Victoria mayor apologizes for Dowler Place rollout

When the access hub on Dowler was first announced, an outpouring of criticism came from North Park residents, who said they weren’t consulted on the project and felt uninformed about services offered there by the harm-reduction non-profit SOLID.

The lack of clear information led some to believe, falsely, that the site—which connects people to housing, healthcare, and treatment programs—was meant to act as a safe consumption site. Many voiced concerns that the homeless encampments on Pandora would migrate to North Park. The backlash led to several public meetings between the public, the city, and SOLID, and one suspension for a public employee who voiced opposition.

On Thursday, Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto issued an apology for the hub’s bumpy rollout.

“I recognize that there has been confusion and frustration regarding the process that established the access hub at Dowler Place, and I acknowledge that residents haven’t had a full or accurate picture of the project,” Alto said in a statement.

“I apologize for that confusion and acknowledge the frustration that many residents have expressed. While Council approved the Dowler project, as Mayor, I take responsibility for a process that could have been better, and will be better going forward.”

Draft plans show a different vision for Dowler

While Dowler Place has proven to be a successful access hub for those in need—and not the harbinger of change for the neighbourhood it was believed to be (SOLID says many neighbours weren’t even aware it had opened in January because it was so quiet)—residents may have been justified in their concern.

A copy of early plans for the Dowler Place site was obtained by CHEK through an FOI, showing how different the first proposal for the site was from its eventual reality.

According to the initial plan, drafted by Alto, the Dowler Place service hub was intended to be a shelter that would draw people from encampments on Pandora over to the North Park location. It was to begin as a day shelter before transitioning to an overnight shelter once SOLID had its operations in place.

Calling the intended shelter “friendly” and run by “a familiar operator with existing, positive relationships” with those living on Pandora, the draft outlined that the tenters would be guided over to the new shelter.

“The city will reclaim the eastern portion of the 900 block, one section at a time,” read the draft plan.

Alto said the draft obtained by CHEK was an “extremely early” version of the project.

‍ Closed meetings and a lack of consultation

Victoria City Council discussed the plans for the service hub in a closed meeting under BC’s Community Charter, which allows closed motions for several purposes, including when motions identify an individual or could negatively affect police work.

Alto said there were a number of reasons why the Dowler Place discussions were closed to the public. One point of ire for North Park residents was the lack of consultation before the deal was made with the city and SOLID.

Alto said that early community engagement did not take place because the council “knew what the comments would be from the public.”

“In retrospect, could we have been a little bit more effusive in our engagement? Absolutely,” she said. But she stood by the decision, arguing that the success of Dowler Place—it says it has helped 75 people receive necessary supports that Alto called life-saving—has proven it was the correct call.

“We've seen that the evidence has shown it is the right model,” Alto said. “So, could we do it better? Sure. Of course, we could. Do I still support what's there and what they have now proven works? Yes.”

Now, a year into Dowler Place’s operations, North Park residents’ concerns have dissipated. Alto said, “Once the services were actually in place, there was very little pushback from the neighbourhood.”

She said this was thanks to the responsiveness of SOLID, which she said made changes to its services to assuage community concerns.

“They did adjust their services, and they did so in a way which made sure that they could actually provide the right supports to a still very vulnerable population,” Alto said.

Dealing with Pandora

Dowler Place did not lead to the reclamation of the 900 block of Pandora. Over the last year, many attempts have been made to relocate encampments, house those tenting, and clean up the street. While some of these solutions have been successful—the estimated number of people camping on the block dropped to 19 from 100—it hasn’t changed the overall perception of the street, which a recent Globe and Mail article called the “ epicentre for the nationwide opioid crisis.”

Alto said homelessness in Victoria is a complex issue that requires multiple approaches to both prevent additional homelessness and respond to the current problems.

“I think once we have an ability to look a bit more holistically at the whole city, then you'll see us taking some fairly interventionist moves,” she said.

Alto said she was unable to expand on what she meant by “interventionist moves” for now. She says the city is exploring multiple options to solve the problem.

“If we had an easy answer, we'd have done it already. It's not easy, but we're really trying to push every lever we can.”