A controversial temporary homeless shelter in Vic West is a step closer to becoming a permanent supportive housing site after the City of Victoria directed staff to prepare an official community plan bylaw to allow the development.
Council voted unanimously on Thursday to move the project at 225 Russell St. forward, although it will still require rezoning and to go through a public hearing.
In voting for the proposal, Coun. Jeremy Loveday said he would normally err on the side of protecting industrial and light-industrial land, but in this case that was trumped by the need for housing.
The site is currently being used by the province for transitional housing under the provincial government’s powers to exempt themselves from local zoning bylaws.
The province bought the site for $8 million in April last year to create emergency housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The existing zoning allows for a variety of light industrial uses, though the province is currently using it to run a transitional housing site for up to 50 people.
The site is operated by Our Place Society, offering secure shelter, support and connection to permanent housing. The shelter has been a concern for many local residents, who had protested the fact the province established it without any consultation.
The long-term plan is to redevelop the existing buildings into a 40-unit supportive housing complex for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Rather than force its way into such a project, the province promised it would go through the proper channels to have it rezoned.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the supportive housing project is creative use of an existing building and will be a special place for people to live.
Coun. Geoff Young said he wrestled with the idea that repurposing the site would not require it to conform to the usual rules for setbacks and other requirements the city has for new housing projects.
He said he was willing to move the project forward to a public hearing in order for the immediate community to have its say, but he had reservations because there have been plenty of concerns raised by residents already.
A report by city staff concluded the project would tick a number of boxes, including offering needed affordable housing and improve community wellbeing while improving the landscape and streetscape through an interesting form of adaptive reuse of the warehouse building.
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