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Victoria homelessness and street-related issues


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#21501 Rob Randall

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Posted 27 January 2021 - 04:59 PM

I don't know why they deemed it necessary to withdraw the press releases but here's a news story anyway.

 

https://www.cheknews...shelter-738711/



#21502 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 28 January 2021 - 06:27 AM

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Adam_Stirling

 

 


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 January 2021 - 06:29 AM.


#21503 JimV

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Posted 28 January 2021 - 08:05 AM

And this opens 45 more spaces in various CoV parks for additional squatters.

It’s a good thing the Humans of Meegan (sic) have set up an alternate tent to service the inevitable influx.  Think about it.  It’s 3am, you’ve returned from foraging  in James Bay, stowed your loot in the corral.  Too much screaming next door to sleep and your fence won’t be around for a few hours.  The Bunsen burner is running low.  You’re coming down from your last fix and feeling twitchy.  You really need some harm reduction supplies and maybe a cup of coffee.

 

Do you really want to stumble down through the woods to the Red Cedar tent?  No telling who else might be hanging out in the trees and there’s always a chance of being spotted by a police patrol on Cook.  It’s a lot safer to traverse the gentle slopes over to the Humans tent.  Plus you don’t have to leave your stuff unguarded for as long and it’s easier to make a break for it over the gravel field if necessary.

 

The Humans have correctly analyzed the needs of Victoria’s most vulnerable and provided appropriate services.


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#21504 rmpeers

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Posted 28 January 2021 - 08:46 AM

screenshot-twitter.com-2021.01.28-09_20_22.png


screenshot-twitter.com-2021.01.28-09_18_45.png

https://twitter.com/Adam_Stirling

screenshot-twitter.com-2021.01.28-09_20_43.png

screenshot-twitter.com-2021.01.28-09_25_22.png


Anyone who denies induced demand is a huge issue is either very ignorant of the situation or is lying in order to profit from it in some way.
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#21505 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 28 January 2021 - 08:52 AM

Anyone who denies induced demand is a huge issue is either very ignorant of the situation or is lying in order to profit from it in some way.

 

homelessness 5 years ago in victoria:

 

cot on a gym floor overnight

leave by 8am - go get meals at our place (no sunday breakfast)

back to cot on gym floor at 9pm

welfare rate $295 cash

 

homelessness today (for many) in victoria:

 

private hotel or other (844 johnson, vancouver st.) room

stay all day, store your belongings permanently

3 meals in-house, plus snack/coffee station

welfare rate $545 cash

cellphone courtesy of the government

 

 

 

and people don't see how that will induce demand?


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 January 2021 - 08:54 AM.

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#21506 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 28 January 2021 - 04:08 PM

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Adam_Stirling

 

 

 


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 January 2021 - 04:12 PM.

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#21507 kitty surprise

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 06:21 AM

Question... Something I've been trying to reconcile...

We are being told March 31st.

I assume there are many out there who:

- prefer outdoor camping living,
- prefer anything goes/no rules/freedom living,
- prefer marble countertops/Whirlpool tub/unrealistic living amenities.

In other words, there will be many who will be objecting to what free housing options will be offered to them, because whatever will be offered will never be 'good enough' for them.

Help me understand what their game is here? They're crying for housing, we offer it to them, and there is a risk they could snub their noses at it? Are these the unhouseables or is it something else? And what should be the plan to address people who fall into this bucket?


Edited by kitty surprise, 29 January 2021 - 06:46 AM.

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#21508 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 06:35 AM

if we did not deliver food to them they might find a better place to live. I have never understood when or why we made food delivery or service an integrated part of the services to homeless. when our place was able to serve all comers.
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#21509 Awaiting Juno

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 12:52 PM

They should be in appropriate shelter facilities with access to proper sanitation & hygiene (showers and toilets) and given access to job search, training, housing search and treatment.  Enabling dysfunction doesn't work - I think the care tent provides essential services, what I disagree with is the enablement of 24/7 sheltering in places where it's not appropriate.  I still fail to understand why semi-permanent, larger, tent facilities that could accommodate 20 or 30 people per site in more appropriate locations weren't established.  I fail to understand why allowing our parks to be used in this way has helped anyone.


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#21510 Nparker

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 01:42 PM

...I fail to understand why allowing our parks to be used in this way has helped anyone.

It helps the activists.


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#21511 JimV

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 04:51 PM

Count me as dubious regarding the essential services.  I drive by there fairly often on my daily rounds and have yet to see anyone except a couple of volunteers.  I suppose there might be one or two people inside the tents but it certainly doesn’t present as some kind of emergency situation.  And whatever it does provide basically constitutes enabling of 24hr camping and drug use.


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#21512 JimV

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 06:12 PM

Just watched a short interview on CHEK with a woman who camps in Central Park. She said that no one there wants to move into the arena.  Too many restrictions etc.  I think this is the big fly in the ointment regarding the famous March 31 camping end date.


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#21513 sebberry

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 06:30 PM

Well, Lisa promised so it's on her to figure it out.


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#21514 Redd42

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 06:34 PM

Seen on Facebook this afternoon. Ask the EXPERTS!  :whyme:

 

Hi everyone! The Existence Project has been connecting with unhoused folks living at Meegan (Beacon Hill) to get to know them better and seek their expertise on important issues related to housing & homelessness. This will be an ongoing series, so if you have questions you'd like to ask put it in the comments and we'll try to have it featured in an upcoming video!

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#21515 mbjj

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 07:11 PM

What? We're supposed to ask questions of the unhoused now? I have a couple of things I'd like to ask, lol, but I might be considered rude. 


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#21516 newbie_01

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Posted 29 January 2021 - 08:14 PM

This is fantastic! We've now got Expert Homeless People! I don't know why you guys are so annoyed by all of this. It could really put our city on the map! :-D


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#21517 JimV

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Posted 30 January 2021 - 08:27 AM

Another big tent down in the Cook Street site.  This one has a high steeple roof, the kind you used to see at medieval fairs.  Very festive.  That makes three big tents and one small one.  Ben and his crew have been busy.  Still no sign of any activity (rejoice, Cook Street neighbours.)  Kind of reminds me of the Coral Castle, that place in Florida where the guy, without any apparent help or machinery, somehow erected 20 ton blocks overnight.



#21518 Mike K.

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Posted 30 January 2021 - 08:32 AM

Cook Street already has a Castle.
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#21519 JimV

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Posted 30 January 2021 - 08:52 AM

Cook Street already has a Castle.

Yes, but it’s an old school, obsolete kind of castle.  You actually have to pay for your stuff there.


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#21520 Mike K.

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Posted 30 January 2021 - 10:14 AM

Statement from B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus on Meetings with the Provincial Government to Develop a Complex Care Housing Pilot
January 29, 2021
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, co-chairs of the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus, released the following statement following meetings this week with Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing David Eby and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson to discuss strengthening mental health and substance use supports in the face of the ongoing homelessness and opioid crises.

“On behalf of the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus, we would like to thank the Ministers for meeting this week to begin to plan how we can work together to accelerate B.C.’s response to addressing the mental health, substance use and homelessness crises. It’s great to see the priorities laid out in our Blueprint for British Columbia’s Urban Future reflected in the Ministers’ mandate letters.

“We are seeing historic investments from the Province to build more affordable housing, which is serving the needs of many people in our communities. Yet even with this unprecedented effort, people with complex needs are falling through the cracks and aren’t being served by the supportive housing models and programs currently available.

“That’s why the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus wants to work with Ministers Eby, Malcolmson and the provincial government to develop a five-site pilot project for 40 to 50-unit Complex Care Housing sites within a year: one on the Island, one in the North, one in the Interior and two in the Lower Mainland.

“This five-site pilot project is the necessary first step in filling a gap in the continuum of housing and health care to meet the needs of vulnerable people who require mental health and substance use supports and services unique to their needs. Some of them may need extra supports on a pathway to recovery. Some of them may need to be in this kind of care longer term. This pilot project is an opportunity to learn on a small-scale, five-site basis and then – building on the learnings – to create additional sites in communities across the province.

“The challenges we are seeing in our communities are expanding faster than the solutions. Our vulnerable residents are at risk without proper health supports to meet their complex needs. Our residents and business owners are frustrated. And economic recovery from the pandemic will be compromised without action now. It’s time to try new approaches.

“As Mayors of B.C.’s largest urban centres, we look forward to working with the provincial government on this pilot and would like funding for it to be included in Budget 2021. We are here to help the Ministers and the Province make this pilot a success for all.

About the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus
The B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus is an informal, non-partisan group of mayors from Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George, Richmond, Saanich, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria, representing over 55 per cent of the province’s total population. The group came together in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and acts as a unified voice on critical issues facing their communities and urban British Columbia.

The group published the Blueprint for British Columbia’s Urban Future, which outlines four key priorities for urban communities across the province:

Mental Health, Substance Use and Treatment
Affordable Housing
Public Transit
A New Fiscal Framework

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