As transitional homes fill up in Greater Victoria, one has been approached by the government to make more room.
The executive director of Our Place Society confirmed that Choices Transitional Home was asked to expand its capacity in anticipation of tent city being taken down.
The View Royal facility is currently at max capacity, but they’re willing to create more space.
“We’re at capacity at 50 people, we do have a waiting list that’s got quite a large number of people waiting to get in here. We are hoping that we can expand the numbers here in the near future,” Our Place executive director Don Evans said.
According to Evans, that space could come as early as June.
The news comes after two assaults at the encampment near city hall last week – one on CTV camera operator Kirk Duncan.
After failing its fire safety inspection, the government is expected to head to court for a second time to oust the campers.
Evans thinks tent city could be coming to an end because people in and around the encampment don’t feel safe.
“We hear all the time from people in tent city that they want to get out, that they don’t feel safe in there anymore,” Evans told CTV News. “There is certainly a need for us to open up more shelter space in the community.”
Three shelters have opened up to house people in tent city, but they’re all full.
On Sunday volunteers painted the former youth corrections facility to make it feel more like a residential unit.
Joseph Reville moved to Choices from tent city in March. He says he is still advocating for the homeless and micro homes, but that his perception of the encampment has changed.
“I’m not too keen on what tent city has become of late. It’s become a scary place. It became what public perception of it was,” Reville said.
While more spaces are definitely needed, it could be a challenge finding them due to the low vacancy rate.
“We definitely need more space, we still need places for people to live. We have temporary solutions, but we’re still sitting at the same housing rate. What is that 0.6 per cent, not even one per cent,” Reville added.
The province will head back to court within the next few days to argue tent city should be dismantled.
An order gave campers a May 25 deadline to mitigate risks, which include tarps over shelters, crowding of tents and storing of combustible materials.
Fire Commissioner Bob Cooper’s report determined the encampment did not comply with the safety order.