The City of Victoria is hoping to broker a deal to move a supportive housing project at Royal Athletic Park — previously known as Tiny Town — to another municipality in the region.
Council unanimously endorsed having Mayor Marianne Alto write to other councils and electoral area representatives in Greater Victoria to determine if there is any interest in hosting the Caledonia Place facility starting next year.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said it’s important to start the conversation now as the housing project, established during the pandemic, will have exhausted its temporary-use permit at 940 Caledonia Ave. in October 2025.
He noted there is a vulnerable group of people living in the facility and he did not want council to find itself scrambling for options as it faced a fall deadline.
He said the most prudent move is to invite other jurisdictions that have the space to take it on.
“Many of our neighbours have a lot more land than we do. They have hardscapes, they have parking lots,” he said, noting the facility requires about 20,000 square feet of space and access to electrical and plumbing.
Tiny Town was established in 2021 as a temporary home for those in need while more permanent units were being built.
The shipping-container village, which housed 30 people, was built with funding from local donors and businesses, B.C. Housing and the City of Victoria, and operated by Our Place Society.
The units are about 100 square feet with communal showers and washrooms. The pilot project was supposed to house people for only a few months.
The facility, owned by the Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region, shut down in the fall of 2023.
It was then sold to B.C. Housing, which made a deal with the City of Victoria to reopen it for at least a year.
Caradonna noted the city would act as a broker to connect any interested jurisdiction with B.C. Housing and Our Place.
“We’re just essentially trying to champion this facility landing on its feet somewhere,” he said.
Caradonna said the village has been a success as one of the few places where people can graduate from being in a shelter and find some stability.
He said it can work anywhere, as it is fairly self-contained with supports — food, health care, social workers and connection to services.
“The idea, the model, is that your needs are met on site,” he said.
Caradonna said that the rest of the region needs to do its part on supportive housing.
It is about keeping a promise to the North Park neighbourhood, as Tiny Town was always meant to be a temporary measure, he said.
Coun. Stephen Hammond said any municipality would be wise to jump at the chance to host Tiny Town, as part of the continuum of getting people off the streets and into other facilities.
Coun. Krista Loughton supported the move, but was concerned it would take focus away from the winter needs and emergency weather plans that are still being made.
“If we’re going to do advocacy, that’s what this body should be focusing on more and asking for warming centres to be set up in other municipalities,” she said. “This could easily happen in the spring.”
Council also unanimously approved setting up a “community conversation” with North Park residents and businesses to determine what they would like to eventually happen at the 940 Caledonia Ave. site and at 1703-1745 Blanshard St.
The city announced it had purchased the Blanshard site for $11 million this year with the intention of building a new downtown park to replace the now-closed Romeo’s restaurant and Urbana Kitchens and their parking lots.
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