Victoria could explore safer daytime alternatives, supports for residents living rough

Victoria could explore safer daytime alternatives, supports for residents living rough

Published 10:07 am Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Victoria could explore more options for daytime spaces for the city’s unhoused population, with the subject up for debate Thursday.

Looking to serve residents living on the streets and in parks, a motion penned by Mayor Marianne Alto, Couns. Matt Dell and Susan Kim asks council to consider having staff look at safer, more appropriate places for folks to go during the day to connect with others and with health, housing and other supports.

Up for discussion during the Oct. 8 committee of the whole, the intent is to collaborate with Island Health, BC Housing and other partners.

Over the last year, the City of Victoria has worked with many partners and agencies across a wide array of fields to bring targeted, actionable, and compassionate solutions to support unhoused residents’ access to safe and livable spaces and services.

The motion calls for confirmation from Island Health on “operational funding” for at least 18 months; permission to use an existing space or property owned by BC Housing, a non-profit organization, a private landowner, or the provincial government; and potentially initiate planning and construction at one or more such sites and report back on construction costs and timelines.

“Over the last year, the City of Victoria has worked with many partners and agencies across a wide array of fields to bring targeted, actionable, and compassionate solutions to support unhoused residents’ access to safe and livable spaces and services. This included funding and facilitation that moved more than 200 people from the street to housing, 78 people from parks to better shelter and housing, 22 Indigenous people to their home communities, and the opening of 97 new shelter and recovery housing spaces for people experiencing homelessness with funding from, and property provided by, the city,” the motion notes.

The Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, city-led work on prevention, intervention and enforcement in the face of rising concerns, launched in summer 2025.

Since the launch, the city has invested $3.09 million in housing and sheltering, $3.24 million in community services and supports, $4.4 million in cleaning and streetscape improvements, and $7.12 million in responsive enforcement services.

“It remains clear that, despite all these efforts, a significant gap remains in the current system: unhoused Victoria residents have few appropriate places to go during the day. Like unsheltered residents throughout the city, unhoused individuals who remain in the Pandora corridor (800, 900, 1000 blocks) do so for multiple reasons, only some of which can be attributed to the services available there,” the motion notes.

“Creating day spaces won’t address all the complex needs of street – or even precariously or insufficiently housed – residents in a comprehensive, holistic manner, but it will provide new spaces, away from the street, that respond to the need for community in safer and more appropriate places and offer Victoria’s unhoused residents more connections to health, housing and other supports.”

Council will discuss the motion Oct. 8, with the item up for potential same-day consideration for ratification at the following council meeting. An update from staff on the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan is also on the agenda.