The City of Victoria will allow people without homes to set up temporary shelters at Beacon Hill and Topaz parks in a move aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, Mayor Lisa Helps confirmed on Monday.
As well, B.C. Housing is working with Island Health to use city-owned Royal Athletic Park as a staffed outdoor shelter for people with more acute mental-health and addictions challenges.
Helps said the measures are part of a short-term strategy to deal with a situation in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue where vulnerable people are 鈥渃rammed鈥� together and unable to meet the social-distancing directives issued by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
The long-term plan is to move people indoors as soon as possible, she said.
鈥淭he province has declared a state of emergency, which means that they can take over any of the city鈥檚 facilities to shelter people,鈥� Helps said. 鈥淪o as we speak, I think the province is going through an assessment of which city facilities would be best to move people inside.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 the idea, to have people temporarily move into parks to disperse them from the 900-block of Pandora. There are way too many people on the 900 block of Pandora. It鈥檚 not safe in terms of social distancing.鈥�
Helps said B.C. Housing has already purchased a building for temporary use as a triage and testing site for people who are homeless. In addition, Island Health is looking at setting up self-isolation beds for vulnerable people who test positive for COVID-19, she said.
The shelters at Beacon Hill and Topaz parks will be established immediately and will provide access to meals, handwashing stations, washrooms and up-to-date health information, Helps said.
Controls will be in place to make sure people maintain safe distances, she said.
鈥淭here鈥檒l be health professionals on site, service provision on site.鈥�
Royal Athletic Park will be used for people with more acute needs, and Helps praised the 鈥渢remendous leadership鈥� of Jim Swanson, one of the owners of the Victoria HarbourCats baseball club, for supporting the plan and placing a priority on helping the city鈥檚 most vulnerable citizens.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e all got to step up right now,鈥� Swanson said in an interview.
鈥淎nd, frankly, whatever is best to help alleviate what looks like a severe health issue in the midst of this global pandemic.
鈥淥bviously, Pandora doesn鈥檛 look very good right now and I think it鈥檚 got to be a concern to us all.鈥�
Grant McKenzie, director of communications for Our Place Society, applauded the city and province for working together on the issue rather than relying on charities to shoulder the load.
He said it makes sense to spread people out at three locations and give them access to meals, bathrooms and washing facilities.
鈥淭he people that we鈥檙e dealing with 鈥� they鈥檙e just really concerned about day-to-day survival,鈥� he said.
鈥淪o they鈥檙e not really paying much attention to COVID-19, because it hasn鈥檛 hit their community yet.
鈥淪adly, a lot of the people 鈥� especially the people who are struggling with addiction 鈥� see death daily. So the threat of COVID-19 is not any more of a threat to them than fentanyl is.鈥�
Helps, meanwhile, said Victoria has no plans at the moment to follow 91原创鈥檚 lead and impose hefty fines on people and businesses who fail to follow the provincial health officer鈥檚 orders around social distancing.
She said the city has a small bylaw team and expects the province will take leadership on that issue in the coming days.
鈥淏ut I will reiterate, it shouldn鈥檛 take the local government or the provincial government to fine people to do what鈥檚 good for their health,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 take a fine to get you to follow the doctor鈥檚 orders.鈥�
