A sale hasn’t officially been confirmed, but threats of legal action are already emerging over a plan to turn a former seniors’ home into a homeless housing facility.
Sources have confirmed to CTV News that BC Housing will make an announcement regarding the purchase of the old Mount Edwards Care Home on Friday.
But before the ink has even dried on the deal, neighbours are claiming government officials botched the planning process for the low-barrier housing facility from the start – and they won’t stand for it.
“I’d been hoping we would have an honest government, a government that would consult with us, a government that had headings and social license,” said concerned homeowner Jim Fliczuk. “I don’t think any of those things have been done.”
He said public consultation could have soothed the community’s fears about the proposed project. It’s unclear whether any consultations will go ahead now that the province, not Cool Aid, has bought the building.
Staff and parents of students at Christ Church Cathedral School, which is located across from the former care home, have also pulled their support for the housing project.
Details about how the building will operate remain unclear until Friday’s announcement, but Cool Aid has said it wants to house 101 homeless people there, a plan that doesn’t sit well with other area residents.
“People are going to, over time, move out and property values here are going to suffer relative to other property values in Fairfield,” said Christopher Schmidt, who promised to launch legal action if the project goes ahead.
“We are definitely going to file an injunction against this to stop development. Barring the development ceasing, we’re going to go ahead and seek damages through a class-action lawsuit for all the property owners in this area.”
Schmidt says he can only speak for himself, but he suspects other residents in the neighbourhood will want to take similar action.
“There hasn’t been any notification of this,” said Nicholas Hofmeyer, who lives next to the proposed development. “I’m a carpenter and I know the rules about building, and there’ve been no building permits or signage out here. There’s supposed to be notification to the community if there is going to be a building permit.”
He said he’s not necessarily concerned about the people who would live in the low-barrier housing, but worried that others might be attracted to it.
“The people like the drug dealers and pimps that come with it, those are definitely individuals that I don’t want in my community or near our kids’ schools,” he said.
But homeless advocates say negative stigma directed at low-barrier housing facilities is misplaced – and that the facts don’t always support residents’ concerns.
According to documents released by the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, home prices near controversial projects remain mostly unaffected.
“In most experiences, housing values often appreciate when affordable housing projects are implemented,” said GVCEH spokesman Gordon Gunn.
The report also suggests that serious crime near housing projects actually falls, he said.
Construction is underway at the site, but it will be another day before residents know exactly what the final result will be.
