The City of Victoria will reallocate $10.35 million to address community safety as it begins implementing the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, which is up for adoption at the July 3 council meeting.
At a press conference on Wednesday, July 2, Mayor Marianne Alto explained the financial details of the plan, and the first steps the city will take in implementing what will likely be a years-long plan to address the complex homelessness, addiction and mental health issues the city faces.
"Within some parts of the community, there is a preponderance of criminals who are taking advantage of vulnerable folk and who I think perhaps haven't been given as clear a message about the fact that is not tolerated," Alto told reporters.
The funding for the plan has seven prongs, starting with the bylaw department, which will hire an additional 12 staff. Alto says 80 per cent of bylaw staff time is currently dedicated to managing sheltering in public spaces, with $3.5 million already being spent on bylaw addressing issues around sheltering and public disorder.
A $1.35 million increase to the police budget will hire nine additional officers – at least two of whom will be expected to work with bylaw full time – and an additional $220,000 to help fund the Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program, which aims to address problems affecting businesses and communities like robberies, shoplifting and property damage.
A further $390,000 is expected to be reallocated to public works to address damaged infrastructure, environmental degradation and ongoing maintenance costs caused by outdoor sheltering. More than $1.5 million is already being spent on operating costs of parks, boulevards and streets.
An estimated $4.85 million will be spent on preliminary repair and rehabilitation of Pandora Avenue and Princess Avenue as soon as enforcement resources are available, as early as this year. Based on early designs, however, rehabilitation of Pandora is estimated to cost more than $7 million over time. Similar work along Princess has not been determined; however, there is an estimated cost of $1.1 million for initial rehabilitation and upkeep.
Around $620,000 is planned to be spent over the next two years to buy and fund a vehicle so a local non-profit can transport marginalized people to regional service locations, including hospitals, clinics and social services. The vehicle would also carry basic health-care equipment to determine the immediate needs of the vulnerable population.
Finally, around $3.35 million will support local service providers and non-profits to boost existing shelter capacity and open more short-term emergency shelter spaces outside the downtown core, as service providers and the province continue to explore options to better support vulnerable people in the long term.
Implementing all of these actions will cost about $13.6 million over the next few years, the city estimates. This year, the city will reallocate over $10 million to fund the plan.
About $1.5 million will be reallocated from funding earmarked to upgrade facilities at Royal Athletic Park, which will scale back some improvements, although critical repairs and upgrades will continue as scheduled. An additional $2.5 million will be redirected from the renewal of Centennial Square, delaying the eastern half of the project to a future date.
Around $1.65 million will be reallocated from the city's housing reserve, along with $700,000 from future contributions to the reserve over 2025 and 2026. Another $4 million will come from the financial stability reserve, which is set aside for emergency and public safety-related demands.
"When the budget was done last year, the decisions that we made at that time were sound. The decisions that we needed to make now needed to be adjusted based upon the realities of the demands of the public," said Alto.
The plan, concentrated on Princess Avenue, Pandora Avenue and the downtown core, is coming on the heels of a busy day for police on June 24, when police dealt with three violent incidents downtown within 10 hours.
"This is a plan that is now multi-faceted, well-funded, and will be executed as quickly as possible," said Alto.
