25959 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Scant on ideas, plenty of snide unhelpful posts, lots of complaining and finger pointing.

 

Open dialogue is tough.  

 

why do YOU think well under 1% of the population is homeless?

 

what do these folks lack that 99%+ of us have?

[LJ]

^And it's only three letters long.

[Victoria Watcher]

^And it's only three letters long.

 

ass?

pay?

fun?

[LJ]

job

[Victoria Watcher]

job

 

yes.  somewhat true.  but as i said in this space recently, tens of thousands of british columbians do not have jobs, are on social assistance at least semi-permanently (actually over 140,000), and they have homes.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 May 2021 - 06:51 PM.

[rmpeers]

Part of the solution for the CoV would be to withdraw the welcome mat.

Yes. Why is it so appealing for council and certain organizations to keep people moving here? Is it simply to ensure homelessness is a never-ending problem which they believe they can exploit?

[VIResident]

Part of the solution for the CoV would be to withdraw the welcome mat.

 

How do you do that?  School busses, drive around, round 'em up and drive them to Oak Bay? Sidney?

etc. and drop them off?  Certainly fits the need for other municipalities to assist in a meaningful way I guess.  This is a start Nparker. 

[JimV]

How do you do that?  School busses, drive around, round 'em up and drive them to Oak Bay? Sidney?

etc. and drop them off?  Certainly fits the need for other municipalities to assist in a meaningful way I guess.  This is a start Nparker. 

1.  Make it publicly very clear that Victoria does not have the capacity or intention to welcome new migrants who are unable to support themselves.

 

2.  Ban camping in all parks except as required by court decisions.

 

3.  Thoroughly interview every homeless person to determine their identity, details and whether they have outstanding warrants.

 

4.  Require certain standards for people directed to shelters; basically good behaviour.

 

5.  Expedite criminal prosecutions of the bad apples; this would require provincial cooperation.

 

6.  Establish proper security at shelters and housing units.

 

7.   Generally, quit giving them so much free stuff, especially drugs.

 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg but it’s a start.

[Mike K.]

Are you sure about that? Were it not for this council/City of Victoria where would the homeless be? In your municipality?

It has been well documented that a significant number of people dependant on social services in Victoria are not from Victoria. They were drawn by the services Victoria offers. The sooner we acknowledge this as a region, the sooner we can have open and honest conversations around services on a regional level. Otherwise, what you’re asking for is to have Central Saanich provide shelter and food and resources for Alberta Camaro Man who drove around a James Bay park to announce his arrival.

But we also need to acknowledge that Sooke has its own shelter and services. They’re not as complex as they are in Victoria but it’s the only municipality with a full time shelter outside of Victoria.

[Victoria Watcher]

full time shelters are part of the problem.

shelters should only be open for nights and the odd cold day.

that’s how it works in almost every North American city. so it should be no surprise people come here when they hear about 24/7 shelters with all kinds of other freebies.

[lanforod]

Maybe less popular, but I'll throw these out there:

 

Update the Canada Criminal Code: Charge dealers of Fentanyl/Car-Fentanyl with manslaughter/murder.

 

Reintroduce mandatory stay (even for life terms) mental health institutions capable of handling violent people

[Vin]

By the way, everyone commenting here, what is your solution?  What are your ideas?  That is what I was attempting to do here, open up dialogue, get ideas, something the province and/or new candidates could look at.

 

Make it even harder for people to be homeless and a huge number will straighten out. Help only those who can also help themselves, but for the ones who are in it to abuse the system, weed them out and apply the stick. Those who commit crimes: incarcerate to the fullest extent. You will be surprised how clean the City will become if strict no-nonsense rules and laws are enforced.

Edited by Vin, 31 May 2021 - 02:59 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Japan has 8 million empty homes.

https://nationalpost...s-little-as-550

[A Girl is No one]

Japan has 8 million empty homes.

https://nationalpost...s-little-as-550

We have ghost towns here with empty homes too. No need to go all the way to Japan.

[Victoria Watcher]

Alto said she suspects a small number of people have sheltered in Beacon Hill Park for decades, but an “unprecedented” level of sheltering has driven the area to a point where recovery is necessary, and the provincial investments in indoor spaces have provided a place for hundreds of people previously unhoused to go.

 

“I see no better time for us to take the opportunity to look at Beacon Hill Park as the gem that it is for everyone for all purposes, and to give it a rest,” she said.

 

Councillors Sarah Potts and Sharmarke Dubow opposed the sheltering ban, while councillors Jeremy Loveday and Ben Isitt recused themselves.

 

The vote will go to a June 17 council meeting to be ratified.

 

Potts said it feels premature to enact a ban, because city parks staff have not yet reported back to council on the damage done to parks and council is expecting a report on complex-care housing.

 

“I just don’t believe that this actually solves anything. What it will do is it will displace challenges, perceived or real, into other parks,” she said.

 

Marko Curuvija, project director for the Existence Project, an organization that uses storytelling to humanize public discourse, said he was surprised and frustrated that councillors decided to move forward with a sheltering ban.

 

Members of the Existence Project have been spending time with people in the park since the beginning of the pandemic, Curuvija said, and have heard there are many reasons why people choose to shelter there. Some feel the housing options offered are unsafe, while others have established communities and relationships in the park.

 

Those who live there say Beacon Hill is the only city park large enough to offer privacy and the space to choose who they live near. It’s also closer to downtown services for people who use drugs, he said.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...park-1.24326591

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 June 2021 - 12:05 AM.

[JimV]

“..give it a rest”, Alto says.  This highlights the underlying absurdity of this motion.  The implication of a two year ban is that afterwards we can start over and wreck it again.

[Mike K.]

Interesting to note that campers were there for decades.

So what changed since 2014?

[A Girl is No one]

Alto said she suspects a small number of people have sheltered in Beacon Hill Park for decades, but an “unprecedented” level of sheltering has driven the area to a point where recovery is necessary, and the provincial investments in indoor spaces have provided a place for hundreds of people previously unhoused to go.

“I see no better time for us to take the opportunity to look at Beacon Hill Park as the gem that it is for everyone for all purposes, and to give it a rest,” she said.

Councillors Sarah Potts and Sharmarke Dubow opposed the sheltering ban, while councillors Jeremy Loveday and Ben Isitt recused themselves.

The vote will go to a June 17 council meeting to be ratified.

Potts said it feels premature to enact a ban, because city parks staff have not yet reported back to council on the damage done to parks and council is expecting a report on complex-care housing.

“I just don’t believe that this actually solves anything. What it will do is it will displace challenges, perceived or real, into other parks,” she said.

Marko Curuvija, project director for the Existence Project, an organization that uses storytelling to humanize public discourse, said he was surprised and frustrated that councillors decided to move forward with a sheltering ban.

Members of the Existence Project have been spending time with people in the park since the beginning of the pandemic, Curuvija said, and have heard there are many reasons why people choose to shelter there. Some feel the housing options offered are unsafe, while others have established communities and relationships in the park.

Those who live there say Beacon Hill is the only city park large enough to offer privacy and the space to choose who they live near. It’s also closer to downtown services for people who use drugs, he said.





https://www.timescol...park-1.24326591

So according to TV, the activists, and supported by the TC:
We have to feel bad when people have to sleep in parks AND
We have to feel bad when people can’t sleep in parks.

I wholeheartedly disagree with that poverty entrepreneur, and Potts and Dubow (and Isitt and Loveday as well I’m sure, lucky for them that they didn’t have to take a stance on this one!). In a civilized society, no one should be living in part. A court ruling allowed for it when there is a shortage of shelter space. That ruling did not give anyone the right to prefer to live in a park. We have shelter spaces, there should be no more sleeping in the parks allowed. Period. It’s not a choice.

Edited by A Girl is No one, 04 June 2021 - 07:41 AM.

[Sparky]

“It’s also closer to downtown services for people who use drugs, he said.”

In my honest opinion this is the root cause of this whole homeless debate.

This guy is off his rocker.

He is advocating the support of convenience of an industry that has killed people young and old. The drug industry is the root cause of homelessness. It’s the root cause of crime.

Stop giving these assholes credibility.

[Rob Randall]

^But until you solve the underlying problem of why people are compelled to ingest deadly chemicals nothing will change. You could erase all illegal drugs and addicts will just switch to huffing gasoline or what have you.