Hello everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to write to me this past week. I want to make sure that you get a timely response to your email so I’m writing back to all of you at once. This also helps ensure that all the information I share here in response to various queries and comments is available as widely as possible. If you’d like to receive an email update every Sunday you can sign up here.

I can’t guarantee that I will directly address the precise concerns, questions or suggestions that each of you expressed in the 168 emails I received this week related to outdoor sheltering and homelessness. But I can promise that I’ve read each of your emails and will do my very best to address them. So that you don’t have to read this whole email (though I’d really love if you would!), I’ve divided it using headings. You can skip to the section you think best addresses your query or concern. I would lovingly request that you all take the time to read the first section, “Democracy at Work.” And, for those who are wondering how you can help, I’d also suggest the last section on the Transitional Tiny Home Community.

Democracy at Work
One of the privileges of being the mayor is that I get a of a bird’s eye view of the community. And my email inbox this week is definitely part of that. I wish that all of you could see it. There are emails from those of you who think we are being way too harsh on people who are living without homes in our community. You’re calling on us to do more. And there are those of you who think we are way too easy on people who are homeless, that we should be much harsher, and that I only care about people who are homeless.

There are those of you who want us to leave the care tent that has been set up in Meegan/Beacon Hill Park and who think that the City is acting too slowly. And there are those of you who are strongly opposed to a City-funded Community Care Tent being set up this weekend and early next week on Cook Street and think that the City is acting too quickly.

There are those of you who do not want any additional funding to go to VicPD to assist our bylaw officers in the parks. And there are those who want us to be stricter in enforcing the bylaws and wonder why we’re not doing more.

It’s a real honour to hear all of your perspectives. And that’s what they all are, they are perspectives. There is not one of you who is categorically “right”. And there is not one of you who is categorically “wrong.” The beauty of democracy is when we really listen to each other’s perspectives and try to find common ground.

What I understand from your emails – and what I see as common ground in all your perspectives – is that having people with nowhere to live but in parks, in the middle of a global health pandemic isn’t good for any of you. It’s not good for those of you who are living in parks. It’s not good for those of you who – like one person who wrote to me this week – are a paycheque away from being homeless, struggling to feed their families, pay their bills, and keep themselves going, worried about living on their credit cards and when this is going to end. It’ s not good for those of you who live near or have a business near a park.

66 Days
That’s why the City – in lock-step with Minster Eby, BC Housing and the provincial government – is working hard every day over the next 66 days, between now and March 31st, to ensure that everyone who is currently sheltering in a park will be offered a safe, secure indoor 24/7 sheltering opportunity with the supports they need. And then we will also end 24/7 camping in parks. If you’d like to learn more about how we plan to do this, you can scan my blog posts from August 30th. Or, if you’d like a more precise snap shot see my Sunday January 3 blog post and in particular the section “Indoor Sheltering and Approach to Consultation.”

Some of you wonder why this is taking so long and feel that March 31st is a long way away. Those of you living in a tent in the middle of the winter probably also feels this way. It’s taking long because each place to be opened requires some form of lease agreement or needs to be purchased. Each place to be opened requires a manager and trained staff. Each place to be opened requires health and in some cases mental health and substance use supports. In November, when Council set a deadline of March 31st to work with the Province to offer everyone an indoor space, all of this work began in earnest. Over the next 66 days, we will see this work start to come to fruition. To keep in touch as the work progresses, you can sign up here.

Community Care Tent
I almost want to call this section “Community Care Tent Saga” as this is how it is starting to feel! In November, to fill social service gaps that were identified by those of you living outside and the front line workers serving you, Council created an emergency social services grant. One of the projects awarded in December was a Community Care Tent to be set up adjacent to Meegan/Beacon Hill Park to provide opportunities for people to warm up and receive emergency supports.

For a whole lot of reasons, the location for the Community Care Tent wasn’t finalized until this past Friday. For the next 66 days it will be located on Cook Street about 50m from Dallas Road so that humanitarian aid can be provided to people who are living in the park. There has been no consultation. It is cold out. People are living outside. People in the community want to help, to bring blankets and warm coats. The the tent has been set up temporarily to accommodate all of these needs. We will all need to do the best we can together over the next 66 days to make this emergency social service work.

Some of you have asked why this tent can’t be in the park, and/or why we can’t organize camping in the park at the gravel field in the southwest corner of the park. For those of you who have received these emails before, please feel free to skip the next paragraph!

Meegan/Beacon Hill Park is available – as are most other parks in the City per a 2009 Supreme Court decision securing the right to shelter – to members of the public who find themselves homeless to sleep in. Because of the Beacon Hill Trust, which dates back to the 1880s, the City cannot organize camping or social services in the park. That is why the Community Care Tent which is funded by the City is on Cook Street adjacent to the park. The City has to balance its responsibility as a Trustee of the park and do our part to ensure vulnerable residents can receive humanitarian aid in a global health pandemic.

Some of you have written today about the graffiti on the tent. The graffiti is unauthorized at this City-permitted and funded site and has now been covered up by the permit holders. Some of you have said that the graffiti and the whole issue of homelessness is dividing our community. Division is a choice. We have much more in common than that which separates us. To read more on this please head to my blog post from last Sunday and see the section, “Shared Suffering as Connection.”

The Community Caret tent will be run by the Red Cedar Cafe and will follow these guidelines:

1. Quiet Hours will be strictly enforced between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am
   
2. Two support workers will be on site at all times
   
3. During quiet hours, support services will be limited to:
   – Providing access to food or necessary survival supplies
   – Providing warm, safe temporary shelter for those who don’t have any camping
   gear or whose tents have been damaged, destroyed, collapsed, soaked or
   otherwise made unusable
   – Providing a safe space for people seeking distance from a partner or other
   person during conflict
   – Providing crisis response for people experiencing mental health crisis, employing
   de-escalation and conflict resolution skills, and facilitating connections to
   emergency mental health support services
   – Performing first aid and overdose response and connecting individuals with
   emergency services in the event of a medical emergency
   
4. During Daytime Hours (7:00 am – 10:00 pm) the Temporary Community Care Tent will
   provide the following additional support services:
   – Collecting donations from the public and distributing items such as tents, tarps,
   warm clothing and survival gear
   – Serving coffee, tea and food
   – Providing a space for people to warm up and dry off
   – Providing a connection to community through peer support, outreach and
   educational workshops
   
5. Covid-19 Public Health and Physical Distancing Guidelines will be enforced at all times
   
6. Failure to adhere strictly to these rules will result in the suspension of services at the
   Temporary Community Care Tent
   
   If you have any questions or would like to get involved, please contact:
   Red Cedar Café, 778-817-0395 / contact@redcedarcafe.ca / www.redcedarcafe.ca

Policing and Parks
A number of you have written this week with objections to a proposed one-time amount of $75, 960 to VicPD to continue the work they have been doing with Bylaw in the parks since September. Some of you who have written simply object to more funding for police under any circumstances. Others say that we shouldn’t give money to police people who are homeless. And still others say that the money could be better used to support people who are homeless.

I agree with you – and I think many at VicPD would as well – that their job isn’t to police homelessness. And I wholeheartedly agree that we need to ensure that funding is available to take care of people who are living without homes. Even though housing is clearly a provincial and federal responsibility (whereas policing is clearly a municipal responsibility with no one else to pick up the bill), the City has spent millions of dollars over the past few years, and thousands of staff hours, helping to secure housing for people who need it.

Council also has a responsibility to keep our staff safe. In most circumstances our bylaw staff are just fine doing their rounds without police. They have gotten to know many of the people who are living outside well and have – all things considered – a pretty good rapport. But sometimes, challenging situations can arise. And that’s when it’s necessary for bylaw to be accompanied by police.

This is a one-time funding request that expires on March 31st. This is when everyone currently living in parks will be offered an indoor space as a pathway to permanent housing. And over the next 66 days between the Province, the City and the community, while an additional $75,000 is spent on policing, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars will be spent on housing and sheltering solutions. I hope this perspective helps.

Transitional Tiny Home Community Anonymous Matching Donor
As always, I try to end with a dose of inspiration and a sense of hope. As many of you know, Aryze Developments and the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness have come together to raise money to create a tiny home community at 940 Caledonia Road.

Many people who wrote this week asked Council to support this temporary housing solution. Others who live very close by to the site have some concerns. Before any final decision is made, Council will hold an opportunity for public comment at a Thursday evening Council meeting. Although, the provincial housing minister said he was prepared to overrule Council if there were any delays in approving the project. So we’re working with BC Housing and an operator to be announced soon to make it awesome for tiny home residents and also for nearby neighbours. More on all that soon.

But in the meantime, there is still close to $200,000 that needs to be raised. This past week the Coalition and Aryze received some very heart warming news. An anonymous donor has committed to matching every single dollar until the project reaches its $500,000 goal. Once again, I’m floored by the generosity in our community and how people are coming together to literally help build homes for their neighbours. If you have $10 to contribute, it now turns into $20. If you have $100, it turns into $200. Just like that! You can donate and learn more here. Please spread the word.

We’re almost through this. Sixty-six days until everyone outside in parks moves inside. The Province rolled out a vaccine plan on Friday with a realistic timeline for us all to get vaccinated. An end is in sight to the strict restrictions that are keeping us apart from friends and family. Some hope is on the horizon for those who have lost jobs and are facing economic hardship. A re-opening. We can get through these next few long and difficult months, together, all of us, as a community.

With love,

Lisa / Mayor Helps