The province will buy the Super 8 hotel on Douglas Street to house Greater Victoria’s homeless people, bringing the number of units secured since a tent city was set up on the courthouse lawn to 370 and funding to $26 million.
“It’s huge. It’s well past any investment in social housing Victoria has seen in decades,” said Stephen Portman, an advocate with Together Against Poverty Society, which is working with tent city residents.
The government said it will spend $6.5 million to buy and renovate the building at 2915 Douglas St., formerly known as the Ingraham Hotel. Assessed value of the property in 2015 was $4.13 million.
The hotel is open and has businesses operating on the ground level, including Spoons restaurant, which will continue to operate, and a Liquor Plus retail store that will close in August.
It’s not clear when the hotel will close, but the province said the deal will be complete by late September and that tenants could move in by November.
The building, with 51 units, will provide supportive housing for those in need of short-term stays before moving to more permanent accommodations. A yet-to-be-determined non-profit organization will provide support services and a meal program.
“This is another step toward making sure people in the community who are homeless have a safe and secure place to stay,” Housing Minister Rich Coleman said in a statement.
“Our hope is that anyone at the courthouse camp who is in need of housing will take advantage of the almost 200 units of new housing we are opening in Victoria.”
The Super 8 is the second building purchased by the province this month to help house homeless people. Last week, the government announced it had bought the former Baptist Central Care Home on Johnson Street for homeless housing. The province paid $11.2 million for the building, which will offer 140 units of long-term supportive housing. The care home is undergoing renovations and is expected to be operating by July under the management of the Portland Hotel Society.
In February, the province bought the Mount Edwards Court care home on Vancouver Street. It houses about 40 people and has support services operated by Cool Aid Society.
Another 150 transitional and shelter spaces are available at the former youth custody centre in View Royal, My Place in the former Boys and Girls Club downtown, and First Metropolitan Church.
The province, which owns the courthouse property, has applied for an injunction to dismantle the camp based on fire and safety hazards.
TAPS was in court Friday with a petition to stall the dismantling of the tent city over fire-safety concerns and will be back in court Monday to oppose an injunction to end the camp.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson rejected a previous application on the grounds that homeless people had nowhere else to sleep.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said she was happy to hear more housing has been secured for the city’s homeless, but would like to see participation from tent city residents.
“It will be interesting to see how tent city folks transition, and if some degree of the community-building they’ve done can be transferred to this safe environment,” Helps said.
