Victoria will provide $25,000 to extend the hours of the Our Place street drop-in centre on Pandora Avenue.
City councillors approved the funding last week without debate.
The hope is that by extending the centre’s hours, it will help stem the problem of people congregating on the sidewalk and boulevard outside the drop-in centre’s doors.
Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe proposed the funding, noting that the problem of people hanging around outside Our Place is exacerbated in the summer when there are fewer shelter beds and facilities available.
Our Place, on the 900 block of Pandora Avenue, operates 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week from Nov. 1 to March 31. As a cost-saving measure, from April 1 to Oct. 31, hours are reduced to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.
Given that the operating hours of Island Health’s new supervised consumption site next door to Our Place are 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, it makes sense that Our Place is open at the same time, Thornton-Joe said.
B.C. Housing has committed one-time funding of $75,000 for the extended hours at Our Place, on the condition that another organization also provide funding and Island Health offers services, Thornton-Joe said.
