27412 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

It’s $500/mo. Almost certainly.

[lanforod]

It’s $500/mo. Almost certainly.

 

To those people living there sure. To taxpayers? 100k/year each?

[Victoria Watcher]

Well taxpayers also cover the $500. That’s their “shelter” portion of their welfare cheque.

[Victoria Watcher]

To those people living there sure. To taxpayers? 100k/year each?

Well 168 hours a week of staffing, at least. 168 x $30 x 52

That’s $610 per person per month for the babysitter.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 December 2024 - 08:38 AM.

[Mike K.]

So that's one supportive housing project we didn't know about.

 

How many others are there, throughout the region? There are also shelter-rate apartments in social housing projects throughout the region.

 

Saanich has quite a lot of social housing and low-income housing projects throughout the municipality, some dating back to the 70s and 80s.

[Beacon]

and he can have all of his medical needs taken care of at Cool Aid’s downtown clinic.

 

This the free walkin clinic where if you do drugs you get a special membership and you get VIP treatment, no waits etc that the rest of us are not afforded.

[Victoria Watcher]

This the free walkin clinic where if you do drugs you get a special membership and you get VIP treatment, no waits etc that the rest of us are not afforded.

 

Yes.

[Victoria Watcher]

A City of Nanaimo employee says he was assaulted with syringes in the bathroom at a waterfront park in that city on Tuesday morning.

 

The 58-year-old worker told police the two assailants fled after assaulting him about 10 a.m. at Maffeo Sutton Park.

 

Kevan Shaw, vice-president of the Nanaimo Area Public Safety Committee, a community group, said he has spoken to a relative who said the worker is shaken up.

 

He said other city workers have also said they’ve been harassed by members of the street population because they’re with police and bylaw enforcement staff when areas are cleaned up. Workers have been yelled at and had items thrown at them, Shaw said. “They are being targeted more now.”

 

Shaw said he is “sickened,” by what happened. “We’re seeing it not only happen in Nanaimo, but in Victoria, in Vancouver, all over the province,” he said. “This needs to be stopped.”

 

The victim suffered injuries to his face and abdomen, and was taken to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for assessment, the city said in a statement.

 

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog called the incident “very disturbing and upsetting.” He said it’s another example of the street disorder he and other mayors have been complaining about for years.

 

 

https://www.timescol...mo-park-9935277

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2024 - 12:39 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

$4.7 million price tag to enforce daytime sheltering in Victoria, sweeps possibly deadly

 

https://cheknews.ca/...deadly-1228701/

 

 

 

 

As the City of Victoria is set to consider whether it should spend an additional $4.7 million to enforce the city’s daytime sheltering ban, service providers and advocates are questioning if additional enforcement is what’s needed.

 

“Every time they get pushed around or scattered off the block, we lose a few,” said Fred Cameron with SOLID Outreach.

 

“I can see the numbers, and it happens directly after they get scattered around town … I think we lost about 10 in a seven to 10-day period.”

 

 

 

 

 

One of those pushed off Pandora was Shae Smith. He pitched his tent on a Victoria side street, where he was found dead last week.

 

Smith, a well-known and outspoken unhoused man in the capital city, is one of the seven to 10 unhoused people Cameron says died in December.

 

 

This is a good news story, after all.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2024 - 05:43 PM.

[Mike K.]

Police officers will tell you, that while our justice system may have a revolving door, the drugs eventually settle the score for some victims of crime. Whether or not that’s the sort of justice the victims would have wanted is another matter.

But it’s a known ‘remedy’ in our society.

[Victoria Watcher]

It's quite unclear to me how moving people from one sidewalk to another causes them death.   The CHEK article never articulates it.

 

Doing drugs is what causes the deaths, as far as I can tell.  

 

Shae Smith was given plenty of indoor homes over the years and every time he misbehaved to the point of eviction.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2024 - 05:58 PM.

[lanforod]

No matter what way you slice it though, calling the death of someone who basically made the wrong personal choices a ‘good news story’ is just wrong.
The only deaths I would be calling a good news story are mass murderers, child molesters, of that ilk.

[Victoria Watcher]

No matter what way you slice it though, calling the death of someone who basically made the wrong personal choices a ‘good news story’ is just wrong.
The only deaths I would be calling a good news story are mass murderers, child molesters, of that ilk.

 

Shae Smith has a history of assault.  And mistreatment of social support workers locally.  Not a good person.

 

He's directly responsible for some people leaving the social services profession, under his intimidation and threats.

 

He's now in a better place for him, and those that have had to deal with him.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2024 - 06:03 PM.

[Mike K.]

The CSO profile lists 34 entries: https://justice.gov....iceId=107416403

[Victoria Watcher]

Premier Doug Ford's government is introducing new legislation that it says will give municipalities and police services legal tools to dismantle homeless encampments and crack down on public drug use with fines or jail time.

 

"These encampments are taking over public spaces, with illegal drug use happening out in the open, creating huge safety risks for people and communities," Ford said. "Enough is enough, this has to stop and it will stop."

 

Ford announced the pending legislation at a news conference Thursday morning, the last day the legislature will sit before leaving for winter break.

 

The bill will include two amendments to the existing Trespass to Property Act that the province says will stop encampments from re-emerging once they are cleared. The amendments would give courts the power to consider repeat offences and the likelihood to re-offend against the act as aggravating factors in sentencing.

 

Attorney General Doug Downey said the amendments would not change any of the existing penalties in the act.

 

The legislation would also allow police and provincial offences officers to ticket or arrest people using illegal drugs in public, with penalties of up to $10,000 or six months in jail.

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...tario-1.7408376

 

 

 

The premier also announced an additional $75.5 million Thursday toward homelessness prevention programs, including $50 million for affordable housing, $20 million to expand shelter capacity and $5.5 million to top up the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit so as to immediately free up emergency shelter spaces.

 

That is in addition to nearly $700 million annually the province says it puts toward homelessness prevention programs and a recently announced $378 million to create 19 homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs, with up to 375 supportive housing units. Those hubs are being established in place of 10 drug-consumption sites the province intends to shut down in the spring.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 December 2024 - 09:28 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Mike K.]

It sounds like there may have been a suspicious death at Danbrook Park in downtown Langford. Police have not issued a statement, so maybe the locals are assuming the death was suspicious based on earlier info, but it has since been determined to have been an OD.

[Blair M.]

Just drove down Pandora. I somehow had visions that the recent clean-up would have improved things somewhat - but it’s worse than ever down there.
Folks have moved to side streets around the McDonalds and down towards Blanchard, and have taken to tenting inside the fencing. 
Sadly, it looks worse than it ever has in the past - including during COVID.

[Victoria Watcher]

Not enough housing or rehab beds for Victoria’s most broken, says outreach worker

 

https://cheknews.ca/...worker-1228846/

 

 

 

 

CHEK News is now learning that BC Housing offered not housing, but shelter spaces to 60 people who were sheltering outdoors on Pandora Avenue. They say half, or 30 people, accepted the shelter spaces.

 

Some say housing sometimes comes with too many barriers, like no-visitors and no-pets.

 

“The big thing is that, when housing is offered, that’s good, but does it force people to isolate with their addictions?” said Graham Reeve, who is housed, but is friends with some of those struggling with addictions and homelessness in Victoria.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 December 2024 - 01:35 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Council has not made any decisions about whether to go ahead with implementing an enforcement program for ­daytime sheltering in the city.

 

It asked for the information about estimated costs after an incident this year in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue where a paramedic was assaulted while attending to a patient, which led to police and other first responders being swarmed by about 60 people.

 

For a time, paramedics needed a police escort to go into the area.

 

In the wake of the incident, Coun. Stephen Hammond pointed out that it has never been legal to set up a tent or structure on streets, boulevards or sidewalks.

 

He said the city has bylaw-enforcement tools to tackle the sheltering but has chosen not to use them.

 

The report said the city’s bylaw department does not have the capacity or resources to address the enforcement of daytime sheltering bans.

 

Bylaw officers are deployed seven days a week, 362 days each year, on patrols to deal with sheltering and street disorder, it said.

 

 

https://www.timescol...-report-9950015