Victoria council to ask Saanich for extreme weather shelter support

Heading into winter, extreme weather events could stretch the availability of designated shelter spaces in Victoria. CHEK News reports that last year, other municipalities were sending unhoused people in taxis when extreme weather hit. Not only was Victoria forced to find emergency shelter space for them, the city was asked to pick up the cab tab when they arrived.

Only three CRD municipalities other than Victoria—Saanich, Sooke and Salt Spring Island—have basic shelter beds, so during extreme weather events, unhoused people have been put in cabs and sent downtown.

Now, Mayor Marianne Alto says it’s time for other municipalities “to step up.”

On Thursday, council voted 7-1 to instruct Alto to ask Saanich and other municipalities to create additional shelter spaces for the region.

The vote was based on a report presented to council by the city’s emergency program coordinator, Tanya Seal-Jones. Seal-Jones said an emergency response only kicks in when emergency weather conditions have been declared by Environment Canada. When that happens, the BC Emergency Disaster Management Act (2023) requires municipalities to identify hazards—in this case, weather events—that may affect at-risk residents and to have plans in place to address those impacts. Those impacts are most felt by unhoused residents. The catch is, “municipalities can interpret the act in different ways,” Seal-Jones said.

The Emergency Disaster Management Act states that residents identified as being at risk of exposure to extreme weather impacts —mainly the unhoused—must be transported to and offered shelter in the nearest available spaces. If those spaces don’t exist in one community, they must be transported to another. If, during an Environment Canada weather alert, resources are exhausted in Victoria but there are still people in need of them, Victoria’s emergency plan comes into effect.

According to its emergency plan “the city is committed to ensuring that all residents have a safe place to come inside during cold weather months and other extreme weather events.”

It's all-Victoria, all the time

The municipal site provides a searchable map-based resource on where to find shelters and extreme weather response (EWR) spaces. Few options show up outside

of Victoria.

Saanich has 25 year-round shelter spaces at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. Saanich has 13 EWR mats available, and Salt Spring has 30 year-round mats and 10 EWR mats.

Seal-Jones reported there are 400 shelter spaces in the City of Victoria to support the unhoused that are listed through the BC housing website. This number includes year-round shelters and EWR sites. There are 50 new spaces available in Victoria and there may potentially be more as staff assess the situation. Currently, there are 30 mats at the Salvation Army and 20 at Rock Bay Landing (CoolAid Society). If, for lack of options elsewhere, people are transported to Victoria, they then compete with residents already living there for those spaces. It’s a zero-sum game for the regions’ most vulnerable.

Of 73 spaces in the region tagged for use in extreme-weather, Victoria has 50, Sooke has 13 and Salt Spring has 10. Beyond these, there are no other shelter resources outside of the capital.

Alto would like to see that change.

“There are unhoused people in Saanich, many unhoused people. And the problem is that when the temperature drops, the expectation is all those folks go to Victoria, and that is unacceptable,” Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said.

“Every jurisdiction has to step up and do their part. The fact that Salt Spring Island has more [extreme-weather response] beds than Saanich or Esquimalt is, frankly, unacceptable” he said.

Gardiner agrees but says other municipalities also should get a letter

Victoria Coun. Marg Gardiner—who supplied the only dissenting vote—was forceful in her comments. “I find it quite disgusting,” she said.” It's incredible that the other municipalities around us are not really respecting the intent of emergency weather facilities for those who are really in need.”

Gardiner said she voted against the motion because she felt Saanich was being unduly singled out. Caradonna said it may be uncomfortable to point the finger at a single district like Saanich, however, conversation has to start somewhere because Victoria can’t be expected to do it all. He also pointed out that Saanich is more land-rich than Victoria, has industrial warehouses, and yet has not “stepped up to the plate.”

Saanich is aware

Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock said he gets it.

“I appreciate the City of Victoria raising this conversation and it’s timely as we approach cold weather and the potential for emergency weather events.”

Applications were due on Sep. 30 for BC housing Emergency Weather Response, a  program that provides funding to community-based organizations during periods of extreme weather. It’s a program Victoria Native Friendship Centre has been successful in applying to before.

Winter is coming

Coun. Krista Loughton said the situation could get dire.

“We are looking down the barrel of having the same problem again this winter. And I would really urge other municipalities to take a second look at what they’re doing because we’re leaving people outside in the cold,” she said.

Capital Daily reported on the same crisis last year. Since last fall, the number of emergency mats in Victoria hasn’t changed substantially.

In 2021, Capital Daily reported that lack of staff was one of the hindrances to providing more shelter spaces.

“These [unhoused] folks who are living in other communities in the region are residents of those communities,” said Thompson. “And when the mayors and councils of those communities ignore their needs they're ignoring the needs of their residents, and the onus is upon them to provide the services that their residents need.”

Need provincial help

Murdock, the Saanich mayor, said he also is looking to senior government to provide additional support in creating more shelter spaces in the region.

Gardiner echoed the need for BC’s intervention on Victoria’s behalf. “We need this new provincial government to actually take a step to ensure that other municipalities will indeed serve the people near them, and not shift everything to Victoria by pretending the problem doesn't exist in their neighborhoods, their municipalities.”