My Place shelter is back to help

My Place will return this winter, evidence that it was successful where other shelters have faced opposition from neighbours. Operated by Our Place Society in the former Boys and Girls Club on Yates Street, My Place was created last year to house people who had been moved out of the former tent city on the courthouse lawn. They lived in tents set up in the auditorium until they could move into longer-term housing.

Things have changed since last year, and that will be reflected in My Place.

Last year, the city was in the midst of a crisis, and governments and non-profits were trying to find a way to house the tent-city residents in a hurry.

This year, instead of sheltering people straight from the tent city, My Place will be a transition stage for those who have been at the shelter at First Metropolitan Church. That means staff will have had a chance to evaluate residents’ needs.

Instead of tents, people will stay in cubicles at My Place.

“They find that people, when they were in tents, were more isolated and didn’t have as much contact with staff,” Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said.

As with other shelters, the My Place plan had neighbours on edge when it was announced last year. They worried about security, garbage and the effects on Central Middle School, which is just across Yates Street.

It is perhaps a measure of My Place’s success that a meeting last week attracted about 25 people, compared with the 100 worried neighbours who showed up for a meeting a year ago.

Round-the-clock security, regular garbage pickup and positive connections with the school community all helped to assuage concerns.

In comparison, people who live near the former tent city and the shelter at Mount Edwards Court, and the neighbours of the Choices shelter in View Royal have faced ongoing problems. Many of those near Mount Edwards Court remain angry at what they see as a lack of concern for their well-being.

That drove some of them to organize a campaign to unseat Victoria’s city council at next year’s municipal elections. For them, the spark was council’s recent vote in favour of expanding the Mount Edwards Court transitional housing facility from 38 units to 78 permanent units of supportive housing for people over 50.

“This is housing for seniors who aren’t addicted to drugs and who have been screened for violence in their past,” said Coun. Jeremy Loveday.

But neighbours were unconvinced that the trouble caused by its former use as low-barrier housing would disappear.

Coun. Geoff Young agreed, saying the “housing first” model means people living at the facility will still have issues to be addressed.

Frustrating though the job is, municipal councils, the provincial government and groups such as Our Place and Cool Aid are trying to deal with homelessness in the region, which lands disproportionately on the City of Victoria. My Place will offer a transition into more permanent housing, and the government has spent millions of dollars in the past year to ensure such housing exists.

Coun. Ben Isitt proposed last week that Victoria should aim for the kind of mix that is seen in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, where up to 50 per cent of housing is “decommodified,” meaning it is viewed as an entitlement, rather than a commodity. In Victoria, the figure is about five per cent.

His call for that much “state-owned and statesupported housing,” is not likely to go anywhere.

But the problem is far from solved, so the experience of My Place is worth studying as we look for solutions that work for homeless people and the community.