BC Housing denies expansion of Saanich shelter, despite saying it would earmark funding for it

Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock will write to BC Housing to urge the agency to fund the expansion of Victoria Native Friendship Centre’s (VNFC) shelter to 50 from 25 beds, with 10 more for extreme weather events (typically occurring approximately 40 days a year), after receiving unanimous support from the council.

Ron Rice, executive director of VNFC, told Saanich council that the denial of additional funding from the provincial housing authority came as a shock.

“Our team was confused. Our board was confused. I think, in conversations with the mayor of Saanich and the mayor of Victoria, the municipalities are confused,” Rice said at Monday’s council meeting. “Everyone believes this is a priority, the government says it's a priority, but this small investment in this small shelter is not possible at this time.”

Rice said that when planning for the shelter’s expansion began in December, a representative from BC Housing pulled him aside at an event to ask if money should be earmarked for the project. Rice told the person ‘yes’ and said VNFC would confirm April 1.

Rice discovered while reviewing capacity rules that, when his predecessor Bruce Parisian was running VNFC, the shelter was approved to house 25 to 85 people at a time. Parisian decided to cap beds at 25 due to staffing issues at the time.

Knowing this, he contacted the Saanich Fire Department and did multiple walk-throughs and assessments with the fire marshal. The shelter expansion got the green light from both the fire department and Saanich council. VNFC said it would need a 23% budget increase to double capacity.

According to Murdock, BC Housing gave two reasons for the denial: there was no money to offer and the request was filed in the wrong place.

“I don't accept that the application simply went into the wrong folder and that the money in that particular file was not available,” Murdock said. He explained that during his time working for the province, if requests were filed through the incorrect programs, staff would contact the applicants to redirect them instead of saying no outright.

Rice and Murdock both pointed out that the province has said repeatedly—including last week—that it is committed to building out shelter spaces in Greater Victoria.

“Our shelter isn't huge, it's not mighty, it's not the biggest. It's sort of all that we can do at this point, and we're happy to do it, but we just sort of need to get over this hurdle of money,” Rice said.

Councillors Zak de Vries and Susan Brice said the mayor should go straight to the housing ministry and their MLA if BC Housing continues to deny funding.

Victoria continues to ask for help from other local municipalities

Victoria has said many times that it’s struggling to manage the growing burden of homelessness in the city. Last summer, Mayor Marianne Alto called for neighbouring municipalities to “step up” support.

“The City of Victoria houses 87% of all the supportive housing. We do not have 87% of people who need supportive housing,” Alto said. “I urge my colleagues and other municipalities to look inside their own communities and understand that we are housing their people, and their people would like to go home.”

Last year, Victoria’s emergency program found that neighbouring municipalities were sending their unhoused population downtown in taxis, leaving the city to cover the cab fare.

In November, Alto wrote to Saanich, asking for assistance with emergency weather sheltering. Murdock responded that he agreed more had to be done ahead of winter, and the planning for VNFC’s expansion began soon after.

Alto again called for assistance from municipalities, the province, and the federal government earlier this week as the city revealed its draft safety plan.

Currently, there are 400 regular shelter beds in Victoria, 25 in Saanich, and 33 in Sooke, though not all of these beds are available year-round.