Victoria mayor pitches idea of using parking lots to shelter homeless

Marianne Alto is asking religious and cultural centres to consider using their surface lots as overnight shelter space in return for a tax break

Published Sep 05, 2024  •  4 minute read

Victoria Mayor Marrianne Alto talks to media about her idea of turning portions of large parking lots into temporary overnight sheltering areas. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST sun

Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto wants to ask 13 religious and cultural centres in the city to consider using their surface parking lots for temporary overnight shelter space in exchange for a tax break.

Alto plans to introduce a motion today asking city council to explore the idea of using portions of large parking lots that are not in use every day for those who live in their vehicles, sleep in parks or live in temporary structures like tents.

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“Let me be clear, this is entirely voluntary and it’s an opportunity for people to be part of a solution,” Alto said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s a very small piece of a very complicated solution that we’re trying to attack from every different direction.”

Non-profit facilities with ­parking lots that cover more than 50 per cent of their properties started seeing their tax exemptions for the lots phased out last year, with those organizations getting 20 per cent property tax increases on the parking lots over the next five years.

Alto’s motion identifies 13 properties — including the Anglican Church of St. Barnabas, the B.C. Muslim Association, the Polish White Eagle Hall and Bayanihan Cultural Society. They currently pay property taxes for their large parking lots.

The parking lot at White Eagle Polish Hall on Niagara Street in Victoria, one of the lots under consideration for temporary sheltering. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST sun

Alto said her motion would allow those who decide to give up parking space for temporary housing to get an exemption on the tax. The tax rate varies based on the size and assessed value of the property.

Ann Sharpe, general manager of the Victoria Edelweiss Club in James Bay — one of the properties listed in Alto’s motion — said the executive and members of the group are opposed to the idea.

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“We were shocked when this came about,” said Sharpe. “The homeless population do need a place to go, and we sympathize with that, but it shouldn’t be a parking lot. Many need a safe place with proper supports, but it should not be in a parking lot with no support at all.”

The Times Colonist contacted several other organizations for a response, but did not immediately hear back on what they thought of Alto’s motion.

Donald Gibson, who has lived across the street from the Polish White Eagle Hall for the past seven years, called Alto’s motion akin to “financial coercion.”

“The thing that disturbs me is it pits the community centres against the communities in which they exist,” Gibson said. “They’re now provided with the financial incentive to do something that is against the interest of the residential neighbours … and I don’t think that’s right.”

Gibson said there are too many uncertainties associated with the idea, including questions about security and supervision, mental-health supports, ­sanitation issues and other concerns.

Donald Gibson at his property across from the White Eagle Polish Hall on Niagara Street, one of the lots under consideration for temporary sheltering. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST sun

“There’s none of that here … there’s a K-to-5 school right there, across the street,” he said, pointing to James Bay Community School. “It wouldn’t be appropriate here at all.”

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Gibson said Alto should consider using city parking lots for shelter, and approach the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority about using Ogden Point after the cruise-ship season ends.

Neighbour Pat McGuire said while she has empathy for the unhoused, providing temporary sheltering space in parking lots would be disruptive.

“If it’s people with serious mental-health issues … and have them injected into a settled community anywhere, there will be disruption,” she said. “It has spooked other people I know.”

McGuire said she believes most of the cultural and religious groups will tell Alto “to take a hike.”

But Alto said the negative reaction is “premature,” saying the motion is only asking for staff to consider the options and come back to council with some ideas and proposals.

“The city is in a position right now in trying to do everything it possibly can to address the issue of unhoused persons and all of the poverty-related issues that contribute to that.”

She said the City of Victoria is carrying much of the load when it comes to homelessness, while “our adjacent municipalities are being lethargic in response.”

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Alto said her motion is a message to all of them. “There’s no doubt the City of Victoria has taken responsibility for the lion’s share of these issues. We also have evidence that not all the people we are serving are from the city of Victoria. Many are from surrounding municipalities and, yes, it’s time for our neighbours to step in.”

Coun. Marg Gardiner, a long-time resident of James Bay, said the unhoused population can’t be served from parking lots in residential neighbourhoods.

She said adding temporary sheltering isn’t a solution. “The more anchoring you do, the more permanency you create,” said Gardiner. “What we’re doing by creating more shelters is we’re growing the problem. And we can’t afford that.”

A point-in-time count of the homeless population in the capital region last year identified 1,665 people living without a home, an increase from 1,523 in the last survey in 2020.

In August, the City of Victoria announced plans to increase policing at the Pandora Avenue encampment, but indicated it would need the province to find shelter for those living there.

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