Bylaw officers and Victoria police are cracking down on an encampment in Topaz Park, citing community concerns.
Officers were in the park Monday and Tuesday telling people to pack up their tents from a spot near the skate park.
VicPD said that calls for service to Topaz Park are the highest they have been in three years, up 60 per cent over last year. Concerns about public disorder and assistance for city bylaw top the list of reasons for service calls.
There were about five or six tents remaining Tuesday as bylaw officers continued clearing the area, and everyone eventually cleared out, said Amy Allard, lived-experience coordinator at See Spring Mental Wellness Coalition, a peer-support group with a mission of creating healthy and supportive safe spaces.
Allard was in the park Tuesday supporting those told to move and said bylaw officers were respectful of people sheltering and no belongings were impounded.
“We were given a lot of time to sort of pack up and move on. But packing up and moving on only meant moving 100 metres to the shade under a tree, just to no doubt go right back and do the same thing again,” she said.
Many of those camping in the park had previously been evicted from the Muncey Place supportive housing facility at 3020 Blanshard St., and have a lot of belongings, she said.
The people sheltering in the park have nowhere else to go and will likely return to Topaz Park or spread to other encampments in the city, she said.
“Nobody will magically be housed,” Allard said.
Sheltering in parks is not a good solution for campers, neighbours or the people recreating in the park, she said. Allard plans to address Victoria city council Thursday to propose ways the city can address “this endless loop that isn’t working for anybody.”
She would like to see small communities created on land owned by the city or CRD that would house about six people with similar needs, such as people who struggle with hoarding, or prolific bike thieves who could put their skills toward legally working as bike mechanics.
“That would propel them into a legal lifestyle that builds on their skills. And so that’s the kind of programming that works. You have to look at what do people have going for them? What are they great at and you have to find a way to maximize that,” she said.
Police say enforcement will continue in Topaz Park on a daily basis “for a sustained period” to ensure those sheltering in the park are removing their structures by 7 a.m. each day. The city has established rules for sheltering in parks that allow camping between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
VicPD said they found two open fires in the park Monday morning and responded to a disturbance in a tent.
regan-elliott@timescolonist.com
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