A Victoria organization that aims to support those living on the streets is calling for change after they say nine people experiencing homelessness died in the past week.
Though it's unclear whether the deaths are attributed to overdoses or cold weather, Niki Ottosen of the Backpack Project, who provides tents, clothing and more for Victoria's homeless population, said she and other service providers are "shocked" at the numbers of deaths on the streets in an interview on Nov. 18.
"People are scattered. They're hard to find now, outreach groups are saying they can't find their clients because they've been displaced," said Ottosen, mentioning the ongoing Pandora Avenue And Ellice Street Safety Plan, a collaborative project between the city, the Victoria Police Department, local outreach groups and provincial authorities to address public safety concerns and provide supports to those living on Pandora Avenue and Ellice Street.
Ottosen says eight of the deaths occurred on Pandora Avenue, which is now mostly fenced off as a result of the plan, and one more on Douglas Street.
"Pandora has been violently swept for the last four weeks straight, and the weather is getting worse and worse and worse, and people are out there with absolutely nothing because bylaw has impounded their belongings, medications, blankets, survival gear, and now people are left, literally, on the sidewalks, in the streets with nothing," she explained.
An emailed statement from a city spokesperson noted, "It has never been lawful to shelter on the Pandora boulevard, day or night," and that bylaw staff are "careful to ensure those sheltering maintain all life and safety provisions."
"We've got a cyclone hitting us [this week], and I've been calling for an immediate halt to bylaw sweeping people's belongings and impounding them during extreme weather," said Ottosen. "The second thing that needs to happen is that people need a place to be and the city has been closing down all the parks and pushing people onto sidewalks and streets, and it's clearly not working."
Earlier in the month, the city started discussing its emergency weather protocols ahead of winter and called on other south Island municipalities to create more emergency shelter beds, as the city holds about 80 per cent of the shelter beds in the region. It is still unclear if more beds will be built across the region before the temperature drops.
