Victoria News
By Keith Vass - Victoria News
Published: October 27, 2008 6:00 PM
After revisiting their decision to appeal a B.C. Supreme Court ruling allowing the homeless to pitch tents on city land, Victoria councillors have decided to press on with the case.
In the clearest statement yet on the city’s grounds for appeal, acting mayor Coun. Dean Fortin said the judge went beyond her authority by effectively telling the city how to allocate its resources.
“What the court has done is over-stepped its jurisdiction in saying ‘City of Victoria, you have to spend your money on homelessness by paying for camping in the park,’” Fortin said Thursday night.
“Instead of saying the City of Victoria wants to spend money on supportive housing that ends homelessness, we’re now being required by the judge, in essence, to put our money into tent cities. We feel that’s wrong.”
Spending decisions belong with elected representatives, he added. While the city has a 10-point case for its appeal, that argument will form the crux of the case, Fortin said.
At its bi-weekly meeting Thursday, council gave second consideration to the appeal based on a motion filed by Coun. Sonya Chandler. The precious little time councillors were allowed to review the large amount of information they were given on the matter left her feeling uneasy over voting for a reversal.
“This was an in-camera item - we didn’t receive the agenda much before we went into the meeting and then there we are, making this large decision - I just feel the issue deserves more time,” she said before heading into Thursday’s meeting.
Among the information she felt was lacking was a cost comparison between supporting tenters with services, opening additional shelter beds and appealing the decision.
Council unanimously supported the motion to reconsider the appeal during its public meeting Oct. 23, but after more than an hour of additional in-camera information and discussion, Chandler cast the sole vote against proceeding with the court action.
“My argument was that we need to do the right thing and that is to provide shelter beds for our residents,” she said. “In the the absence of available shelter beds, we need to ensure they have the ability to erect shelter from the elements.”
While the information received in camera was not available, city spokesperson Katie Josephson said the cost to taxpayers to clean up after the homeless and provide security was $1.4 million last year, including parks and streets.
The city hasn’t tallied how many people were sleeping in parks before the ruling came down. But an influx of campers could drive costs up. The city decided to add $114,000 to the budget last spring to hire two parks workers to clean up after campers.
“It’s when we see tent cities that we really see costs soar. (The) Cridge Park tent city cost $114,000,” including police costs, Josephson said. The city’s lawyers work on retainer.
Fortin said the city has shown a commitment to combatting homelessness through its completion of the Mayor’s Task Force report last year, its funding commitments to the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, and the Capital Region affordable housing trust fund, which partners with B.C. Housing to secure supportive housing and shelter space in Greater Victoria.
Council also passed a motion Thursday directing city staff to work with the province to find additional shelter space for the winter, “buildings with real roofs, with real washrooms, with real water, with real heat,” Fortin said.
kvass@vicnews.com
