Residents in Vic West are raising concerns about their safety and the state of Vic West Park as a tent encampment in the park expands.
Local residents say they noticed more people sheltering at Vic West Park this summer after the City of Victoria talked about adding Topaz, Hollywood, Stadacona and Regatta Point parks to the list of parks where sheltering is prohibited.
“It’s to the point that the park was not really usable,” said Harris Schwartz, who lives nearby.
Schwartz said at one point, there were more than 27 campsites in Vic West Park. “Families couldn’t use the shaded area in the park the entire summer because it was taken up with not only the campers, but all their garbage and needles.”
He said it was typical to see families coming to the park with their kids, taking a look around and leaving.
Schwartz said the community understands there is a housing shortage and parks needed to be open to shelter people during the pandemic, but he argues it’s out of hand and camping continues all day.
“The problem that we’ve had is that the bylaw that was put into place to allow for overnight sheltering has pretty much been set completely aside, and now it’s 24-7 camping in the park.”
The city’s bylaw allows people experiencing homelessness to shelter overnight in designated parks from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., but Schwartz said the prohibition on daytime camping is not being enforced.
Mayor Marianne Alto said it doesn’t come as a surprise that as some parks become more restrictive, campers gravitate to those that still allow camping.
Alto said the city is trying to limit the number of parks where sheltering is allowed because “we recognize that parks are not intended to be shelters” and need to be open for use by the community. “At the same time, we’re conscious of the fact that the Adams decision is still sitting behind us saying: ‘You can’t close them all.’ ”
The Adams decision is a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling from 2009 that said in the absence of available shelter beds, it is unconstitutional to prohibit someone from erecting temporary shelter in a park.
Alto said the city is funding a parks relocation co-ordinator whose job is to find suitable alternative shelter for overnight campers.
Alto acknowledged it’s slow work, as it’s based on relationship building, which takes time, but she said it’s likely the city will expand the program as it has had some success.
The city allocated up to $25,000 to hire a third-party contractor to help transition campers from the parks, and to identify designated spaces in the city that could serve as alternatives to sheltering in parks — and spots where new supportive housing projects could be established.
This week, council’s committee of the whole will consider a motion from three councillors seeking to add Vic West Park and Irving Park in James Bay to the list of parks where sheltering is banned.
The prohibition is dependent on offers of better sheltering or housing being available to the park occupants by June 1.
The motion also recommends converting extreme-weather response shelters into temporary shelters for the winter.
If the bylaw amendment banning overnight sheltering in Topaz, Hollywood, Regatta Point and Stadacona parks — and perhaps Vic West and Irving Park if they are added this week — is passed this fall, only three parks with washroom facilities will continue to allow overnight sheltering: Pemberton Park, Gonzales Park and Oaklands Park.
There are several parks without washroom facilities where sheltering is allowed.
The city also has 23 parks where sheltering is not allowed at any time.
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