A panel of local experts flipped the script on the regionB次元官网网址檚 mayoral candidates Tuesday taking centre stage to share their ideas on how to solve the growing issue of poverty and homelessness in the Capital Region.
The event, B次元官网网址淪olving homelessness with our regionB次元官网网址檚 mayoral candidatesB次元官网网址� was hosted by Our Place Society and attended by hundreds of people who filled the First Metropolitan Church in Victoria.
Impassioned pleas from those in attendance challenged candidates on how they would take immediate action to house the more than 1,500 people experiencing homelessness in Greater Victoria.
Man in attendance tonight challenges Saanich mayor Richard Atwell and mayoral candidate Stephen Hammond: B次元官网网址淲here will members of sleep Oct. 15?B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址� Kristyn Anthony (@kristyn_anthony)
Panelist Don Evans, executive director of Our Place, urged the candidates to work together immediately to build 40 to 50 temporary units of housing so people can B次元官网网址渟tabilizeB次元官网网址� and start to think about more long term options.
B次元官网网址淧eople are dying every week on our streets,B次元官网网址� Evans said, B次元官网网址渁nd itB次元官网网址檚 not just the opioid crisis.B次元官网网址�
People with mental health issues, brain trauma, financial struggles, health concerns, are B次元官网网址渇orced to be outsideB次元官网网址� where they B次元官网网址渓ive in survival mode,B次元官网网址� Evans said.
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B次元官网网址淎ll they need is some sort of adequate, affordable housing,B次元官网网址� he said, before challenging municipalities to purchase land for modular housing. B次元官网网址淭he money is there. The missing link is the municipalities.B次元官网网址�
Panelist Terry Willis, who is battling stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has been homeless for two years after losing his wife to cancer, asked candidates how they intend to help those in a situation similar to his.
B次元官网网址淯nfortunately our system is a little flawed when it comes to people that get a disease that keeps them from continuing their life, working and raising their children and paying the rent,B次元官网网址� Willis said.
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Representatives from Esquimalt, North Saanich, Saanich, Sidney, Victoria and View Royal answered questions from both the panelists and the public.
Tensions ran high when one attendee pointedly asked Saanich mayor Richard Atwell and Victoria candidate Stephen Hammond where residents of Camp Namegans, a homeless camp that has been forcibly removed from multiple sites in the region, will sleep after the Oct. 12 deadline at their current location.
There are parks where people are welcome to sleep overnight, Atwell said before being asked how the municipality would approach those who cannot or will not leave by the required 9 a.m. time limit.
B次元官网网址淲ith the assistance of police,B次元官网网址� Atwell said, to a crowd shouting B次元官网网址渟hame.B次元官网网址�
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Catherine Holt, CEO of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce told candidates the average person cannot afford the average house in Victoria anymore.
B次元官网网址淩eal estate is not housing,B次元官网网址� she said, stressing creative solutions are a vital response to housing people, pointing to a recent bylaw in Portland, Oregon allowing for tiny homes on properties within the city.
Evans busted the myth that those experiencing homelessness want to stay near the downtown core, calling on candidates in North Saanich, Sidney and the West Shore to recognize this is a regional problem.
Mayor David Screech agreed calling the current state of affairs a symptom of B次元官网网址測ears of neglectB次元官网网址� on the part of all 13 municipalities, before adding: B次元官网网址淲e need shelters on the West Shore.B次元官网网址�
@kristyn_anthony
kristyn.anthony@blackpress.ca
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