Following the passing of Victoria’s new Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan (CSWB) plan, the City has announced how they are going to approach the first actions this plan entails, and how much those actions will be costing taxpayers.
All-in-all, the CSWB plan involves 99 recommendations that could lead to a safer Victoria. Of these recommendations, 46 are for the City to act upon itself, while the remaining 53 are up to other levels of government.
When the plan was passed, nearly-unanimously, on Thursday June 19th, the biggest concern for Victoria’s city council was the cost of these measures and how, or where they could start acting upon these recommendations.
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On Wednesday, July 2nd, Mayor Marianne Alto met with the press to discuss the first actions of the CSWB plan, their cost and how exactly the steps would be taken.
These first actions will cost Victoria around $10.35 million and will focus primarily on “street disorder” taking place on Pandora Avenue, Princess Avenue and in the downtown core.
“Victorians are frustrated with the rising degree of street disorder and the consequences from it that affect the daily lives of residents seeking uninterrupted, calm use and enjoyment of public spaces and businesses,” said Mayor Marianne Alto.
“While responsibility for the services that address poverty, homelessness, addictions and health lie primarily with the provincial government, Victorians expect their city government to respond to these crises. Today we begin that work with a new focus and a blueprint for action in the new Community safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) Plan.”
The City says that the ultimate goal of the plan is to shift where resources are being allocated in order to address community safety with “upstream” interventions and “downstream” enforcement.
Below is a detailed breakdown of these up-and-downstream investments the City is making.
Bylaw
According to the City, nearly 80% of Victoria’s bylaw officer’s time is currently spent managing sheltering in public spaces with last year’s related costs exceeding $3.5 million.
The City says this strain on resources limits the capacity to reach all areas needing enforcement.
To mitigate this, the City will be hiring additional bylaw staff, which will cost around $1.9 million, on an ongoing basis.
Police
According to the City of Victoria, the increased perception of social disorder in the downtown area is the reason for increased police enforcement against criminality.
“Resources are needed to demonstrate that criminals can no longer thrive in Victoria,” reads the City’s media release.
The City has determined that more police officers are needed and will be collaborating with VicPD to make this increased enforcement happen.
Recently, the BC government allotted VicPD with $220,000 for increased enforcement of the downtown core via its new Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program (CSTEP).
To amplify how far this funding goes, the City says they will be giving VicPD an additional $1.35 million in ongoing funding.
Currently, VicPD’s budget takes up $82.6 million, a 9.71% increase from last year. With Victoria paying the lion’s share of VicPD’s budget, sharing their services with the Township of Esquimalt, this amounts to around 25% of the City’s entire operating budget.
Public works
According to the City, unhoused individuals sheltering illegally in parks continues to be a burden on Victoria’s resources.
This financial distress comes via damaged infrastructure, environmental degradation and ongoing maintenance costs.
To remedy these factors, the City already spends over $1.5 million per year.
However, the City believes there is more to be done, specifically on Pandora and Princess Avenues. For this, they will be allocating $390,000 to the Public Works department. It has not been determined if this funding will be needed on an ongoing basis.
Public infrastructure repair and rehabilitation
The City says they will be planning a complete reimagination of both Pandora and Princess Avenues.
In the 800, 900 and 1000 blocks of Pandora Avenue specifically, they have been meeting with stakeholders and will be initiating a comprehensive rebuild as soon as enforcement resources are available.
The purpose of this rebuild will contain deterrents to street sheltering and sustain its absence, according to City staff.
Pandora’s rehabilitation is estimated to cost over $7 million; however, preliminary work will make necessary changes within a $3.75 million budget.
The City added that work along Princess still has not been initiated, but preliminary
estimates suggest the cost will be around $1.1 million for initial rehabilitation and sustained upkeep.
Service providers
Victoria collaborates with many non-profit, local community social service providers and provides them funding for the crucial work they do in the community.
The funds the City provides these service operators goes towards parks relocation coordinators, the new direct service hub on Dowler Place, daytime warming shelters, and transitional services that guide the unhoused to permanent housing, health and other supports.
In order to give service providers more capacity to help the City’s most vulnerable, an additional $624,000 will be provided for enhanced non-profit relocation services in the next two years.
Additionally, around $308,000 will be allocated to provide enhanced Emergency Weather Response (EWR) shelters.
Transportation
As the downtown core of Victoria hosts the bulk of the Capital Regional District’s social services, 89% of the region’s shelter beds and 83% of supportive beds, the safe transportation of the city’s most vulnerable is crucial to the CSWB plan.
Due to this, the City will be providing an experienced non-profit service provider with $180,000 for a vehicle outfitted with basic health services to determine the needs of a vulnerable person, and then transport them to where their needs can be met.
Additionally, $440,000 will be provided for the next two years for staffing this endeavour.
Destinations and placement
While the responsibility to build and operate supportive housing lies with the Province, the City has had to pay out-of-pocket for many of the latest endeavours into housing in order to help individuals get out of homelessness.
Until the BC government can commit more fully to the region’s unhoused and vulnerable population, Victoria says they will continue to invest in temporary measures.
The City says they will work with experienced service providers to establish managed, secure, short term, emergency shelter spaces that are outside the downtown core.
They note that this may require use of existing city property, or rental of private property, plus costs for infrastructure, upkeep and operation.
For this endeavour, Victoria will be committing a one-time investment of $1.95 million for new infrastructure, $850,000 for operations in the next two years, $300,000 for property rentals in 2025 and 2026 and lastly, $250,000 to boost existing shelter capacity.
Funding sources
Approximately $13.612 million is needed to fully implement these first actions of the CSWB plan, though some of these costs are just one-time expenditures.
In order to avoid tax increases, and respecting council’s commitment to undertake CSWB actions within the current city budget, funding is to be allocated from existing projects, programs and services.
The City says that $1.5 million will be re-allocated from the Royal Athletic Park upgrades, $1.65 million will be re-allocated from the city’s housing reserve and another $700,000 will be redirected from 2025 and 2026’s contributions to the city’s housing reserve.
Additionally, $2.5 million will be redirected from the Centennial Square project, delaying the sequoia’s removal and $4 million will come from the city’s Financial Stability Reserve.
So the total funds needed with this information in mind totals $10.35 million, which the City says will not be enough to address every problem with street disorder, but will be enough to get started on making some change.
“These are hard choices. All the programs from which these funds will be taken are important, but the urgency of responding to the city’s social disorder crisis is paramount,” said Mayor Alto.
“Municipalities are on the frontlines of this crisis, and our businesses and residents (housed and unhoused) expect – and have told – us to better manage its effects on them all. Our CSWB plan now accelerates and intensifies the city’s actions with balance, breadth and intentionality.”
With this announcement, the City will begin the process of re-allocating funds and getting to work on these first actions of the CSWB plan.
To see the full extent of the CSWB plan, click here.
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