With designs on kickstarting action on the homeless front, Victoria council has directed its staff to provide an update on the implementation of the HEART and HEARTH programs and to provide a clearer picture of the homeless problem in the city.
Council voted unanimously Thursday to direct staff to report back next week on efforts to support unsheltered people in encampments through the HEART program, and the projected number of shelter spaces, transitional housing, supportive housing, and shelter-rate units coming online through HEARTH programs.
Staff will also try to compile figures on the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Victoria.
“I’m bringing this forward today because last week we brought forward a request from staff to do more work around enforcement to the issues that are happening with street disorder, but we all know that we can’t solve this with enforcement alone,” said Coun. Krista Loughton. “And managing unsheltered homelessness is a top priority in Victoria. The humanitarian crisis on our streets requires urgent action and ending unsheltered homelessness in our city cannot wait any longer.”
Loughton said a logical first step in taking action is getting a better picture of the situation.
The HEART and HEARTH programs are part of the province’s Belonging in B.C. homelessness plan, which expects to add 3,900 new supportive housing units and 240 complex-care spaces throughout the province.
The HEART (Homeless Encampment Action Response Team) part of the initiative includes the province, local governments, Indigenous representatives, health-care agencies and non-profit organizations assessing the needs of people living in camps and providing supports and services to help people move indoors.
The HEARTH (Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing) part is a funding program administered by B.C. Housing to develop new emergency housing and shelter options in partnership with cities like Victoria.
Loughton said the program sounds like a winner and she can’t wait to see it start rolling out, but to date she hasn’t seen anything happen. She said one of the city’s responsibilities is to bring forward available land and expedite rezoning and permit approvals for new shelter and supportive housing projects.
“We are doing the best we can with this, but one of the issues in Victoria is that we don’t have large pieces of land available for HEARTH sites,” she said, noting the city needs neighbouring municipalities to start carrying some of the weight.
She pointed out Campbell River has a HEARTH site that’s a 40-unit tiny-home village, and Kelowna has a 60-unit tiny-home community.
She said in Victoria they would have to be smaller, as the city just doesn’t have the space.
“We can’t do this here. We might be able to do HEARTH sites on some of our parking lots, but they’re going to have to be smaller,” she said.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna agreed it’s time for the words in the memorandum of understanding with the province to come to life.
“It should be in everyone’s best interest, especially in an election year, to put your money where your mouth is and clean up Pandora in ways that are humanitarian and are constructive,” he said, noting it is beyond the city’s ability and mandate to do it all. “I’m out of patience. I think a lot of people around the table are out of patience. We’re ready for action right now.”
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
