In this week’s committee of the whole meeting, Victoria City Councillor Krista Loughton will present a motion that could help unhoused people move through supportive housing networks more efficiently.
According to Loughton’s motion, many supportive housing residents are ready to transition to independent, market rate rental housing, but are held back by financial barriers.
Because no current program addresses this problem specifically, those who are ready to leave cannot, and those who are waiting for access to supportive housing are being delayed.
Loughton believes that if a strategy could be implemented to address this issue, it could have a tangible difference to the number of unhoused Victorians who are forced to sleep outdoors.
“By enabling these residents to exit supportive housing, units are freed for individuals currently in emergency shelters, which in turn creates additional capacity for people living unsheltered to move indoors, creating a positive flow through the system,” wrote Loughton in her motion.
She noted that anecdotal evidence from supportive housing providers in Victoria suggests that at least 100 individuals are ready to get out but can’t because of financial barriers.
“If successfully implemented, this initiative could potentially free dozens of supportive housing units, reduce the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and help those ready to transition into market rental housing,” Loughton continued.
The councillor pointed to the successes of Vancouver’s STEP Program (Supporting Tenants, Enabling Pathways).
This initiative was launched in 2018 as a pilot, but is still running to this day.
The STEP Program is a collaboration between the Streetohome Foundation, the City of Vancouver, BC Housing and Vancouver Coastal Health.
Loughton says that the program was the first of its kind in BC, and it does exactly what needs to happen in Victoria—helps people move from supportive housing to independence.
She believes that a similar program could be replicated in Victoria, or if the framework could inform a more locally-tailored system it would benefit unhoused individuals, supportive housing providers and the general public.
Loughton’s motion recommends that council contact the City of Vancouver to request information and materials related to the STEP program model.
Furthermore, she would see Victoria seek collaboration with BC Housing and Island Health and have staff report back with their findings by February 5th.
As of March 2025, it was determined that there are at least 1,749 unhoused people living in Greater Victoria.
According to statistics from August 2024, there are only approximately 1,267 supportive housing units in operation in the City of Victoria.
