The ongoing homelessness situation in Victoria has led to many conversations about strategy and solutions, and now Mayor Lisa Helps is offering up another idea.
In a posting on her personal blog, Helps points out there was no new purpose-built rental buildings built in Victoria for a 30 year span between 1982 and 2012. This has contributed to a housing crunch that has seen people living in vehicles and motel rooms or even crashing on couches.
She rhetorically asks if there is a way to connect those people without permanent housing with those who would be able to accommodate them.
“What if there was a way to connect people living in vehicles, in motel rooms, on couches, with seniors living in large houses all alone, with retirees with an extra bedroom, or even with families with large houses and extra rooms. Unthinkable? Victorians stepped up to help out their neighbours in the past.”
Anyone interested — you can email mayor@victoria.ca — is asked to join a short focus group session, with no other commitment than to share ideas.
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