The City of Victoria is looking to acquire more hotel and motel rooms for homeless and vulnerable populations, said Mayor Lisa Helps during her daily update on Wednesday.
Victoria council will be looking to pass a motion at their Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday to ask the provincial government to requisition indoor shelter spaces for all homeless people in the City of Victoria.
See also: City of Victoria acquires 115 motel rooms to house homeless population
The motion was introduced by Mayor Lisa Helps and councillors Jeremy Loveday and Sarah Potts and argues that while the City has worked with BC Housing and Island Health to secure 115 hotel and motel rooms, this is not enough.
“Island Health has identified that the best and safest option for people without homes is to be indoors in rooms with their own showers and bathrooms,” reads the motion.
“The rooms that have been secured to date are not sufficient in number to house all of the people who remain outside on Victoria’s streets and in our parks.”
If approved, the mayor will be writing to the provincial government to ask them to exercise their emergency powers to find indoor accommodations.
In the event that this request is denied by the province, the city will seek the authority to declare a local state of emergency and thereby use emergency powers to requisition hotel and motel rooms for people who are unsheltered in the city.
These units would then be provided to homeless people who are do not display symptoms of COVID-19 but are at risk of contracting and/or transmitting the virus.
“If the health crisis hits our homeless population, these will be the same people sharing our hospitals,” said Helps during her briefing today.
At the moment, Topaz Park is the only outdoor sheltering site available to homeless and vulnerable people who have not been housed at one of the 115 motel or hotel units thus far acquired by the city.
According to Helps, the fire department has confirmed that Topaz Park is now at capacity.
See all the latest updates about the global COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver Island
The BCCDC has set up a 2019 novel coronavirus telephone information line at 1-833-784-4397 for those who have further questions about this disease.
Anyone concerned that they may have been exposed to, or are experiencing symptoms of the novel coronavirus, should contact their primary care provider, local public health office, or call 8-1-1.
The Province has also created the 1-888-COVID-19 line to connect British Columbians needing non-medical information about the coronavirus pandemic.
As of the time of publication, the total number of COVID-19 patients worldwide has risen to 2,073,394.
Over 134,000 people have died from the illness and 508,861 have made a full recovery.
With files from Seanna Wainman
