Victoria’s city council has officially banned any houseless folks from sheltering overnight in four parks where previously, people could camp between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
In early July, Councillor Jeremy Caradonna put forth a motion that Stadacona Park be added to the list of parks in which overnight sheltering is banned.
After some discussion, the council along with city staff identified three other parks to potentially ban overnight sheltering in, those being Topaz Park, Hollywood Park and Regatta Point Park.
The city council then took a couple weeks in considering how to effectively do this and not displace any of those who had relied on the park for safe overnight sheltering.
They decided that the city would hire a temporary position, the Parks Relocation Coordinator (PRC), from July through to the end of December to handle taking down all the names of those who were in those four parks and work with them to find somewhere else to shelter.
Pacifica Housing, a housing solutions organization, took on the role of PRC and began to seek out the individuals who would be impacted by this bylaw.
The PRC’s directive from city staff and council was to “house or better shelter” those sheltering in those four farks, of which there were 16.
Those 16 individuals, plus another nine who were taking shelter nightly in Oaklands Park and Vic West Park seeking a better situation were given a few options by the PRC.
“The Parks Relocation Coordinator team moved systematically through those specific parks,” said Shannon Perkins, Director of Bylaw and Licencing Services.
“They conducted in-depth assessments of unhoused individuals to better understand the context around each individuals history of chronic homelessness, what health and other resources they may need to connect with and what kind of housing was most appropriate for those individuals in order to attain better long-term outcomes,” she continued.
They could accept a solution deemed by Pacifica housing and the council’s parameters to be “better shelter,” or they could turn down the offer and find somewhere else on their own.
Back in July, council agreed that if this feat could be accomplished by November 1st, they would move forward with making the necessary amendments to the bylaw.
“As of October 25th, everyone from the list of 16 has either received housing or better shelter, are no longer sheltering in the named parks or have declined offers of housing assistance from the Parks Relocation team,” Perkins said.
“Therefore the conditions set out in council member motions have been satisfied.”
City staff’s recommendation was that council advance this bylaw amendment by giving it three readings and effectively banning sheltering in those four parks.
The next council meeting that this bylaw amendment could be adopted is on November 9th.
Next steps following these four parks, according to Perkins, is that there will potentially be more parks added to the growing list of parks in which it is illegal to shelter in.
The list of parks in which sheltering is already prohibited are:
- Arbutus Park
- Bastion Square
- Beacon Hill Park
- Cecelia Ravine Park
- Centennial Square
- Central Park
- Coffin Island
- Cridge Park
- David Spencer Park
- Haegert Park
- Kings Park
- MacDonald Park
- Moss Rocks Park
- Oaklands Green
- Pandora Green
- Pioneer Square
- Quadra Park
- Queens Avenue Playlot
- Reeson Park
- Robert Porter Park
- Ross Bay Cemetery
- South Park
- Summit Park
The four parks in question will be added to that list when officially adopted on November 9th.
In contrast to that list, the only five parks that unhoused folks can shelter in following this bylaw amendment are Irving Park, Gonzales Park, Pemberton Park, Victoria West Park and Oaklands Park.
The ultimate goal, according to several councillors, is to add the rest of those five parks to the banned list while housing those who rely on the approved parks for sheltering solutions.
“This is but a step in the right direction,” remarked Councillor Chris Coleman.
