Saanich council was asked last night to pay a share of the costs of extended opening hours at Our Place, the downtown facility that helps street people.
"All municipalities benefit from having Our Place, not just Victoria. It's a regional service and there's a regional benefit," said Victoria Coun. John Luton.
He made the grant request during Saanich's finance committee meeting. A decision will be made by council when it approves the municipal budget, likely later this month.
The city asked for a $27,438 grant toward the cost of having Our Place open at 7 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. Victoria has given $90,000 and the provincial government provided another $60,000 to cover the costs of the extended hours for 2010. Now, the city is asking the other core municipalities (Oak Bay and Esquimalt are the others) to pay a portion of the cost.
The city's request is essentially to backfill money Victoria has already spent.
Our Place is run by a non-profit society and helps homeless people by providing outreach, food and 45 rooms. It also provides 50 sleeping mats and space for shopping carts during extreme weather conditions.
Before implementing the earlier opening, the Pandora Avenue facility didn't open until 9 a.m. People are allowed to camp in Victoria only until 7 a.m., so many homeless people went to the boulevard outside Our Place and waited for it to open.
That was a concern to nearby businesses and St. Andrews school, a block away. It was also a safety concern, Luton said, with too many people near a busy street during the morning rush hour. A homeless person was hit by a car a few weeks ago.
"It helped to illustrate the dangers that are out there, particularly when people are hanging out between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.," Luton said.
The increased hours have resulted in fewer people on the street during those hours, he said. It is a pilot project for the year but initial reports are that it is working well.
The core municipalities already team up on several services covered under the inter-municipal social service grant program. These include St. John's ambulance, Volunteer Victoria and the NEED crisis and information line.
