Amid a continuing housing crisis in Greater Victoria, Our Place Society, operators of Choices Transitional Home, has asked View Royal council to let them stay open for another year.
The shelter, which provides room and board for 48 residents, will see its current arrangement with the Town of View Royal end March 31. That was an extension of the original agreement, which was to allow use of the former youth custody centre as a shelter until last August.
In the absence of additional permanent housing, the need for facilities like Choices remains significant, said Grant McKenzie, director of communications at Our Place.
Mayor David Screech said he was initially surprised and angry when the request came to council last month, but that anger has subsided. “The fact that you’ve got 50 people in there with nowhere to go, it’s hard to remain angry … hopefully in the next year they can sort something out so they have somewhere proper for these people to go and be housed,” he said.
While previous arrangements with the municipality have been informal, the Town has informed Our Place it will need a formal temporary use permit to continue at the site. That means going through a public process and securing fresh council approval.
“I think we allowed it because clearly the region was dealing with a crisis with tent city,” Screech said. “We saw that and recognized that and homelessness is a regional issue, so we allowed the temporary use. But now with their request, they’re going to be into two full years. That’s going a little bit beyond temporary, so we think that they should go through a formal process where the residents get a proper say.”
Consultation with B.C. Housing for residents will also take place in advance of council’s decision, which is slated for late March.
While there have been concerns raised by area residents with regards to Choices occupants, Screech said he hasn’t fielded too many complaints and that some neighbours have had positive things to say about the facility.
McKenzie also feels residents have been supportive. “We really noticed that the neighbourhood has come to rally behind Choices now. I think that says a lot about how Our Place has tried to be a good neighbour and really address the concerns,” he said.
One of Screech’s primary concerns is the number of police calls that have originated from Choices. As of Jan. 10, police had been called to the facility 62 times since it opened in February last year. “They’ve been calling the police to sort of act as referees … that’s a real drain on police resources and we have to be really careful of that,” he said.
McKenzie said many calls are the result of mental health and addictions problems among residents and that if they weren’t having those conflicts and issues at Choices, they’d be having them on the street.
“It’s not any threat to the neighbourhood. … One of the reasons a lot of these people are on the streets in the first place is because they’ve slipped through those health-care cracks,” he said.
Screech and council must weigh several factors when deciding whether or not to allow the facility to stay open for another year.
“I think the impact on the surrounding neighbourhood is number one,” the mayor said. He also needs assurances that police and emergency personnel are comfortable with what’s happening there, while being mindful of the bigger regional picture of homelessness.
Screech has been assured that Choices remains a temporary solution while B.C. Housing works towards establishing more permanent facilities around the region.
“The long-term future (of that site) will not be a homeless camp,” he said. “I don’t blame people for being skeptical at this point, because they were told six months … it is not the intention nor will the Town support that being a permanent homeless facility.”
joel.tansey@goldstreamgazette.com
