Victoria carries burden for entire region

The recent Raeside cartoon that depicted the disorder on Pandora Avenue as representative of the City of Victoria was out of line.

As a very concerned constituent, I resent this righteous finger-pointing, as this municipality has accepted the majority of responsibilities in providing for the homeless population for the whole of Greater Victoria for many years.

We struggle to serve this population by employing the same practices while expecting different results.

As a former education administrator, I draw on an analogy of placing most students with physical, behavioural, mental, addiction, etc. challenges in one school.

One would not want to even imagine the chaos. This untenable situation requires a 13-municipality task force that also includes representation from the federal and provincial levels of government to draft actions so as a region all available resources are pooled and brought to the table.

This would allow all the regional “villages” to be involved and contribute their fair share to this immediate, core need.

Imagine if such a task force could measure its success by having every homeless person housed or receiving care in an appropriate treatment facility by working together.

As a region, we all benefit if our Garden City’s central core is enabled to put its best foot forward for Princess Anne and all of our many visitors.

Elizabeth Kozak Victoria