Mayor Marianne Alto is proposing incentives or benefits for ethnocultural facilities that are tax-exempt and allow unhoused Victorians to take shelter in their parking lots.
Alto’s council member motion will be discussed in the Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 5th—the first council meeting in over a month.
In her motion, Alto describes how the council has been exploring new solutions for where displaced unhoused Victorians can shelter.
This exploration of options comes after banning overnight sheltering in the majority of Victoria’s parks, as well as VicPD and bylaw officers conducting sweeps on Pandora Avenue.
Her motion speaks to needing solutions in the interim because of gaps left by the slow pace of construction of permanent housing and the expansion of social and health services in Victoria.
In recent months, the City of Victoria has stepped in to enable service providers and open shelter locations, along with increasing enforcement of illegal sheltering and reducing allowable parks for sheltering.
In many of these cases, the City has been left to solve issues that typically fall under provincial jurisdiction.
Related:
- VicPD reveal $80K plan to permanently remove encampments from Pandora Avenue
- Victoria mayor supports VicPD’s plan to remove encampments from Pandora Avenue
- ‘Angry and upset’: City bylaw clear Pandora Avenue encampment in massive sweep
Now, Alto proposes adding to the City’s overarching strategy by exploring a better and higher use of some surface parking lots.
To do this, the Mayor proposes encouraging and rewarding ethnocultural facilities—or any organizations that benefit from a tax-exempt status and has parking spaces—to provide a portion of those parking spaces for overnight sheltering.
She specifically notes in her motion that those sheltering could be provided suitable vehicles or other protected temporary structures.
The benefits these facilities could receive are proposed to include, but not be limited to, an interruption and/or reversal of ongoing tax exemption reductions.
Some of these facilities may be keen to become fully, or mostly tax exempt as in the last three years, council passed bylaws which rescinded some tax-exemption if the facility’s parking lot takes up more than 50% of their property.
The identified facilities that the tax-exemption applies to, which could potentially host overnight sheltering Victorians are:
- Anglican Church of St. Barnabas
- Bayanihan Cultural and Housing Society
- BC Muslim Association
- Bialy Orzel Polish Association White Eagle
- Eidsvold No. 53 Sons of Norway
- Glad Tidings Church
- Gurdwara Singh Sabha Society of Victoria
- Khalsa Diwan Society
- Maplewood Gospel hall
- Victoria Edelweiss Club German Canadian Cultural Society
- Victoria Italian Assistance Centre
- Victoria Shambhala Centre
- Victoria Truth Centre
This matter will be presented by Mayor Alto to council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on September 5th.
