The City of Victoria will be moving forward with changes to two "key" public assets in the North Park neighbourhood, including Caledonia Place, a transitional village for people experiencing homelessness.
Caledonia Place can no longer remain at the current space on Caledonia Avenue, as the city will have exhausted their use of temporary use permits for the site by October 2025.
Two motions put forward by councillors Jeremy Caradonna and Stephen Hammond at the Nov. 14 committee of the whole meeting looked to first ask other municipalities to host Caledonia Place. The second motion was that the city direct staff to organize a “community conversation” engagement in the North Park neighbourhood in regards to the Caledonia Place property and the former Urbana-Romeo's property in the 1700-block of Blanshard Street.
The hard assets of the 30-unit community at Caledonia Place, formerly known as Tiny Town, are owned by BC Housing and the facility is operated by Our Place Society. The project came about when the city enabled "rapid housing solutions" for those experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is crucial that the planning for the future of Caledonia Place begin now so that there can be certainty for its residents about its next location. The future move must be done responsibly and in ways that minimize disruptions to vulnerable populations,” noted Caradonna in a news release.
The city purchased Urbana-Romeo’s property intending to transform it into a public park. However, Caradonna says it could take a few years before a park can be built, "but the visioning should start now."
"The broader objective here is to bring the North Park neighbourhood along for the ride, bring them along for the journey," Caradonna explained to the council. "There is a feeling, often a pervasive feeling amongst residents of North Park that the city imposes things upon them, rather than coming to them and saying 'what would you like? What does the future of your neighbourhood look like?'"
He explained he didn't want to start an official community engagement process off the bat, but wants to start "early conversations" with residents and community stakeholders.
Both motions were passed unanimously by council.
