowledged that residents of the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood have been “incredibly, incredibly patient” throughout the pandemic. “So I think a lot of kudos and thanks needs to go out to them for their role in what’s been a very difficult situation for everyone.”
Avery Stetski, chair of the Burnside Gorge Community Association, said the lease extension came as no surprise.
“Spaces aren’t ready and we knew they weren’t just going to push these people out onto the street,” he said. “At least it’s got a definite date that, by the end of December, everybody will be moved and the Travelodge will be going back to the owner.”
B.C. Housing is working with the Travelodge owner to enhance fire safety, improve landscaping and ensure regular garbage removal, the government said.
The Victoria Cool Aid Society will continue to operate the facility and has staff on site around the clock.
