The City of Victoria is providing funding to set up a mobile shower trailer and other outreach services until the end of March 2021.
The trailer is being set up by the Salvation Army through the City’s Emergency Social Services Grant. The non-profit organization will be receiving $86,520 to fund the trailer, which will circulate five days a week to various sheltering locations.
Additionally, the Umbrella Society for Addictions and Mental Health will also receive $22,400 for community care services, including meal delivery for Victoria’s vulnerable people.
They will also be given an additional $6,500 for the creation of a community care tent to manage donated goods and to provide basic health services.
On November 20, 2020, City of Victoria Bylaw and VicPD officers dismantled an informal community care tent in Beacon Hill Park. They also dismantled shower units that had been built without City permission.
City officials said the belongings from that tent would be stored. On Friday, a representative for the City said that the decision for what to do with the stored items rests with the Umbrella Society.
The total funding of $115,420 is being allocated from over $6.5 million provided by the provincial and federal governments through the COVID-19 Safe Restart Grant for Local Governments.
In November, the City set a deadline of March 31 to end temporary camping in Victoria’s parks.
