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‘Small successes’ cited in battle to end homelessness

The Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness says it has been able to help far more chronically homeless people than expected over the past year.
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Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, co-chairwoman of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness

The Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness says it has been able to help far more chronically homeless people than expected over the past year.

“Last year we set a goal of housing and supporting 50 people experiencing chronic homelessness,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who co-chairs the coalition.

“We ended up providing housing and supports to 111 people.”

There was also a goal to approve 88 new units of housing through the Regional Housing First Program.

“We exceeded that for a net new 113 new units of housing,” she said.

Those units aren’t built yet, but they’re funded and approved, Helps said. The program aims to create affordable and supported housing units.

She said last year’s numbers are “small successes” given the overall magnitude of the local homelessness issue. A homeless count conducted in February 2016 found 1,387 homeless people in Greater Victoria. Another count is planned for February 2018.

“Hopefully, with all this investment and all this effort, we’ll see that number go down,” Helps said.

Also of note are coalition figures showing that shelter use has dropped to its lowest levels since 2010-11, with 56 fewer shelter users than expected over the past year.

Still, Indigenous people account for 21 per cent of shelter users experiencing chronic homelessness, despite making up just 4.1 per cent of the population. The Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness works closely with the Greater Victoria group.

Business owner and coalition co-chair Ian Batey said the Greater Victoria coalition is moving into the second year of a five-year strategic plan buoyed by the past year’s outcomes.

“It’s actually given us the confidence to set newer and, frankly, higher benchmarks for this coming period.”

As an example, he said, the goal for the next year for housing people experiencing chronic homelessness will jump to 110 from 50 individuals.

Batey said that the coalition, made up of more than 40 stakeholders such as B.C. Housing, Our Place and the Victoria Cool Aid Society, does not own any of the buildings it works to establish. Rather, it provides the environment for building to take place.

“All of the numbers that we talk about and all the successes, they’re actually delivered by members of the coalition and the partner organizations.”

Housing is being provided beyond the city core, with a facility for women escaping violence in the works on Salt Spring Island.

Helps said the start of the second phase of the coalition’s community plan comes at an important time. “We still have $51 million remaining from the $60-million Regional Housing First Program, and we want to make sure that those taxpayer dollars are spent based on actual community need.”

The money has come from the Capital Regional District, B.C. Housing, Island Health and the coalition.

“This is for the new housing in the region,” Helps said. “It was a historic moment when all 13 municipalities and two of the three electoral areas voted to support this program.”

Requests for proposal will go out soon to housing providers, Helps said.

The coalition came out of a 2007 task force organized by former Victoria mayor Alan Lowe, and was formed in 2008. Helps said it began with a 10-year mandate to end homelessness by 2018.

“That didn’t happen, and so with this renewed focus on action, and $60 million, we’ve got a mandate out to 2021 to try to make that happen.”

Core funds for the coalition come from such sources as the CRD ($225,000 a year), Island Health ($100,000 a year) and the City of Victoria ($100,000 a year), along with the United Way of Greater Victoria and the Victoria Foundation.

jwbell@timescolonist.com