B.C. Housing to reopen Victoria arena as emergency homeless shelter, but not until March The province of B.C. has signed a lease for the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre arena in Victoria to be used as temporary housing for the city’s homeless population, but the shelter won’t be open until the worst of winter weather has ended in March. Social Sharing Agency says lease starts on Feb. 1, but facility won't start operating until a month later Posted: Jan 28, 2021 1:24 PM PT | Last Updated: January 28 The Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria was first set up as an emergency response centre last summer, using pop-up pods for homeless people.(Twitter/David Eby)