Victoria looks to break up encampments with plan for daytime shelters

The City of Victoria is moving guardant pinch a scheme extremity nan city’s bum from mounting up tents during nan daytime.

It comes aft an onslaught connected a paramedic providing aesculapian assistance to personification successful nan 900 artifact of Pandora Avenue past week. In nan aftermath of nan attack, first responders will nary longer be nan area without a constabulary escort.

The artifact is location to aggregate societal services and has go location to scores of tents successful caller years.

Stephen Hammond brought a mobility to council connected Thursday directing nan metropolis to create a scheme pinch a timeline and costs estimates to forestall group from keeping tents and structures up during nan day.

“When you get excessively galore group it creates a mob mentality,” Hammond told Global News.

“We saw it astatine nan courthouse a fewer years ago, and we saw it present past week.”

City bylaws, informed by a landmark B.C. Supreme Court decision, licence group to shelter overnight successful metropolis parks erstwhile location is nary lodging disposable but still prohibit daytime sheltering.

The metropolis faced a akin business astir a decade agone erstwhile a bum encampment formed extracurricular nan Victoria courthouse.

Following a bid of constabulary incidents, nan state was yet capable to unafraid an injunction to unopen down nan encampment when a judge determined nan encampment was “unsafe for those surviving location and for nan neighbouring residents and businesses.”

In nan existent case, Hammond said nan metropolis has been incapable to enforce nan prohibition connected daytime tents owed to a deficiency of staffing and nan unanswered mobility of wherever those surviving location would go.

He said his mobility intends to person unit activity connected answers to those 2 issues.

“We still request to enforce our laws – and that’s what my mobility is about, to say, ‘Alright, what does it take?'” he said.

“Because we can’t proceed to person nan dangers that happened past week proceed successful our city.”

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Meanwhile, nan metropolis has announced plans to relocate an outreach centre from nan 900 artifact of Pandora Avenue to a caller tract astatine Princess Avenue and Dowler Street.

The Solid Outreach Society has been fixed $2.1 cardinal successful backing to supply services to up to 300 people.

That’s causing anger among immoderate residents.

“We each deed nan roof,” said Bill Fisher pinch People of Princess Avenue.

“There has been zero consultation pinch nan neighbourhood itself.”

The group has launched a petition calling connected nan state to scrap nan move.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said nan state is moving pinch nan city.

“We agreed that we would travel guardant pinch much resources for lodging options – and we are looking to assembly to opportunity to us, ‘Hey, this is wherever we would for illustration nan housing,” he said.

In nan meantime, Hammond’s scheme will move forward, aft passing 8 to 1 astatine metropolis assembly connected Thursday afternoon.