A packed council chamber is expected in Victoria tonight as a proposal to rezone Mount Edwards Court for supportive social housing goes to public hearing.
The former seniors care home was purchased by the province for $3.65 million in 2016 in the wake of the tent city that had dug in on the courthouse lawn, to help address the homelessness issue.
The building, at 1002 Vancouver St., near Rockland Avenue, is being used as transitional housing for former residents of the tent city, housing 38 people at a time.
Officials from the neighbouring Christ Church Cathedral School say enrolment has plummeted. They said that happened after incidents such as an individual running round the school yard in a drug-induced delirium and the presence, at times, of drug users in the school parking lot.
The proposal being put forward by the Cool Aid Society, on behalf of B.C. Housing, is aimed at addressing those concerns.
It would see up to 93 people housed in 78 units of supportive housing.
There would be a maximum of 15 studio and one-bedroom affordable rental units for those able to live independently.
A legal agreement would mandate the facility be restricted to residents 50 years and older, with no illicit substance use permitted. It would be staffed round the clock.
Cool Aid says only those with low-to-moderate support requirements will be admitted.
Mayor Lisa Helps, who calls the proposal a good fit for the community, says it is basically to house “poor seniors who have had some health challenges.”
“The project is being coloured by a lot of worry about what was there, rather than what will be there,” she said.
But some residents worry that guarantees of age restrictions, no drug use, and vetting for mental disorders, might not be possible, especially given a recent Residential Tenancy Branch decision that residents in the former Central Care Home at 844 Johnson St. can’t be blocked from having friends and family stay overnight.
Christ Church Cathedral School officials and parents of students there have written in opposition to the proposal.
Helps said she “absolutely” believes the legal agreement can be enforced.
Councillors sitting as a committee of the whole were also to consider this morning a temporary-use permit application from Cool Aid to use the former Tally Ho Hotel, 3020 Douglas St., for 52 transitional housing units.
The three-year permit would allow the transitional housing, Cool Aid support office space, parking, possible extreme weather protocol shelter, possible Island Health ACT team offices, and possible use for a primary and ancillary health services clinic.
The temporary use permit is designed to allow time to fashion a long-term redevelopment plan for the site that fits in with the newly approved Burnside Gorge Neighbourhood Plan, Helps said.
“This three years is kind of a holding pattern in order for them to work with the community, get input and bring a rezoning application forward,” she said.
