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Victoria’s indoor tent city opens doors to campers today

“We’ve listened,” says Don Evans, spreading his arms wide in the tent-filled gymnasium at the city-owned old Boys and Girls Club on Yates Street.
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Don Evans, executive director for Our Place, in the newly set up indoor tent city at the former Boys and Girls Club at 1240 Yates St.

“We’ve listened,” says Don Evans, spreading his arms wide in the tent-filled gymnasium at the city-owned old Boys and Girls Club on Yates Street.

During the past three weeks, the executive director of Our Place has spent time at the tent city outside the Victoria provincial courthouse, talking with campers about their housing needs.

“Everything we have here is influenced by their ideas,” said Evans. “They wanted privacy. They wanted security. They wanted secure storage. They wanted showers. They wanted income opportunities. We’ve incorporated all those things here.”

Even the name of the facility — My Place Transitional Home — was decided by the campers, said Grant McKenzie, director of communications for Our Place, the social agency operating the shelter.

“They’ve had bad experiences with shelters,” said McKenzie. “And this really isn’t a shelter because everyone can come and go. It’s a transitional home. For the people who are here, it will be their home for the next four months.”

The facility, which opens Tuesday and operates until the end of April, has room for 40 people. No one has been turned away.

“It’s going to be a challenge to house them,” said Evans. “These are people who haven’t done very well in shelters, let alone housing. So we’re going to work on getting them prepared and getting treatment for their addictions and their mental health.”

Our Place is working with B.C. Housing and Pacifica Housing to move the tenters into permanent housing. Island Health outreach workers will help those with mental-health and addiction problems.

People living in the shelter will have to complete 10 hours of chores every week. After they complete their required 10 hours, they can put in extra hours to earn a stipend.

“They can make up to a couple of hundred dollars a week,” said Evans. “We’re really trying to empower people and get them ready for independent living and this is a challenging population. Some of the people out there are the most vulnerable people we have in this community. They struggle with most things.”

The province has agreed to provide $400,000 for the shelter. The United Way of Greater Victoria is putting in $25,000 for service support and the city is contributing $45,000 to upgrade the building. The employment stipend will come out of the budget for Our Place.

Not everyone is happy with the new arrangement. The shelter is across the street from Central Middle School, and parents and neighbours have voiced concerns about pimps and drug dealers coming into the area, and needles being left on the playground.

Security is planned outside the shelter from 6 a.m. to midnight. It will be staffed by outreach workers 24 hours a day.

Our Place bought new tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, rubber totes and lights for those moving into My Place. For hygiene reasons, people will not be allowed to bring the tents and sleeping bags they’ve been using in the tent city. They can, however, lock their tents and equipment in storage and retrieve them if they want to leave the shelter.

People living in the shelter will be allowed to have pets, although cats may be easier than dogs, said Evans. Couples can sleep together and friends can camp together in tents inside the gym. There will also be a women’s area, which will be off-limits to men. Visitors are not allowed and drug dealing will not be tolerated.

“It’s like an indoor tent city with supports,” said McKenzie. “I don’t think this has been tried before.”

The shelter will provide meals prepared by a full-time cook. Residents can relax in a lounge with a TV, do arts and crafts, read books, use computers and work one-on-one with outreach workers.

The women’s washrooms with six hot showers will be switched around for a few hours each day to allow the men to shower.

Ensuring everything runs smoothly will require lots of volunteers, especially for the first few weeks, Evans said. “We need people comfortable with this population.”

“This is an opportunity for us to look at what the most vulnerable in our community are looking for and how we can respond to it to actually make a difference in their lives and move them forward,” said Evans. “My hope is we can produce some really good outcomes here and the government will continue to provide resources and add resources to be able to move people off the street.”

ldickson@timescolonist.com