The initiative is a partnership between the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness and B.C. Housing, which will provide operating funding for the project. According to a 2020 Point in Time Count, an annual count of homelessness in the Capital Regional District, of the 1,523 people identifying as homeless in March, 84 were ages 15 to 24. According to the report, the top three reasons youth gave for losing housing were a conflict with or abuse by a parent or guardian, substance abuse and not having enough income for housing. One of the key findings from the Point in Time count was that more than 51 per cent of respondents first experienced homelessness as a youth, and close to 38 per cent were under 18. Those who lack shelter at a younger age are more likely to experience greater adversity once on the streets.
Bayly is a long-time felter, an art form that involves poking a special type of barbed needle into a form of wool called raw wool roving to make shapes. She said the Sanders figure took about eight hours to make, and another one is in the works because of all the donations that have been coming in. Bayly also uses her felting to make animals with her students at James Bay Community School and McKenzie Elementary school. All sorts of memes involving the Democrats’ former U.S. presidential-nomination candidate have been popping up since he appeared at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, watching the proceedings while sitting in a folding chair, bundled up and wearing woollen mittens.
Hey Neighbour pilot project looks to house 30 members of the unhoused community
Photo sourced from Aryze.
As the City of Victoria moves forward with its plan to end sheltering in parks by March, a local development company has stepped in to lend a hand. Aryze Developments Inc., known for building luxury homes in the Greater Victoria area, approached the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness with an idea to transform 30 modified shipping containers into temporary housing. The project, called Hey Neighbour, has raised half of its target of $500 000 through crowdsourcing and will begin on the first 15 houses at the beginning of February.
City staff will work with B.C. Housing for a lease or licence of occupation. The city wants to see occupation of the homes by March 31, a target date for getting people out of parks and other areas and into their own places. The goal is to have about 200 “indoor sheltering solutions,” a city report said. Public comment is planned during the process, and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the North Park Neighbourhood Association has already indicated it is supportive. Helps said there has been a “state of emergency” for too long for people in the community needing homes. “This is 30 of approximately 200 or so units that will be needed,” she said of the Aryze project. “It’s I think a small part that the city can do through the contribution of land.”
Eby could not elaborate on any specific hotels or buildings being considered. An estimated 190 people are sheltering in Victoria parks but the province is preparing to house “significantly” more than that to ensure no one is left behind, Eby said. B.C. Housing is working with the City of Victoria to identify appropriate supportive housing sites. Eby said any new supportive housing facilities should not be in the Burnside Gorge neighbourhood, which is already home to several such facilities including the former Comfort Inn on Blanshard Street and several former hotels on Gorge Road East. “I’m very clear with both B.C. Housing and Victoria that adding additional sites at Burnside Gorge is not on the table so we need to diversify and find other sites,” Eby said.