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Housing People - What Works?


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#121 gumgum

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Posted 23 January 2008 - 06:30 PM

Here are some shots of 950 Humbolt:







#122 Rob Randall

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 07:11 PM

Thank you for your great photos, gum gum.

Here is an announcement from the Burnside-Gorge Community Association:

Dear Community Member:

I am writing you on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Burnside Gorge Community Association. You may be aware that BC Housing, in partnership with the Victoria Cool Aid Society, and the City of Victoria is proposing to build a new emergency shelter for homeless persons, comprising of 80 to 100 emergency shelter beds and 24 self contained transitional housing units at Ellice Street Park in the Burnside Gorge Community.

There are some major concerns regarding the proposal - loss of 50 valuable child care spaces, increased crime in the community that already has the highest crime rate for any neighbourhood in the city, and that dumping a disproportionate share of City problems onto the neighbourhood will prove costly to residents and businesses, who will bear the brunt of security costs, increasing insurance cost, and devalued property values.

It is in this last context that we are writing – given this new information of the potential relocation, you may wish to file an appeal of your latest tax assessment by going tohttp://www.bcassessm...ppeal_form.aspx. The appeal is simple and straightforward. Time is of the essence, as the last day to file an appeal isJanuary 31, 2008.

The BGCA accepts that all communities need to accept some of the burden of social housing, but that planning must be in the context of the aspirations of the communities. If we have to use the park space for housing, we suggest that permanent supportive housing units would be better for the site, as this would provide greater community stability than a shelter.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call Paul Gerrard, President of the Burnside Gorge Community Association at388-5251.

Please feel free to forward this on to your neighbours and other businesses in the community, and please forgive anycross-postings.

[Sender's name and contact info removed in 2017 on request]

I don't see how this attempt at re-assessment can succeed because 2008 assessments are based on the value of the property had it been for sale on July 1, 2007. You cannot retroactively place future events onto past dates. They could appeal next year's assessment.

Edited by Rob Randall, 10 November 2017 - 08:12 PM.


#123 Rob Randall

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Posted 22 January 2009 - 10:26 AM

I wasn't sure where to post this and sorry for the late notice but there's a workshop today at 11 am at City Hall on Bill 27 implications for Victoria.

#124 Ginger Snap

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Posted 22 January 2009 - 07:54 PM

Rob, did you attend this?

#125 Rob Randall

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Posted 22 January 2009 - 11:37 PM

Yes, a few (4) of us were there but the Council meeting was running late and nobody ever showed up to tell us it was canceled so we left. No wonder public attendance at these workshops is so dismal.

I got a copy of the report, however. After conferring with my colleagues we thought the gist of the consultant's report was something like this:

-The Province wants municipalities to go green and supply affordable housing
-They are willing to give incentives to the City to make this happen
-The City of Victoria doesn't think the incentives will have much effect and besides, we have our hands full just dealing with the status quo.

I'm sure there's more to it but it sounds depressingly familiar.

#126 Caramia

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Posted 22 January 2009 - 11:37 PM

I have to say I support the shelter being built. But at the same time, I fully respect that the people who live in that neighbourhood should adjust their property values. Most likely those values have taken a real loss even before the shelter is built. You can't minimize that. If it turns out that the area improves because of the new facility, then the next assessment can always reflect that, right?

I agree that the goal should be to put stable, supportive housing there - or at least supportive transitional housing. The building was planned so that it could be easily converted into housing if the need for emergency shelter decreased.

I think that we should strive towards that goal, mostly by continuing to find creative, dispersed ways to give someone shelter for a night and at least reducing the scale of the shelter portion of the building. Hopefully the housing first approach, combined with the recently announced suite incentives (I applaud that one by the way! About friggin time!) will make some headway.

One measure that probably won't get tried here...

Throughout Europe there are squatter buildings where anyone who is vaguely involved in the culture is welcomed. There are permanent residences, and then often guest rooms, sometimes, with bunk beds even :) It is all squatter run, at no cost to the state, people who can't behave are blacklisted internally without police interference. And all City Council had to do was provide information about which buildings are empty, inspect the electrical and plumbing , and charge for services. Oh, and make squatting abandoned buildings legal.
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

 



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