In the first city council meeting in over a month, Mayor Marianne Alto put forth a motion to have City of Victoria staff explore options for allowing unhoused people to shelter in some parking lots.
These parking lots that Mayor Alto is suggesting are all ethnocultural centres, non-profits, community centres and other facilities that are tax-exempt.
In the last three years, the City has been scaling back the amount of tax-exemption some of these facilities receive.
If their parking lot specifically takes up more than 50% of their property, their rate of tax-exemption is, or has been, reduced due to this policy passed by the previous council.
Mayor Alto is suggesting the notion of providing rewards or incentives to willing organizations that fall into this group, should they voluntarily allow sheltering in their parking lots.
The parking lots identified by Mayor Alto’s motion are detailed here.
The matter was discussed in the Committee of the Whole meeting held on Thursday, September 5th.
Alto said in the meeting that this is not a fix-all solution, but merely one more avenue to consider that may take pressure off the boulevards and parks where unhoused Victorians have been sheltering.
“This is not going to solve the problem. No one thing that we’ve done is going to solve the problem, but in the effort of trying to look at every conceivable way… this is one more small tool that may or may not be useful,” said Mayor Alto.
“We continue to try, because we have to try.”
Councillor Stephen Hammond’s opinion was that he supports these organizations being able to take in those in need, as many places of worship, such as churches, are known to preach this notion of helping neighbours.
However, Hammond’s concern and the reason he does not support the motion as a whole is because he wants the surrounding neighbours and businesses to be eligible for some kind of compensation, should their property be damaged or stolen.
Earlier this year, Hammond put forth a motion that would have had City staff explore options to compensate neighbouring businesses and residents, but this motion was shot down by council.
Councillor Marg Gardiner also voted no on the motion.
“This initiative is problematic for many reasons,” she said.
“Shifting sheltering or growing the number of those sheltering throughout the city further anchors or entrenches the problem…that Premier Eby has recently described as those having poor mental health, brain injuries and chronic addictions into our city.”
Gardiner says she has heard from some of the identified organizations who have expressed fear of losing clientele who use the parking lots to attend various events that take place during the week in the facilities.
She also echoed the statement Mayor Alto has made several times in the last few months—that the onus to create adequate housing and solutions for unhoused Victorias should be on the Province’s shoulders, rather than the City’s.
Related:
- Victoria’s Mayor proposes incentives for facilities that allow sheltering in parking lots
- VicPD reveal $80K plan to permanently remove encampments from Pandora Avenue
- Victoria mayor supports VicPD’s plan to remove encampments from Pandora Avenue
Councillor Krista Loughton stated she saw this motion not as a way for new encampments to arise in the city, but for a small portion of the parking lots to be used and asked Mayor Alto if any program or funding would be involved.
To this Mayor Alto said that all details would be completely up to the owner of the parking lot; how much of the lot was used, if they wanted to seek funding on their own for accommodations such as tiny homes or trainers, etc.
“One of the things that’s important about this is, that is not part of this request. The request here is not to ask our staff to determine those thresholds—it is to provide a mechanism for a host to determine it themselves,” Mayor Alto said.
Loughton closed by saying she does not see this motion as creating uncontrolled encampments—she sees it as a way for organizations to help unhoused Victorians if they choose to and she hopes that comes across to the people of Victoria.
Councillor Jeremy Caradonna said he does not support the motion because it comes to bad timing.
On August 1st, council directed their partners, HEART and HEARTH to come back to them with a more fulsome report and plan on what the City can do and he would rather wait to see what they say on the matter.
“It feels like every single week, one of us or more of us brings more random ideas to the table—and I’ll hold my hand up, I’m as guilty of that as anybody,” Caradonna said.
“It doesn’t mean that this isn’t a good idea, I just think it’s not good timing.”
Councillor Susan Kim was in support of the motion.
She says that this is merely offering the option to allow these organizations to provide sanctuary to those in need.
“I don’t understand why some of the folks on this council who are saying they are against this, have in the past voted in favour of staff providing information and options and then are choosing to be inconsistent in applying their logic,” Kim said.
“We’re just trying to provide options for exploration.”
After Councillor Matt Dell echoed Caradonna’s feeling that this is not the right time for this motion to come forward, although it is a bold and innovative idea, Councillor Kim moved to postpone the motion for four months to allow room for some additional rumination.
Councillor Loughton seconded the motion to postpone the Mayor’s original motion to allow the public to have more time to understand the intent of it.
The majority of council voted down the motion to postpone, so they moved into voting on the motion itself.
Mayor Alto’s motion was ultimately defeated. Councillors Loughton, Kim, Thompson and Mayor Alto voted in favour, with Councillors Coleman, Gardiner, Caradonna, Dell and Hammond voting against.
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