A shelter could be up and running for extreme weather this winter after Broad View United Church offered to provide the service at its site on St. Aidan’s Street in Saanich.
Rev. Mark Green said the partnership the church has proposed with the District of Saanich, which is still in the discussion stage, is likely to involve Saanich providing sleeping mats and mental-health support, while the church provides space and food.
Green said members of the church have serious concerns about what happens to the homeless in Saanich during extreme weather. “Those events put folks at risk of life and death for sure,” he said.
Green noted the church undertook recent renovations with services like providing shelter in mind.
Saanich has been looking into how to create additional shelter spaces and warming centres in the district, after pressure last month from Victoria council, which has argued other municipalities need to do more to house their homeless populations during extreme-weather events, rather than just shipping them to Victoria.
This week, Saanich council unanimously endorsed having its staff work with Broad View on plans for a new emergency shelter, and reach out to other non-profit service providers that may be interested in providing that kind of service.
Council also wants to look at expanding shelter spaces at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, which currently offers up to 33 shelter beds.
Saanich chief administrative officer Brent Reems said the conversation with the Victoria Native Friendship Centre is ongoing, but it’s too early to provide any detail.
Reems said city staff have been in touch with several community agencies to learn what Saanich can do to establish more shelter spaces.
It’s unclear how many new spaces might be available for this winter.
“We’re up against the clock in terms of getting things in place for this winter season,” said Mayor Dean Murdock. “I remain hopeful that is a possibility. But again, I don’t want to raise unrealistic expectations.”
Murdock said the quickest path forward is to work with non-profit partners that have the skills and capacity to handle that kind of work.
“That’s something that Saanich can pay for and can work with the province to cover those costs. But without that capacity and skill set, we would otherwise have to hire and train staff to do it,” he said, which would drag out the process.
Victoria has complained for years it is doing the heavy lifting to house the homeless during extreme weather.
The city offers 350 year-round shelter spaces, and 73 extreme-weather spaces, while Sooke has 13 and Salt Spring 10.
Victoria also has five potential warming centres that can be activated in an emergency, including Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, Fernwood Community Centre, Little Fernwood, Victoria Curling Club and Cook Street Village Activity Centre.
Saanich has only the Victoria Native Friendship Centre’s 25 beds, which can expand to 33 in extreme weather.
Murdock said the Broad View option and potential expansion of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre are signs Saanich is prepared to play a bigger role in providing shelter.
“It’s clear that there’s more for Saanich to do and I’m hopeful that the options that staff have identified will allow us to do that quickly,” he said.
The Broad View facility is close to the former Mount Tolmie Hospital, a long-term care home at Richmond Road and Cedar Hill Cross Road that was turned into a supportive-housing facility during the pandemic.
In 2021, sa国际传媒 Housing moved 24 people from a makeshift shelter at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre into the Mount Tolmie facility, but within weeks, local residents were complaining about crime, noise and fears for their safety.
Murdock said the Broad View facility, if it it’s established, would be very different from Mount Tolmie — for starters, it would only offer shelter beds during extreme weather, and not be a permanent facility.
The district would also work with a partner to provide transportation to and from the shelter, he said.
Coun. Judy Brownoff said it’s important to ensure the work to find and establish new shelter spaces is done regionally.
“There needs to be some co-ordination,” said Brownoff, adding the province needs to do more for those without homes.
“We need mental-health beds and we need detox beds in this region,” she said. “We’re spending a lot of money dealing with folks in our area that need help. But the kind of help they need, we don’t have. And it has to come from the Ministry of Health and senior government as well.”
Saanich has pledged to work with neighbouring municipalities to share information about other sheltering options.
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