A Victoria church is voicing its concerns about tent city after staff found needles and human feces on the property.

Christ Church Cathedral has been one of the encampment’s biggest allies, but says a string of recent events has members concerned.

“Needles are found all over the place. We’ve had some rather bizarre behaviours I think in one of the washrooms a few days ago somebody stripped off completely naked, sort of having a good body wash,” the church’s deputy warden Malcolm Read said. "In a public washroom in a church that’s pretty unnerving."

He added the church is treading a tight rope between showing compassion and wanting the best for both the people living in tent city as well as for the people living in the neighbourhood.

“We’re juxtaposing people with some fairly major problems of behaviour next to children who are between five and 14 years of age. That’s pretty scary. The children are the most vulnerable of those two populations. We need to take a stand for ourselves, for the neighbourhood and for the children at the school,” Read told CTV News.

Church officials are now calling on local government and the province to take action and force campers to move on.

“There’s help needed for people who have problems with drugs and mental health issues. They’re not getting it and they’re not going to get it in tent city,” he added.

The head of Christ Church Cathedral School also wants to see the encampment dismantled.

“We should be focusing on educating our students and having a good time with them and not spending as much time worrying about safety,” he said.

The recent events have even caused a drop in next year's enrollment.

“We’ve had some parents indicate that they will not be re-enrolling next year due to changes in the city. Tent city being a large part of that,” Stuart Hall said.

School and church staff now take part in 13 daily security sweeps of the area - looking for drug paraphernalia and human feces.

“Our students have been close to situations that could have turned worse than they did. It’s very concerning,” Hall noted.

Residents in tent city are surprised by the change of heart.

“I think it’s shocking, to turn their back on people. They supported us for a long time, it’s sad to see them go,” one resident tells CTV.

The issue of tent city is heading back to court on September 7. Courts will  re-examine whether the province can shut down the encampment permanently.