25967 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Capital Daily:

 

 

 

 

View Royal delays final decision on parks camping bylaw until January

View Royal was set to approve a new parks bylaw that would effectively ban sheltering in its parks entirely on Dec. 13. After Capital Daily reported on the story, council voted 4-3 to table the matter until January.

In the special council meeting, staff called the 100-metre exclusion for footpaths in the bylaw, which would exclude all View Royal parks, a "typo."

Coun. Ron Mattson advocated to first pass the law and to then amend it in January after they had created a map. "I know that as it’s written, it’s got problems. But if we approve this now, staff will have something to work with if they start camping," Mattson said.

The bylaw has been in the works for the past three years. Town staff will be returning to council with a map that will show where people can shelter.

The town received an additional 10 letters regarding the bylaw, which so far have been largely against the proposed changes. Nine questioned the decision to allow camping in View Royal parks, a right that has been enshrined in a BC Supreme Court case. Only one wrote in to support a camping bylaw that would help "take responsibility for the social needs of our community."

By Michael John Lo

[Mike K.]

Doesn’t View Royal still have the juvi facility? What’s happening there?

[Nparker]

Can it be confirmed that every bed in every one of the homeless shelters the Province acquired/created in the past 3 years is currently full?

[Love the rock]

Could support staff question tenters .
Where do you come from ,do you want  help to return to your own community.  Do you have support in your area .  Does your family know where you are ? How many people came to nice sunny Victoria camping in parks for the good life  then found a dark reality .

I think it’s kinder to financially help someone to get back to their community if they want instead of  giving them coffee and tube socks  .Thinking back to the homeless man that was murdered in the summer his sister stated he was  just trying to make a mends leave Victoria and get back home .

[Nparker]

Many of the people living in tents are severely mentally ill and incapable of making rational decisions for themselves (such as returning to their home communities). For some reason it is considered compassionate not to intervene with the exception of naloxone and soon, free opioids.

[Love the rock]

Many of the people living in tents are severely mentally ill and incapable of making rational decisions for themselves (such as returning to their home communities). For some reason it is considered compassionate not to intervene with the exception of naloxone and soon, free opioids.

Sad but true .

[Mike K.]

Sounds like an encampment burned down at the tunnel under Ravine Way near uptown. It happened last night.

[Victoria Watcher]

Let’s catch people before they fall

I can’t help but take issue with the near-constant barrage of mental health, housing and involuntary institutionalization-related opinion pieces I’ve been reading lately.

 

Firstly, what we see on the streets is in large part a matter of economics and government policy. Housing is unaffordable and unattainable, peoples’ mental health is on the rise because of the constant pressures we as a society must endure, and self medicating these compounding traumas is a major factor in peoples’ substance-use choices.

 

Secondly, the government responds with policies that may reduce harm, but don’t actually supply adequate supports to help people change lives, recover or reintegrate back into society.

 

For instance, some would say modular housing is a quick fix, it’s a political and economic response to a very complex issue that creates as much harm as it is supposed to reduce, and doesn’t attach the adequate supports to the project to mitigate harm to the neighbourhoods where they are placed.

 

These are valid issues and old news.

 

Lastly, involuntary confinement won’t stop the political and economic forces that have created these situations. We need to, in part, step away from crisis and invest upstream to catch more people before they fall.

 

Chris Forester

Victoria

 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-exists-6273192

 

 

 

 

So says the guy firmly entrenched in the executive level of the poverty industry here.  If the industry grows so does his salary.

 

https://ca.linkedin....ester-5b7766122

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 December 2022 - 05:53 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Town of View Royal council has postponed until the new year discussions around a parks bylaw amendment that would formalize restrictions on where overnight sheltering is able to take place in the community.

https://www.vicnews....until-new-year/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 December 2022 - 10:00 AM.

[dasmo]

It’s chilly out there. Good vibes to those in rough spots out there tonight.

[Matt R.]

Hit -11 on my drive home tonight, yuck. Loaded a few arbutus into the stove when I got home, it’ll still be warm when I wake up… I think it’s going to be a wild couple of days, especially in the Fraser valley. Who doesn’t love freezing rain?

[Victoria Watcher]

For the past five years, 25-year-old Seth Laub has called the streets home.

After seeing his mother experience trauma, he went into foster care. After getting out of the system, he said he had no where to go except the streets.

"It's scary, but it's not as scary as some of the things you have to go through and experience," Laub said.



__________

In the five years he's been experiencing homelessness Laub said he has been able to couch surf from time to time. Although he said he tries to stay positive, he knows finding a way out won't be simple.

"I'll live on the streets, honestly, until the day I die. If that's the way it's got to be, it's the way it's got to be."




https://www.cbc.ca/n...ndsor-1.6691537

How can a reporter write a story like that, and not ask why this guy doesn’t have some type of work income?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 January 2023 - 06:26 AM.

[Matt R.]

Dishwasher is gonna make $20 an hour and get a shift meal, plus all the coffee and fountain pop they want and maybe even a boozy shift drink and probably find some like minded souls and roommates at the same time.

Could be a $200 per day value, but you gotta show up on time and be prepared to work.

Heck, these days If you can manage four shifts a week you’d probably qualify for medical and dental benefits at many places. I’ve worked with more than a few under housed folks and that restaurant shift meal is a highlight for sure.

Edited by Matt R., 02 January 2023 - 12:23 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In the five years he's been experiencing homelessness Laub said he has been able to couch surf from time to time. Although he said he tries to stay positive, he knows finding a way out won't be simple.

"I'll live on the streets, honestly, until the day I die. If that's the way it's got to be, it's the way it's got to be."

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 January 2023 - 12:15 PM.

[dasmo]

They are setting the stage for owning nothing and being happy…

[dasmo]

look up “Canada Beyond 150” to see the ideal future our political class has in store for us plebes.

It’s got a name - “access economy”.

[dasmo]

I’ll post it in the politics thread

[Victoria Watcher]

For the 38 kilometres between Sooke and Victoria, there is nowhere for people experiencing homelessness to stay overnight, even when the temperature drops below freezing.

 

Colwood resident Deidre Moran spent much of last year trying to make progress towards a cold weather shelter for the Westshore. She’d been aware for a while that there was nowhere for people to go without heading downtown, and during last winter’s cold snap she decided to do something about it.

 

In March she started talking with non-profit organizations in Victoria, Colwood staff, and other concerned neighbours to find out how to make it happen. 

 

_______________________________-

 

Our Place spokesperson Grant McKenzie agreed there’s a need in the Westshore, but wonders if people would use a shelter if it were built.

 

“What we find is, a lot of the people who are under the bridges and hiding in the bushes tend to be people who are isolating because of shame, stigma, or addiction. A lot of times, especially for men, it seems that when they get into a certain position, there's embarrassment or stigma. They're kind of like wounded bears, and they hide away,” he said. 

 

“So I think there's a good possibility that a shelter could work for the Westshore. On the other hand, if you look at the shelter in Sooke, there’s a need, but it's not necessarily being used a lot because a lot of the homeless people in Sooke are out in the woods, or are hiding away. It's always difficult to know: Is the need there for shelter? Or if you open the shelter, would it show the need?”

 

Miller emphatically disagreed with that assessment. 

 

“The year we became permanent, we went from 98 clients to 210 clients. We've seen an over 100% increase in just about one year,” she said. 

 

“You build it, they will fill it.”

 

 

https://www.thewests...th-growing-need

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 January 2023 - 06:13 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Further west in Shirley and Jordan River, Miller knows there are a good number of people living in the woods, often because they feel safer there than in downtown Victoria—especially for people who aren’t suffering from mental health challenges or serious addiction. 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are living in the woods you are suffering from one and/or the other.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 January 2023 - 06:16 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Without a home, a job is much tougher

Re: “Plenty of people could take those jobs,” letter, Jan. 4.

 

Imagine wanting to work, but you are homeless. You’ve slept outside all night in the cold. Your clothes are in a suitcase that you bring with you ­wherever you go.

 

You have to pack up your camp and take it all with you or it will be stolen. You also have to take all this gear with you to a job site. You have no way to shower in the morning.

 

You may have to line up for breakfast, but you may also have to take a bus to your job. But with your new job the bus arrives so early, you miss that breakfast.

 

Imagine a morning like this … and the evening to follow.

 

Anne Grimes

Fairfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would posit that less than 1% of the homeless population faces this situation.