B.C. government takes punches as Victoria earns negative national spotlight
Pandora Avenue in downtown Victoria is considered the epicentre of the homelessness crisis in B.C.'s capital city.
Victoria's mayor and a local business association are calling on the B.C. government to step up as the city makes national headlines for the wrong reasons.
The Globe and Mail recently published two stories that highlight the addictions and homelessness crises in B.C.'s capital city. One of the headlines refers to Pandora Avenue — the epicentre of the crises — as an 'open-air drug market.'
'This is now a national story. And yes, this is an issue that's happening everywhere, but now people in Toronto are saying … 'Victoria is a terrible place,' and that just hurts business,' said Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) executive director Jeff Bray.
Some business owners are considering leaving the downtown core, where theft, vandalism, and open drug use are long-standing problems, Bray said. While locals are well aware of these issues, the national attention is renewing calls for the province to deliver additional support.
'The provincial government is fully — let me repeat that — fully responsible for health care, mental health, addictions, housing,' Bray said in an interview with CTV News Vancouver Island.
'The way in which the provincial government has dealt with this over the last decade has led to these problems, (so) it falls to the city to try to deal with that.'
As the Globe first reported, the municipality said it has spent more than $12-million helping unhoused people since 2023. Last year, the city said it couldn't wait for higher levels of government to act, so it provided funding to a support facility called Dowler Place, where people are referred to housing and addictions services.
'I confess a little frustration, occasionally, when comments are made to suggest municipalities are acting on their own. Sure, they're acting on their own because we have to,' Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said on Monday.
'It really is the gap in the provincial government programs that are forcing us into these lanes. We don't want to be here.'
If the city didn't step in, Alto said the situation would be 'dramatically worse.'
The municipality is launching a community safety plan late next month, which the mayor said will dramatically change the local response to the issues of homelessness, addiction, and mental illness.
Province highlights progress
Over the past year, the number of people sleeping on Pandora Avenue has fallen from roughly 100 to 19, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said.
'All of those folks have been offered housing,' Kahlon said. 'Some people … have been kicked out of other housing and find themselves there and we have some individuals who just flat out refuse housing.'
If municipalities want more resources, Kahlon said they need to tell the province where to put them.
'If you can find us a location, we're willing to help support getting more housing online. And if it means the region works together, we're there,' he said.
Both the mayor and DVBA have repeatedly highlighted how social services are concentrated in the core. Some of those services need to be established in other communities, they said.
One service producing success stories is a 20-minute drive away from downtown Victoria in the municipality of View Royal. The Our Place Society said people are healing at its addiction treatment centre, New Roads.
'We also have people on our staff at Our Place who are full-time employees, who were on Pandora once and in chronic addiction and now have changed their lives fundamentally,' Our Place CEO Julian Daly said.
'There is good reason for hope amidst the despair.'
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