A commentary written on behalf of the Stadacona Centre Strata Council.
As president of the Stadacona Centre Strata Council, representing 105 residential units and 24 commercial stores and restaurants, I was dismayed to see that five Victoria councillors and Mayor Marianne Alto voted down a motion from Coun. Stephen Hammond to provide enhanced security in Victoria neighbourhoods negatively affected by crime and disorder arising from certain park encampments and supportive housing facilities.
While watching a recording of the council discussion on this motion, it was perplexing and insulting to hear Coun. Krista Loughton tell Hammond that the information he presented to support his motion was based merely on “anecdotal” stories.
This was especially frustrating given that I explained to city council on May 18 some of the negative impacts experienced by our residents living across the street from the encampment at Stadacona Park for the past four years.
I told them how our building caretakers clean up trash in our gardens, including human excrement, needles and crack pipes.
I told them how these same caretakers have been confronted and threatened with violence by people under the influence of drugs, alcohol, and/or with mental health issues.
I explained how break-ins and attempted break-ins have led to vandalism and stolen property and how shouting, fighting and loud disturbances take place at all hours of the night.
I conveyed that our residents feel unsafe when they come home at night and all our residents and businesses have been placed at risk due to fires that have been started in our garbage bins.
I also outlined in great detail the extensive costs we have incurred for private security seven days per week since 2019 and extra on-call costs to have trespassers escorted off our grounds.
Councillors were told about the thousands of dollars we also pay for security, repairing damaged property and to have landscaping done to prevent people using our hedges as cover to inject drugs.
In addition to Stadacona Park, Hammond also gave other examples where people told council of their traumatic experiences resulting from living around these areas.
A fellow across from Topaz Park wrote about five years of living with unacceptable behaviours. A woman representing her housing coop told council of the horrendous and dangerous two years they endured while a temporary shelter was set up across from them.
The violence on their street was so bad, one elderly woman began sleeping in her bedroom closet.
And then Hammond read out, verbatim, an email from a woman describing the horrendous impacts of living across the street from Tiny Town on her family and neighbours.
It’s bad enough that Loughton brushed off all these examples as “anecdotal,” but then we learned that since April of this year, she and councillors Jeremy Caradonna and Dave Thompson had statistics from Victoria Police showing that a good chunk of police time is spent attending to calls in and around encampments and some social housing shelters.
While we eagerly await the detailed results of that data, in the meantime we understand from Hammond that 19 such locations made up 24 per cent of all Victoria police calls in 2022.
It was also frustrating to hear Caradonna jump to the sensationalistic claim that Hammond’s motion could potentially lead to the privatization of policing.
This seemed especially odd coming from a council that for months locked their front doors due to safety concerns - and continues to have private security, using our tax dollars, to make sure they are all safe.
Unfortunately, the reality is that many encampments have become hubs for violence, crime and negative behaviours, posing a significant threat to both the unhoused individuals and the surrounding community.
By defeating this motion, council is ignoring the legitimate concerns and fears of residents who are impacted by the criminal activities that often occur within or near these encampments.
We can all agree that focussing efforts on providing adequate housing and supports is the ultimate goal of Victoria council – yet it shouldn’t be at the expense of the safety and security of the thousands of residents who live in the surrounding neighbourhoods.
There must be a balance struck between addressing the housing crises and ensuring the security and well-being of the communities affected by the encampments.
Until Victoria is able to adequately address many of the problems associated with addictions, mental health problems and housing, all we are asking for is enhanced security in the interim to help people feel safer in their homes, neighbourhoods and city.
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