'It’s been a challenging year': Relief from neighbours as former Travelodge returns to ownership group soon
BC Housing is keeping the promise it made to the Burnside Gorge Community Association. As of Dec. 31, everyone housed in the former Travelodge hotel on Gorge Road will have been relocated into new housing.
In April 2020, BC Housing began leasing the Travelodge to house people who had been living in tents in parks around Victoria.
For Burnside Gorge residents like Sue McMurter, it’s been a long year and half.
“It just had an incredibly disruptive impact on the neighbourhood,” said McMurter.
Lesley Valour decided to pick up and move away from the neighbourhood she loves altogether due to safety concerns.
“I’ve moved to another part of the city,” she said. “I’m still a City of Victoria resident, but I moved because it just became too dangerous and unsafe.”
The neighbourhood saw a sharp increase in crime and drug use, with dirty needles found around the area. There were fires at the former hotel and a general uneasy feeling for neighbourhood residents.
“It’s been a challenging year, particularly for those who live close to the Travelodge,” said Elizabeth Cull, chair of the Burnside Gorge Community Association.
At one point, there were 130 people living at the former hotel. As of Wednesday, there were only nine, and by the end of the month it will be empty.
“We have found permanent, long-term housing for the vast majority of those folks,” said Don McTavish, director of housing and shelters at Victoria Cool Aid Society.
The society has been running the operation since shortly after BC Housing took the property over. He admits it hasn’t been a smooth ride at times, and it has come with its share of neighbourhood disruptions.
He says despite the issues, BC Housing leased the former hotel to give those living on the streets stability. That was accomplished and has led to many successes.
“For the vast majority – I’m guessing 80 per cent or 75 per cent – we have found longer-term supportive housing, which is, I think, a huge success,” said McTavish.
He says some people found housing on their own. Others reconnected with family and moved east, while others have entered addiction treatment programs and are getting their lives back on track.
The Burnside Gorge Community Association says it’s glad that BC Housing is keeping up with its end of the deal and not renewing the lease on the property. The chair of the organization says its community is still carrying the lion’s share of the city’s supportive housing.
“That’s housing for people who need other supports besides just a roof over their head, and that often comes with all kinds of other issues,” said Cull. “Problems spill over into the neighbourhood.”
She would like to see supportive housing more evenly distributed across the city.
“People aren’t really that hard to house as they are hard on housing,” said McTavish.
Come Jan. 1, Cool Aid will turn the building back over to BC Housing and the building’s ownership group. It will then be remediated.
What its future will be is currently unknown. Calls and emails to the ownership group went unanswered.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.