Transcript: Council - 2026/06/11
Generated by machine captions published with the recording, uncorrected: names and place names are often misheard, and no one has checked it. The time beside each paragraph opens the recording at that point. Download as JSON. Notes from the summarizer: The automatic captions frequently garble names, Indigenous nation names, organization names, and specialized terms. The motion permitting the listed speakers is in the official motions list, but its result is not clearly audible or identifiable in the transcript. The Poet Laureate performance listed on the agenda did not occur during the captured meeting; the chair said it might be held if the poet arrived.
Before we begin our work together tonight and before we begin any of our work together when we gather together here at City Hall, we like to start by just taking a moment to ground ourselves in the acknowledgement and expression of gratitude that we all have for being able to be here. Not the least of which is for the generations of stewardship and care taken by the LeQuangan people know known to us as the Song He's in Kosopp submissions who have for so many generations taken it upon themselves to be the stewards and caretakers of these lands and the waters that surround them. And whenever we have an opportunity to join together for whatever purpose we'd like to just reflect for a moment on all of the opportunities and experiences that are available to us through the generosity and continuing commitment of the nations to do the work that they have done for so long continually and to continue to do that. I always urge those
who are here with us and those who may be listening to take a moment each day and to find some experience or some sound, some thought, something that reminds them on a very personal level of their own ability to be here by virtue of those efforts. And for that moment to really appreciate the reality of what the nations have undertaken for so many, many years. And the cost that that has had to them and the resilience it has shown for them. We continue to be very thankful for the ongoing generosity that the nations have and continuing to want to work with us and to help us experience the opportunity to learn from and with them.
And when we do that we like to thank them by just saying hi to Kasian Aquilia, which is to say thank you. And their language and to offer our thanks to everyone who's listening who takes a moment each day or many days and for many of you who are here tonight, all of your days, to do good work for all of us who have the privilege of being here in Victoria. As you can see, I'm Nick Williams. We would usually start the evening tonight with a performance from one of our poets laureate, but I do not see Karen with us yet tonight. So we are going to hold that thought and should Karen arrive at some point this evening. We will try and ensure that there is an opportunity for her to share her quite remarkable poetry with us. I do not have any remarks to make particularly this evening, nor are there any late items. And so I would look first for someone to
move the agenda as his husband published. Thanks Councillor Coleman, Second of my Councillor Dell. Any discussion of the agenda. Not seeing any of those in favor. Anyone opposed. That is unanimous. I will note that we are a full complement this evening as Councillor Hamilt is joining us online. And so he will be with us this evening. And tonight, as I mentioned, it's a very special counsel meeting because what we do now is because we no longer have the authority to help public hearings, which used to be the bulk of our evening meetings. And we now meet three or four times a year for a particular opportunities to share information, themes, or to learn together. And tonight we have an opportunity to hear a dozen of our community serving agencies who have been working with us through the priorities and funding available through the Community Safety and Well - being plan. And so we are about to hear some incredible stories, I know, based on who's
here to speak with us about what an amazing things they can do with so very little help. And so I think this is going to be a very unique and special evening for all of us. We will undercoat this the same way that we do in a way about addresses to Council. And so I'll just remind all of you tonight you have unusually up to 10 minutes to share your stories with us, each one of you. Uh, and you do when you come up to the podium here, many of you have been here before and you'll know that there is a lighting system that runs green, yellow, and red. It'll go green when you start.
It'll be yellow when you have a minute left, and then it'll go red when you're supposed to be done. And, uh, please be done when it's read because I really don't want to cut you off particularly today, because I know how much you're going to share. Uh, this is an opportunity not for QA, not for questions that answers, but it is, in fact, an opportunity for us to listen and learn. We have all different ways to follow up with you. Should we wish to do so after the fact? That's also the case for the rest of the audience. We hope that you will also listen with the same amount of respect for each other for the speakers and for our protocols to ensure that we have a civil and open dialogue tonight. Uh, it is important for you when you come up to us to address the Council, because that's what the purpose of tonight is. And that for that reason we would prefer that
you actually speak to us as opposed to your colleagues in the audience. And finally, when you do begin, because I think most of us know who most of you are, it would be great though when you begin your remarks if you could introduce yourselves just so that those who may be with us tonight or those who are watching. And I will remind you that you are on TV and you are being recorded that they'll be able to find out who you are and what you're doing as well. So with that, why don't we get started? And I will just call them up one at a time. And so first up tonight, uh, our colleagues and friends from peer - to - peer indigenous society. Come on up. Yep. Don't worry, we won't bite. This is your evening. All right. You'll want to pull the mic down just a little bit so it's a bit closer to you. Perfect. Can you hear me? You bet. I
have a little voice. That's okay. Not really, but I say that is not the case, not in my experience for sure. Tanishi, kaya, let me see if it's going to Marcy Choo. My name is Karen Mills and good evening mayor and council. I am the founder and executive director of peer - to - peer indigenous society and indigenous mate he led organisation serving or unhost indigenous relatives here in Victoria. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to speak this evening. I am honoured to share the impact of our relocation program funded by the City of Victoria. Since our program launched in November, we have successfully successfully supported 12 indigenous family members in returning home to their communities. A relocation program begins with an application and one - on - one interview from their participants are guarded through a personalized process based on their individual goals and needs supports may include housing addiction recovery, mental health services, and connections to Community Resources, ensuring that participants
have support in place before and after returning home. These relocations have included destinations as far away as Edmonton, in one case due to lack of identification, limited transportation officer options, our team personally drove a participant from Wilkinson Rojail to Edmonton to ensure they would safely connect with their family. Each book relocation represents more than a bus ticket. It represents hope, reconnection and an opportunity for individuals to leave survival mode behind and return to community, culture, and loved ones. And I raised my hands to each and every one of you for believing in me and for supporting peer - to - peer indigenous society. Your investment in this work is making a real difference in the lives of people. Indigenous people in our community. And I wrote this program from my own lived experience for being unhost multiple years and being stuck up island and wanting to come home. And I couldn't do it. So I had to take the chances of hitchhiking. So that's partial.
The other part was doing outreach here for many, many years, but worth peer - to - peer indigenous society listening to our clients on the street. Saying, I wish I could go home. And I just kept hearing it over and over. And so I decided to write a program. And connect with their mayor. And thank you for sitting down with me that day and listening to my idea and my program believing in me and letting me succeed in this, uh, relocation program. So, uh, you know, it's not just like Cade, want to go home. It's extensive. Um, as soon as somebody approaches me, we do an interview. I do a, um, we do an interview and we fill out paperwork and I have to have like who are, who's there to support you because we don't want people going from unhost Pandora to unhost Calgry Edmonton wherever that we don't want that. So we want success. So, uh, it starts when I can get ahold
of somebody and, you know, the, the interview process is what do you need from me? What are you looking for? What do you need on the other end? And then we connect all those services. So three, out of these 12 people, three people have entered long - term recovery for a year. And so some of them are just beginning some or halfway there and so on. When they're done, we connect with their community and their community, when I say community, I'm talking about, um, you know, everybody has a relationship with their family. So their community is what they think they're, who is their community. Their indigenous routes, their culture, uh, being unhoused. I was, you know, like I was unhost for multiple years. I lost my identity. I lost my culture. I lost my mate tea, uh, bean as an indigenous woman. So it's important for me to connect all the dots. I want people to be successful, um, and so, uh, you know, just
takes that one person for chibly even somebody that somebody believed in me 13 years ago. I've been host for 14 years and I've been in recovery for 13 years and it just took that one person to believe in me to change still, I could change my life. And I'm that person amongst a lot of other people. So that's my presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. We usually have a protocol that we don't like people to clap because it's intimidating, but you know what? I don't think we're going to do that tonight. I think that all your stories are very worthy of a type of simple acknowledgement because it is there so amazing. Up next are folks from Big Brothers at Big Sisters of the Capitol region. Welcome. Thank you.
Okay. Awesome. Um, good evening everyone. Um, thank you for inviting me here to speak about Big Brothers, Big Sisters and our continued impact on youth safety and wellbeing thanks to the SPARC program funding we received earlier this year. My name is Julia Ross. I'm here to represent Big Brothers Big Sisters of Victoria Capital Region. Uh, my role with BBBS is the Community Mentoring Team Leed and Family Intake Coordinator, which is mouthful, which means basically I facilitate intake for all of the families and children applying for our community mentoring program. Um, and I also get the privilege of actually creating the meaningful matches between the youth and our wonderful volunteer mentors. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with our agency, um, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, has been in Victoria for just under 50 years.
Um, our agency serves most of the Southern island, uh, from Zook up to Sydney, um, as well as a few elementary schools out in the COMOX Valley. We are part of an international federation, um, so we have about 97 agencies across Canada. Um, we are a nonprofit organisation, um, and so we rely on our social enterprise, local grants, uh, community donations, fundraising. And of course, our amazing volunteer mentors to be able to run our programs. We run three different programs out of our agency, Community Mentoring, which is the program that I run is our one - to - one Community - based program for Youth Ages 7 to 17, who are paired with our volunteer mentors. Uh, they meet in the Community once a week.
They do a variety of awesome activities and it can be as simple as going to the beach, doing crafts, um, attending Royals games or Harbour Kats games thanks to our partnerships and just being together to create a meaningful developmental relationship. Our second program is our in - school mentoring program, which as the name suggest is our mentoring program run through our partner elementary schools. And that's for children kindergarten to grade five. Um, these matches are also one - to - one. Um, and they meet with their mentor, uh, at their school for one week or one hour per week during the school year. And our third program is our BU Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds program.
Um, this is our only group program and that's also run primarily in elementary schools and middle schools, uh, for young girls and gender diverse youth. This is a discussion and activity - based program where youth are free to talk about balanced eating, positive body image, um, wellness, physical activity. Basically just what it means to be a young person today. The children and the youth coming into our programs come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but one thing that they have in common is that they are in need of a positive, reliable adult role model as they navigate childhood. Over 40 percent of families applying to our programs indicate that their child is coping with mental illness. And almost childhood experience scores of four out of 12 or higher. Our programs are often the only source of a consistent adult connection the child receives. We have a heavy emphasis on prevention rather than intervention, so we're not a crisis support program or an intervention program, but
we are an excellent choice for families who are looking to build their child Circle of Support and keep them on track for early positive outcomes and experiences. We know that mentorship works, and I get to see it every single day. Um, I had a parent recently share with me, um, after their child graduated from our program, um, that the child or he's a young man now, but he's been accepted into his first choice post - secondary program. Through tiers, she told me that he likely would not have graduated high school without his mentor coming into his life. They were matched for over nine years in our programs and they continue to see each other now that he's an adult. We have over 130 youths on our wait list waiting for this life - changing opportunity.
And thanks to funding programs such as Spark, we were able to keep our staff working and moving towards creating a safe wellness - driven community for our youth to grow up in. All of our programs rely heavily on the generosity of not only our volunteer mentors, but of our community partners, donors, and funding opportunities such as this program. As a non - profit organisation, like many of the others in the room today, funding is a consistent challenge. Um, it feels like it really never ends sometimes. Um, and our agency was really excited to participate in the Spark program. And as a recipient, we've used the funds for professional development, collaboration with other organisations, some of which are in the room today. Um, and truthfully, just being able to maintain our programs uninterrupted. Without this funding, we would have needed to cut down on our already small team, which would have paused our programming. And in turn, change the trajectory for the kids we've been able
to serve so far this year. With this funding to continue programming, we have served 33 youth in three schools in our BU program in Victoria. 15 youth in matches in four elementary schools in Victoria, and 57 youth in our community - based program in Victoria. In addition to the youth served, we were able to collaborate and partner with Victoria's Sexual Assault Centre for them to come into our office and deliver their wonderful, safer spaces training for our staff, volunteer mentors, practicum students and community partners. Again, this training would not have been possible without defunding that we received. I personally was also able to use this funding to participate in and complete a two - day intensive course for mental health first aid, which I am not certified in. I took the learnings and applied them immediately to family and mentee interviews and check - ins as mental health challenges are often very prevalent in youth - seeking support from our volunteer mentors. And this is
allowed me my work to be more trauma - informed, knowledgeable and supportive. We've been fortunate to collaborate with Community Organisations, including the human's right Commissioner of BC at the Royal BC Museum. Kids up front, um, for events and community services, uh, of course, the Victoria's Sexual Assault Centre for their wonderful workshop, Joni for sustainable period products for our BU participants, Crystal Pool passes over March break, um, and just for our community matches to have a fun activity, uh, to do for together. And we've strengthened our existing relationships with the Victoria Rose Foundation, um, and soap for Hope Canada among many others. We are always looking for further opportunities to collaborate, and we're always interested in connecting with other YouTering agencies to provide the most holistic, well - rounded support that we can. There is a wealth of knowledge and resources and commitment in this room and collaboration really is the key to turning that collective strength into meaningful action. So now what? As many of
us are all too familiar with demand for programs significantly outpaces the funding that we have. We still need funding in order to continue to the work that we do and to expand our reach to shrink our ever - growing rate list. Youth safety and well - being is always the top of our minds, and we will always need funding to keep our programs running for free and as low barrier as possible. We're so excited for potential future opportunities to collaborate with you all and continue giving youth opportunities they deserve to reach their full potential. Thank you. Thank you so much, Julia. Indied. Next up, Community Social Planning Council.
Welcome. Alright, good evening, Mayor and Council, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Miranda Levert, and I'm a case manager with the greater Victoria Rent Bank. I'd like to begin by thanking the City of Victoria for being such a strong partner and supporter of our work. We're extremely grateful for the city's investment in homelessness prevention and housing stability. Um, and for the opportunity to share how this investment is already helping Victoria residents remain housed. Today, I'll be providing a brief overview of our program, the importance of eviction prevention, our impact over the past year, and how we've already begun utilising the city's most recent investment. So the greater Victoria Ramping provides interest - free loans, grants, and ongoing rental subsidies to support low and moderate income residents experiencing temporary financial hardship. Our goal is to prevent eviction and help people remain housed when unexpected crisis threatens their housing stability. Many of the people we support are facing situations such as
illness, ham reduced work hours, delayed benefits. Family violence, or other unexpected expenses. In many cases, the issue is just that they're experiencing a temporary financial disruption that places them at immediate risk of losing their housing. Um, even if they can typically manage their cost of living. The REMPINK exists to bridge that gap, then it helps maintain people or helps people maintain their housing throughout that crisis. So housing losses often the result of a short - term financial crisis that escalates over time. A missed paycheck, a medical issue, an unexpected expense, or a delay in benefits can quickly lead your rental arrears and somebody's housing being at risk. When housing is lost, the impacts extend two loss of employment, education disruption, loss of access to healthcare services, community supports, and other important connections. Eviction prevention focuses on intervening before a crisis reaches that point. By helping people remain housed, we can reduce disruptions for individuals and families while preventing the need for more expensive and intensive
interventions later. So because prevention has demonstrated effectiveness, Victoria identified housing security and homelessness as priorities... Here, sorry. So Victoria has identified housing and security and homelessness as priorities and invested in prevention - focused approaches. As identified in the City's Community Safety and well - being plan, housing affordability and availability remain major concerns for Victoria residents. Specifically inadequate housing supply and homelessness. The priority is smeared in a 2025 vital science report from the Victoria Foundation, in which the region gave a degrade to housing, noting that the availability of affordable rental housing is below average rapport. And that housing is ranked as the second largest concern for residents at about 58 percent behind only cost of living, which is at around 70 percent. Your commitment to our program not only reflects a priority for individuals, but it also supports the community - level benefits of homeless prevention initiatives, reducing strain - on health, social, and emergency services, improving stability for residents, and aligning with the approach outlined
in the community safety and well - being plan. Which calls for interventions to address root causes of housing and security. So the City of Victoria has very generously approved 210, 000 dollars in total applications to the greater Victoria rent bank, 110 of this is allocated annually for loan capital, and the additional 100 has been divided into loan capital, grants, and additional support hours. This investment expands our financial resources, but it also increases our capacity to respond to residents with the most complex needs. All right, so in this reporting period, we received 360 applicants from Victoria residents, which is a 21 percent increase. The rent to income ratio was reported at around 64 percent Now when we talk about rent - to - income ratio, we're talking about the proportion of someone's income that goes towards rent and the Canadian mortgage and housing corporation identified that a housing is affordable when people are spending 30 percent or less of their gross income on their rent Our
applicants are spending more than twice that, which reflects extreme core housing need. In terms of demographics, we see a large number of increasingly vulnerable individuals from Victoria applying. Over 14 percent of our applicants are experiencing some sort of violence at the time of applying, most commonly this is gender - based or intimate partner violence, but it also encompasses financial abuse stalking and intimidation, violence from a landlord or coworker, and abusive seniors. Additionally, This includes individuals who fell ill and are waiting for medical EI to begin, or those who sustain a workplace injury, and are waiting for their workers'compensation claim to be assessed, and are unable to maintain their housing in the meantime. So these figures illustrate that many applicants are already navigating, compounding vulnerabilities, when a housing crisis occurs, and with our support many have been able to maintain their safe and stable housing throughout.
So in this reporting period, we supported Victoria residents with a combination of loans, grants, and ongoing rental subsidies. In total, we provided over 108, 000 dollars in assistance to local households. From municipalities has allowed us to leverage our existing for additional grants and subsidies. So this means that we can stabilize households with the right tool at the right time, it's appropriate for their situation, and prevent eviction more effectively. The City's contribution remains essential to the functioning of the program and the impact of the rent bank, and this year it helped us bring more even more resources to the community. Beyond the dollars distributed, these investments represent households who are able to remain safely housed during a crisis. So in this reporting period, 102 people were directly impacted by funding, which included 22 children. For reference, this is equivalent to an entire school classroom remaining housed.
This number does not include people we connected with external resources such as housing supports through Pacifica or BC housing, family programs like Burnside Gorge Community Association, Financial Literacy Supports through Credit Counseling Referrals, and organisations addressing immediate needs such as food and clothing. We work really closely with these partners, and often actually coordinate services between multiple organisations to ensure that housing stability for challenges that fall outside our scope are still being assisted with. Now we recognise that a lot of the renters that reach out to us are in difficult situations, and sharing personal and financial details can make them feel very vulnerable. So our team prioritizes maintaining dignity and providing a supportive and non - judgmental environment throughout the process. We very firmly believe that a one - time crisis should not cost somebody their housing, and our goal is really to ensure that those temporary setbacks remain temporary. Alright, so in the first six weeks of offering expanded support through the additional City of Victoria
funding, we've been able to distribute 4, 427 dollars in grants These grants supported nine residents, which included a few children, a newborn child, and a senior. One household had recently fled unsafe housing, and their needs could not be met through a traditional loan or grant streams. The city's investment allowed us to provide urgent stabilization support. We were able to distribute funds within days of them reaching out, and they did not lose their housing. When an otherwise they may have not been able to access support. Beyond direct financial assistance, the funds have increased our capacity to respond to urgent situations. In one instance, staff were able to meet with a client with a disability at her home to complete documentation and facilitate access to support that otherwise we may not have been able to offer to her. What we only began working with the funds a short time ago were already seeing how increased flexibility and capacity can help us reach residents who may have otherwise
fallen through the gaps and services. All right, so looking forward to measure the impact of these funds, we've implemented some tracking metrics. For grants, we'll be tracking demographics and population served, and we'll be measuring the reach based on how many people we've been able to affect and evaluating how additional support hours have affected service delivery. We're looking forward to building a strong evidence base around the impact of these investments over the coming year. All right, so before I wrap up, I just wanted to share some direct quotes from tenants who've been directly impacted by the greater Victoria rent bank. Um, one individual said, thank you again for your help and kindness. I'm extremely grateful to you and your organisation for helping me make ends meet and keeping me housed. Another said from the bottom of my heart, you and above and beyond to help me, and literally saved me from having to live on their street. For this I will forever be grateful. Again, thank
you. Much of the feedback we received centres around feelings of relief and dignity. Renters to reach out to us have generally explored all other options and genuinely have nowhere left to go. Um, the previous quotes are from individuals who have been directly impacted by funding, but we also receive positive feedback from those who are not eligible. One applicant, for example, reach out to us after exhausting every other resource. And they were at risk of losing their home and felt they had nowhere else to turn. Although they couldn't receive financial assistance, our case managers took the time just to listen to their story and help them create an actionable plan. By the end of the process, this individual was able to resolve their housing situation on their own. Um, so this is a powerful example of how sometimes guidance and understanding is just as valuable as the direct dollars distributed. The greater Victoria rent bank has been an essential tool for homeless prevention serving the region
since 2021, and through the generous contributions of the City of Victoria, we've only been able to expand our impact, and we hope to be able to continue providing this vital service to those at risk of homelessness. Thank you. Thank you, Miranda. Up next is a Salvation Army. God. Welcome. Okay, hopefully I can get this. Alright. Good evening, and thank you to Merira Alto and Council members for inviting the Salvation Army Victoria ARC to the City of Victoria's Open House tonight. My name is Karen Shaw, and I'm the Director of Programs with the Victoria Arc. It is my pleasure to be here tonight to talk about our recent partnership with the City of Victoria. I'd like to start by giving you a little bit of background for those of you who may not be familiar with our services at the arc. Can you read that okay. Although the Salvation Army on Johnston and Wharf Street has been actively supporting the Community of Victoria for over 130 years, our facility as you see now has been
a fixture in the City's Social Service landscape since we opened our doors in 1982. We're a diverse, inclusive recovery - oriented community dedicated to providing a sober and safe, dignified space where people can heal and reconcile their lives. Today the air sea delivers eight core programs from Johnson Street, including emergency shelters, a 50 - bed halfway house, and 18 - bed long - term recovery, program, transitional housing, and seasonal extreme weather response program. Our community, excuse me, our community dining lounge serves lunch Monday to Friday and is a place to rest and recharge over a hot meal. Internally, the ARC supports up to 155 individuals to meet their needs daily, with our capacity increasing to 185 people during the months when our EWR program is activated. The salvation army ARC has committed to evidence - based best practices and service delivery. And we reflect the core values of dignity, stewardship, hope, and service. Each guest residing at the ARC is assigned a caseworker who can
assist them to navigate daily challenges and access resources in the community to help them thrive. Additionally, case management services focus on helping clients obtain stable housing, connecting them to in - house and external resources setting goals and developing individualized plans that foster empowerment and well - being. Services in the housing program include accommodations, nutritious males, hygiene products, laundry access, and secure storage. In all ARC guests have access to daily programming activities, events, such as recovery meetings, health and ID clinics, spiritual care and recreational opportunities. Addiction, housing and security, mental health concerns, barriers to healthcare and poverty continue to place immense pressure on the city's ability to respond effectively to community needs. These issues have been further exacerbated by the ongoing toxic drug crisis declared a public health emergency in 2016. Within the downtown core, residents and business owners report frustration and concern over the visible homelessness, the human despair, service gaps and safety issues, while clients continue to face overlapping barriers that make achieving stability
extremely difficult. The ARC with the City of Victoria recognises the urgent need for recovery - oriented supportive housing options to help address the situation. On April 1st, 2026, the ARC and partnership with the City of Victoria, launched our short - term engagement program, a two - year commitment to strengthen emergency shelter and support NERC community. This initiative directly aligns with the City's Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan by addressing the growing need for sober living environments that emphasize human dignity, stability, and recovery within a supportive network of Community Services. Expanding the emergency shelter strengthens the City's coordinated response to homelessness by providing a safe, sober living space where people can access nutritious meals. A warm bed and staff support to overcome barriers in pursue recovery. The funding from the City of Victoria provides 13 emergency shelter beds serving adults 19 and older who are committed to maintaining sobriety while we prioritize those living in the downtown core. With this program expansion, the total number of available
emergency shelter beds increase their capacity from 53 to 66. As part of the cities of Victoria's commitment, uh, roughly 13, 839 dollars for capital expenses was provided to the arc to refurbish two dorm rooms within the housing and support service department to supporter capacity. These capital expenses represent only the initial startup and will not reoccurn subsequent fiscal years. With the capital commitments, we were able to purchase 13 sealed seam mattresses that are water and begged bud proof from Vancouver's bunk bed Canada furnishings. Um, this is where the cost come in your help means everything. These mattresses are 434 dollars each. Storage lockers that we use to help refurbish the dorms, our 630 dollars each. 26 operating costs is roughly 146, 000 dollars, which works out to 900 dollars and 30 cents a day. Per bed.
So I don't know if you can see that slide, but I'd ask you to really have a look at the cost comparison between housing people in prisons. Or in recovery centres or what the average person can afford at 1600 dollars a month rent Even at that they're paying 50 dollars a day. The City funded spaces operate in accordance with the Salvation Army's accreditation standards and the term's existing BC housing contractual agreements. No additional frontline staff were hired. The ARC staff managed the Xpanic capacity through existing operational resources. Quarterly, the Salvation Army ARC will provide a report to the City for the previous four months. This information will be anonymous and are fantastic caseworkers track all of our reportables. So for example our STEP program must remain at a 90 percent capacity or higher. This was our average for the year of 2025. And I can tell you since April 1st of this year when we started April and May we have been at capacity every
day. The only time that those beds are empty is when they're being flipped over, turned over and a new resident is coming in. The average length of stay is 52 days. That was the average in 2025 and we're looking at that as a likely average in step as well. We'll be tracking the housing type that the client moves on from, from step, whether that's market housing, uh, supportive housing, perhaps a rehab facility, or even going home. The STEP partnership demonstrates what can be achieved when organisations come together to address complex social challenges with compassion, accountability, and practical solutions. And by investing in safe, sober shelter spaces, we are not only meeting the immediate needs of vulnerable people in Victoria, but creating opportunities for individuals to rebuild their lives, strengthen their connection to the community, and move towards a future of hope and independence. To close, as we look ahead, the salvation army, Victoria ARC remains committed to working alongside the City of Victoria, B. C.
housing. Our awesome and amazing Community Partners. And those we serve to create pathways towards stability recovery and housing. So thank you, Mayor. Council. And providers and service providers for your continued support and commitment to improving the well - being and safety of our community members. Thank you, Karen. Up next is the Youth Empirement Society. Welcome. Great, thank you. There's two of us tonight, and I'll get us started. Thank you so much for having us today. My name is Keysai Peterson. I'm the operations director for the Victoria You Youth Empowerment Society. And Julianne Hunter is our executive director. And we're grateful to be here and share with you news about our funding through the SPART program, as well as through the community wellness and safety program. So in starting, I would just like to introduce the Victoria Youth Environment Society. We are an organisation that for more than 30 years has walked alongside young people and families in our community, providing responsive individualized support that build safety, stability, connection, and the skills that
young people need to thrive. Our vision is that every young person has the support opportunities and confidence to shape their future and move successfully into adulthood. Every year, uh, Victoria Youth Empire Society supports more than a thousand individual youth and families across the greater Victoria region through a continuum of services that provides prevention, family support, outreach, housing and shelter services, mental health and wellness programming. Life skills development and safe welcoming spaces. We're young people can connect and belong. Earlier this year, we received funding through the SPARC program, and this allowed us to scale up three program areas. The first was for Youth HS14 to 19, who were involved in the justice system. Our outreach you support workers were able to work with youth who had charges, but no experience with the justice system previously. So the youth workers provided info and support on navigating the justice system and understanding their rights and responsibilities. For other youth on probation, the focus was on connecting youth to
their probation officers and attending court. During January to March, 2026, there were 11 youths who were supported in this way. The outcomes include improved attendance and participation with probation and court processes. There were fewer breaches and increased understanding of youth rights and responsibilities. A second area is our youth recovery groups, which are led by staff in our outreach and specialized youth detox programs. One group is for you who are using substances and who are interested in recovery through a smart recovery model. The second group is an abstinence - based support group for youth who are maintaining recovery. This approach, as you centred, is trauma - informed and allows for a safe and supportive environment for youth to have meaningful conversations about substance use and recovery.
During January to March, there were 18 youth who accessed recovery groups and three staff received the SMART recovery training. In seven cases, the youth asked to access our youth detox program and other treatment options. The last program funded through Spark is our youth food pantry program, which provides youth access to food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, clothing and small household items. The food pantry is accessible from Monday to Friday at our downtown location and allows you to choose for themselves, um, what food supplies they would like. And as well, they're cooking workshops to build up their skills. This generous contribution to the food pantry allowed greater access to perishable items such as meat, milk, yogurt, and butter.
And popular items cleaning supplies and special dietary requests. It also allowed our food pantry staff and volunteers to purchase ingredients to make nutritious protein - rich meals that were portioned and frozen for later use. We also were able to install a dishwasher, which was very welcome and improved hygiene and purchase new tables and chairs for the cooking workshops. During January to March, there were 74 individual youth, HS15 to 20 who access the food pantry, and many of these come on a weekly basis. I'll hand this over to Julianne to talk about the other aspects. Great. In addition to the city's spark program, yes is also received funding through the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan. The first grant provides funds to help you as staff support youth from other communities to return to their homes. Our range of service areas typically greater Victoria, but sometimes youth do come from up island or the mainland or the golf islands. And our transportation budget doesn't allow us to
get youth home easily or quickly. We know that that is the best place often for youth to be at their home community. And often they want to be there. So this grant has helped the costs of transportation helped us offset the cost of transportation and worker accompaniment to support youth and returning home. I would also, um, add that this fund has also been used to help youth get to treatment and to be able to accompany them off Victoria to other places as well. The second grant is for supported independent living program, which is our only program that supports young people up to the age of 24. The focus is to support this important transition time into independence and to help youth who age out of youth services, um, navigate the supports and services required for them to be resilient and supported into their adulthood. Are you support workers support their clients'goals around education, housing, income, employment, health skill development and community connection. We were funded
for 1. 5 FTE, but in the last few years we have been experiencing longer wait lists as youth need help longer. Which puts these youth and young adults at risk of being unhoused and deteriorating mental and physical health. The grant from the City of Victoria provides for an additional 0. 5 FTE for our sport independent youth worker, uh, for the next two years. With this funding, we've significantly reduced the wait list, which had been at 30 prior to this additional funding. And more young people are experiencing greater stability and resiliency into adulthood. And the impact of these grants is obviously direct in what we're able to do in a short term, but really what's supporting youth represents is the long - term commitment of our community to our community. These youth now can have access to jobs, access to stability to post - secondary. And what we know is that represents hope, not only for them, but for all of us in our community. And
we can see that with our supported independent living program, we have so many youth who access that program who are in post - secondary who want to get into the work of supporting others. And they just need that extra help while they get there. Um, we have youth who access these recovery groups who never thought people would take a chance on them in their recovery as they figure that out. And what we can see with this funding is the opportunity for these youth to feel good about themselves and that we support them and that you all support them. There is something incredibly valuable about this collaboration to be able to say to young people, we see you and your city sees you. And we know that the roots that are planted in these grants and hopefully future collaboration opportunities will grow. They'll become the trees in our city as these youth come back and go, I got help. And so how can I help others?
And so I think for myself, one of the things I just wanted to say is the impact of this is so long reaching. When you have a 12 year old who can access this, they are going to grow up and be supported. So we wanted to just say thank you so much for this opportunity to create this larger impact, helping our youth is one of the easiest fundamental things we can do for prevention in our city. And all it really takes is the opportunity to say to youth, how can we help? And these funds have allowed us to do that. So thank you very much.
Thank you. Up next is the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness Society. Welcome.
Aguibjalazi Nindeloisi, Julia Oquin, DeLeawey, the Homgok. Good evening everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you all this evening. Um, my name is Julia Oquin. I'm honoured to be here representing the aboriginal coalition to end homelessness society this evening. Uh, the aboriginal coalition is an indigenous - led nonprofit organisation, uh, with an island - wide mission to end homelessness for First Nations Inuit and BT relatives. We are actually marking our 10 - year milestone as a nonprofit this year and really want to acknowledge the City of Victoria who has been an integral supporter, uh, since we had our founding executive director in the early beginnings of the organisation. Also want to take a moment to acknowledge these beautiful lands that we gather on today.
Uh, of our song He's and a Squammold Nations. We have representation across our executive team, our board of directors and our elders advisory as well, uh, who guide the direction of the organisation and to the Community is who have provided their blessing for our organisation to do this important secret work, um, on these territories. Uh, so earlier this year, we were fortunate to be the recipient of a spark grant. And with these funds, we really dedicated and honed in on the supports that we provide for our young ones. Uh, so more than a service provider, we are really looking at the systemic structural barriers to indigenous homelessness. And this funding provided us a way to begin to focus some attention in this area. Uh, so when we look across our community, these are numbers we won't be too unfamiliar with. But when we look at our unhoused relatives, uh, around 36 percent have experienced, um, in the foster care system. And 55. 6 percent of
our unhoused community have experienced homelessness as a young person. So the importance, it can't be emphasized enough around prevention. And when we're looking at our indigenous youth specifically, um, in January of this year, nearly 70 percent of euthan care, our indigenous youth. That is, um, a very unsettling place to be. As a community, as a province, as a country. Um, considering that, uh, being a child in CARE is considered a super highway into homelessness. So protecting our young ones, ensuring they have those circles of care around them are vitally important during their formative years. So. Um, through the SPARC program, we had four different focuses working with our young ones. Uh, we hosted a regalia fashion show down at Wawadidla. We held the land based healing camp out with patchy dot First Nation. Uh, we organised a range of land - based traditional food preparation with our young ones and held a blanketing ceremony after our young ones who were just completing returning home from
treatment programs. So just a glimpse into each one of these, uh, for events that we held, uh, and all of them really centring these three themes, um, a lot of our youth have grown up away from their communities, away from their families. So bringing into their lives a sense of identity, which leads to a sense of belonging and community, which then helps them find their purpose. Uh, so these are a few snapshots from earlier this year down at Wahuditla. This was an open event to our community to come out and celebrate our and how is relatives those in our culturally supportive housing sites, uh, so leading up to this very beautiful celebration. We had many people involved working with our young ones to weave cedar, uh, to make ribbon shirts, ribbon skirts, uh, regalia that reflects their own individual cultures, both traditional regalia and urban regalia. So they had the opportunity to walk this as part of a fashion show to be introduced to the
community and to be celebrated by the community. Uh, so just to give a few acknowledgments here, uh, the many elders and knowledge holders who supported this day, Nicole Mandrick, Crystal Brun, uh, Gloria Rose, Caleb Child, Doug and Kathleen, uh, Lafortune Lillian Underwood and Guy and Calvin Louie. Moving on to the land - based healing camp. So this was held over spring break of the school year with some of our youth who live in our, um, hot palazzos lalim, sacred cradle house, our youth housing. And those we work with through our outreach programs, uh, so we were able to bring them out for a week of cultural learning and experience, uh, to patchy that First Nation, where we were warmly welcomed by Chief Jeff Jones. Uh, he brought the youth right to the beach. They had a crab boil there together. Uh, the first evening, they were invited to attend culture night. So you can see there some of the Community members and their regalia. Uh,
so the youth having the opportunity to, uh, learn the songs, learn the dances of communities and really be embraced wholeheartedly, um, and again, acknowledging our dear elders, Doug and Kathy, uh, pictured here who attended and supported the duration of the camp. Throughout the springtime. We also had the opportunity to get our youth out on the land, learn some essential survival skills, how to build a fire, how to prepare traditional foods from their own communities. Um, on this particular day, it was very special because we also invited siblings, aunties, uncles, parents, grandparents to all come out, um, to enjoy this feast that the youth prepared themselves.
So just a celebration of family and connection that day. Um, I can't share too many photos from the ceremonial part of the work. However, just wanting to acknowledge, uh, we work in close partnership and have through the spark program, uh, with surrounded by cedar child and family services, which is our delegated Aboriginal agency for the Victoria area. Uh, so we had a number of young people in the springtime who have been away for three to six months working really hard on their recovery. Uh, so this was a day where we came together again, bringing families in, bringing community members in to sing and drum and welcome them home and acknowledge the good work. Um, that they've done on their healing pathways. I want to share with you as well just a few words that were shared from our young ones as part of this, uh, program. I think a lot more powerful than any words I can share here this evening. Uh, so when you
shared, if I was in Victoria, I would have gone back to substance use. So speaking to that importance of that connection on the land and having a reprieve from some of those day to day stressors. Uh, I came on this land based healing camp to get away from the city and everything going on with my family. I'm glad I came here. I heard the drums as soon as I opened the car door and I knew I was in the right place. My highlight was when I was singing with Joe at the Culture Night. And I'm really excited to be sober and remember my birthday. I haven't remembered my birthday since I was 11. Uh, yeah, this one hits me particularly hard. This is a young girl. She just had her 16th birthday. So that's, you know, five years that she's been struggling and she was able to come to this camp, uh, following her time at treatment program really as a way to sustain that
connection. Know that she's landed at home with a sense of community and be able to continue on her recovery journey. I just want to acknowledge, um, a big part of the work we do is really going beyond just providing housing, providing a safe structure of course is an important part. But really focusing on the healing work that's needed. Um, that's really the root of homelessness for many of us. Um, and so we've been very fortunate to have our elders advisory from Coseless Quackwakywak new channelth and mate representation come together and develop this healing model. We bring our community members across the island and we followed the seasonal teachings of each of the territories. And so we're very fortunate for the time they've taken to share those traditional ways to build out this model that our organisation follows can offer our young people, um, but all of those that we support as well. Um, so just a special thank you to the city for making these
opportunities possible for our young people. Um, you know, I can share with you some words this evening, but these, um, experiences are lifelong memories for our young people that they won't forget. So hiatchka will elio. Thank you. Thank you so much, Julian. Up next is BC Housing. Welcome. Hi. Just wondering if the PowerPoint's coming up. Yeah. Thank you. We have the PowerPoint, Becky. Good evening. Hi, everybody. I'm Jen Fox. Regional Director for Vancouver Island Region BC housing. And thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening to celebrate the Strong Partnership between BC Housing and the City and to highlight meaningful work for accomplishing together. Oh, it's me. Oh, there we go.
I have to do both here. I'd like to acknowledge with gratitude that we're here this evening on the traditional territory of the Le Klingan speaking people known as today, Azia Squilt Nation and Songhees Nation. There's been a longstanding and valued collaboration between BC Housing and the City of Victoria. And I'd like to begin by highlighting our most recent work together. And then move into key partnership projects that demonstrate the strength of this relationship. And then close by sharing the positive impact of this work brought to life through the story of a shelter resident who generously shared his experience with us. There's a lot. We've got two slides like this. It's great. Um, as part of the province's belonging in BC Strategy, it was announced February, 2024, that the province and the City signed a memorandum of understanding to bring the homeless encampment action response team.
That's heart. And the homeless encampment action response temporary housing programs to Victoria. B. C. Housing as the delivering implementation arm of the province and the City of Victoria was support from local nonprofits identified opportunities for provincial funding under the HARTH program to expand resources to better support individuals experiencing homelessness in Victoria. In 2024, we saw Caledonia place reopened 30 units. Shelter capacity expanded to provide more shelter spaces. Additional outreach staff were added with weekly outreach coordination. Continuing amongst the city, BC housing, island health, social development, poverty reduction. Service providers and local nonprofits. And in June, the victorious Strategic Working Group table brought together the city BC housing. I'm going to say a lot of these people. Island Health Provincial Partners, service providers and nonprofits for a coordinated encampment response that supported 60 people in Victoria to shelter and housing. Then in 2025 in partnership with the province through BC housing, the City and CRD, construction started to bring 158 affordable rental homes and 47 supportive
housing homes to Pandora Avenue with 90 supportive housing homes underway at 726 Discovery Street. And this year work began at Wellness Host with our partners at the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness to bring 34 culturally supportive homes for indigenous people experiencing homelessness to Victoria. And these are permanent homes coming to Victoria. Then of course in July, 2025, Councillor adopted the city's Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, followed by shelter expansion at Rock Bay Landing and we coordinated together on the Shigela response with numerous partners for the response for Victoria. Additionally, in February, the leadership table, um, expanded, oh wait a second, sorry, in February, the launch of the integrated regional governance that's moving away from the Victoria's Strategic Working Group into a regional governance under the federal and provincial coordinated access alignment on homelessness brought together a leadership table that includes BC Housing, CRD, the City, island health, municipal and provincial partners, service providers and local nonprofits working together on opportunities for coordinated systems improvement and
flow within the shelter and housing ecosystem. And this spring Johnson Manor and Bridges opened. What did I just do? Sorry about that. There we go. Okay. Specific collaborations. So these are the outreach activities that we worked on together. We saw the shelter expansion at shelters operated by our place society, Salvation Army, solid and COOL - Aid. Provincial funding under the HARTH program provided an additional 132 spaces with an existing sheltered funded under the emergency shelter program. We have new projects by pulling City funding and resources with provincial hearth funding and in partnership with local nonprofit partners. Victoria has additional shelter spaces. The new recovery oriented housing at Johnson Manor and the Bridge Street Pathways Shelter and more opportunities for flow within the shelter and housing ecosystem. Just spotlighting again, Bridge Street Pathways shelter. We have a really great quote from Mayor Alto there. Which is fantastic. So that's the referral shelter. We're 34 spaces are supporting folks as a pathway in housing. And of course,
Johnson Manor in partnership with City, the province through BC housing and COOL - Aid. Another strong example of provincial investment in the city's Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan working together to create positive pathways to housing for everybody. I just want to close out. By sharing. A really great shelter resident story thanks to Ian, who's currently living at Johnson Manor. Thank you, Angel. Ian's life was once filled with chaos and he felt hopeless. He began rebuilding his life at new roads, therapeutic recovery community operated by our place, where he spent 15 months in recovery. Seeking continued support in his recovery. He moved to Johnson Manor, where residents share responsibilities attend recovery meetings and have the opportunity to connect with meaningful paid work through Kool - Aid's labour pool program. And it's a really good way to sort of close out all of this tremendous work that our leadership and teams are doing together, whether we're having meetings, figuring out quick solutions for things. We do so
with really honourable and intentional collaboration. And on behalf of our regional team, thank you. Thank you very much, Jen. Wow, kind of overwhelming sometimes. Up next is the Victoria Kool - Aid Society. Welcome. Hi everyone. Thank you so much for having us tonight, Mayor and Council. Just wanted to start off by saying a big thank you to City staff that we work with on a regular basis and Councillors over the years. Um, since 1968 since Victoria Kool - Aid society first opened. It has been, I've really been in this sector for about 12 years now. And in the last year, there's been a real synergy.
Amongst city staff here in this building. And then those that are bylaw police sanitation workers, the real alignment that I'm feeling happening. So it's, it's, it's a helpful time. And this really represents a new chapter at Kool - Aid. Um, I didn't make this presentation. I wouldn't normally be so self - promoting like this, but it's been a really incredible. It's just a dream team to be able to make a project like this come to life. So my name is Angela Moran. I'm the director of housing and shelters at the Victoria Kool - Aid society. And this is Evan James, our recovery housing manager. Kool - Aid, just a little overview. We've been in operation for 50 years, innovating to deliver housing, healthcare, and wellness supports. That's our three sort of arms where we're really aiming to bring connection in community. Um, and housing and shelter, we're really excited about this slide because we really feel like we have a full continuum within Victoria now.
We have, um, three emergency shelters that range from Low Barrier to High Barrier. We have supportive housing. We now have substance - free recovery housing with Johnson Manor. We have subsidized housing, so rent gear to income and 500 dollar shelter rate and affordable market rent housing all through great partnership with the city and with B. C. Housing that's here tonight. It's been a longstanding partnership for decades. So thank you. In total, we have about 728 housing units, 144 shelter, five sites just for seniors. Um, one women's shelter and 20 substance - free recovery housing units. I'm at our healthcare and wellness programs. We have our Community Health Centre. We're just about to open our Joe Haggard in the fall. We're getting close. We just got occupancy today. So very, very excited about that. We have two mobile health outreach bands, a full dental clinic. Healthy meals and events. Just, we just calculated the meals. It was 300, 000 meals that we cooked last year for
people in our supportive housing and shelters. Um, and a lot of different wellness programs that we offer through our RES and casual labour pool down at, what's that street. Last year 55, almost 56, 000 total health care encounters in the City of Victoria. And we really do serve as special population. Our nurses work to an advanced scope and are really trauma - informed. So we have a lot more success in seeing continued care with this population. Elevent different mobile clinic sites visited each month. Um, 2, 600 dental visits. Oh, almost 300, 000 meals. A little bit of an overstretch there. Um, 625 people helped with employment and housing readiness. And 2, 300 counseling sessions.
Um, so moving on to the partnership, um, the partnership between the City of Victoria. Uh, BC housing and the Victoria Kool - Aid society. Um, this is a 20 unit site where we were able to offer a really, um, a gap. In this system for recovery housing throughout the province when this has been like a two year passion project that I've been working on. And in my research and developing this framework, it was very clear that there is not a dedicated funding program for this type of housing for people that are exiting treatment and needing that long - term after care. And that's why the relapse rate is so high. The rent structure here is 500 dollars flat rate. So we're quite excited. We're going to be partnering. We are starting to partner with the BC housing research department to really start to track and metric this out to see how we can build something to make, um, allow more of this to happen. Um,
I'm going to pass this on to Evan now so we can speak a little bit more about the model. Great. Thank you. First of all, I just want to express my gratitude to the city and to BC housing and to Angela NCOULE for investing in recovery. Um, this program, I'm so passionate about it. John Samantha could talk about it all night, but I'm not going to, um, because we do have a short video to show you from our residents, but, um, yeah, this model is just, um, it succeeded my expectations. The fact that, you know, when people are coming out of treatment or that recovery bubble, so to speak. And they move back out on their own. That's such a giant leap that, that is too big to take sometimes. And so this is the perfect, um, model for people to be able to have the practice of being in their own apartment with that communal support and accountability. Um, so we have 20 guys
that we've moved in and all 20 of them are still there from the start, which just speaks to this model and the dignity we're providing them with their space. Um, so what happens there is the guys do, um, whatever their recovery program looks like. So we have guys working full time. We have guys going back to school, exploring new careers. Um, we have a whole bunch of in - house supports as far as, um, a smart recovery, various different recovery supports. We have counseling available for the guys through COULL - Aid. We have equine therapy coming up, which we're super excited about. DBT groups. So a whole bunch of everything. Um, but it's been such a joy to see like all 20 guys that are in there have, um, have experienced homelessness at some point in their journey. And, um, they have all been through the journey of detox and treatment and many stops and starts. And, um, you know, seeing them come together and
have so much gratitude and pride in their living space and where they're at in the recovery. It just blows me away every day. Um, so, you know, we have a whole wide variety of life experiences and ages there, but in a couple short months of really become family to each other, um, we have had zero relapses and zero behavioral issues, no conflict between the residents, which is just like, like I said, it succeeded my expectations. And I think a big part of that is the model and, and the setup of them having their own space. And then that communal support as well. Um, so maybe just a couple of stories about the intake process because we really wanted to ensure that everyone that there's a, there's a barrier for people that have experienced homelessness to be able to get into treatment number one. It's a big barrier. And then that aftercare, right? They don't have family to really land with, to support them, to be
able to get to that independent place and community. But at the intake process, there was, it was pretty incredible to see, um, when, when we've done our intake, they're ready that we've done their meet and the greet and the ready to sign paperwork, especially when you're doing a big move - in, we tend to do like kind of like group sessions at our central services on Pandora. And Evan was telling me that there's a couple of the guys that were, we're sitting there doing their paperwork. And then one of them finally looked up and looked across the table and couldn't believe it. What was his name? Uh, Mark, yeah. And he's like, Mark. And the last time they saw each other, they were on Pandora and using substances together. And they didn't even recognise each other until they got in the room and they're like, Oh my gosh, like they couldn't believe it. Right. So it, and then another story is, um, one of the
young guys that came into the house, he was on Pandora. Into mirrors. Which is the youth supportive housing. Into Tiny Town to new roads to Johnson Manor. That is the system working, right? We have the system built well and it's coordinated. It works. So there's coming out of this. And it's, it's really truly immeasurable at this point, but we are measuring. And we will report out to you. Okay. We got to play this video. But, but I do want to say when we, when we move the guys into is one of the best moments because they haven't seen the apartments yet, um, and thanks to the generous donations and being able to furnish these places when their reactions when they first walked into the apartment was just like guys were crying, jumping up and down.
They were just blown away. So can we play this video for you? We really want to. Yeah. Let's, let's do this. A lot of my addiction was hiding. You know, hiding behind the mask of seemingly having my act together, my last relapse. Was really scary. This one. I was leading internally while I was on the floor by myself there. I got on my knees and I prayed for the first time in my life actually. It was like an act of surrender. For me. It took my first drink and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 11 years old. And, uh, it took the pain away immediately. There's a lot of pressure to get into treatment, but, um, there's not many options after treatment.
And, um, Ending up back on the street is pretty much a guaranteed ending up back on substance. So I'm tired of just surviving. I've been waiting 16 years to get us upsized place when I walked in that apartment. I broke them. I didn't think I was worth hearing something like that. It's nice to live in a place where I'm going to be able to take my shoes off in a long time, leaving your toothbrush in the bathroom. Like I haven't been able to do that in a long time. So just little things. This place gave me a safe place. And I mean a safe place to stay. Kept me accountable. Give me a sense of belonging. You know, that I don't feel lonely. I don't have that fear anymore. And when you leave there and you go right back into your old career or your family life, the really vulnerable time. And so the dire need for second stage housing is real. We need 20
more because there are guys on the list at new roads right now that have nowhere to go. And they're about to age out of the program. Never, never turn your head on someone or judge someone that's in addiction. If anything, sit down with the monaster, what their story is if they're willing to enlisting carefully. This works. I can guarantee you that this works. And I'm living proof of it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Ups next is makes space for art society. Welcome. Greetings. Mayor and Council. Gosh, 10 minutes. Quite the luxury. But I do believe I'm thrilled because, uh, these are great stories. And I'm so grateful for the deep listening. So thank you for that. Um, my name is Sue Hallett and I am a co - founder of Makespace North Park and a board member. And I'm the chief volunteer bottle washer at the CAFE. That's a part of that. Um, so when the spark grant was announced,
uh, make space North Park was still finding its footing. We were deep in the throe still of navigating our, uh, all the necessary challenges that come with bringing a brand new building and a brand new organisation to life. And our cafe had been open for about six months. And our fab lab had just, just opened. And our woodworking shop wouldn't be open for another five months. And at that moment though, we knew what we hoped makes space could be. We believe we were building a new kind of community infrastructure. CART wood shop. Uh, part classroom, part community hub, part launch pad. Place where people could access tools and skills and mentors, creative opportunities and pathways into businesses and careers that are often inaccessible because of cost because of confidence. Because of circumstance. Um, but there was one thing we didn't know. Did young people do young people belong in this place that we were building?
And it turns out your staff knew the answer, but we, we, we weren't sure. And so when we received the spark grant and it gave us the opportunity to answer the question, um, for ourselves. And the answer, no surprise to your staff was that it's an overwhelming yes. Over the course of 10 weeks, more than 130 young people, um, uh, came through our doors. Dozens of organisations. We connected with, um, and we participated in workshops and partner programs and open houses and special events. Um, we were designed and delivered 17 different classes and 45 hours of programming while building relationships with many of the 16 spark recipients. And for such a young organisation, we were genuinely, genuinely surprised by the response. But what matters most is what we really learned. And that's what I'm here to tell you about it. We learned that a six year old can safely and confidently use hand tools to carve wood. We learned that teenagers who have never touched
a laser cutter can design and manufacture something. They're proud to take home. We learned that young people are hungry for spaces where they can experiment and they can create. They can make mistakes and they can try again. And we learned that many of the adults who carry incredible skills in this community and knowledge are looking for opportunities to share them with young people. One of those people is angel, a leather worker who spends summers fighting wildfires for us in the interior. Dreams of building a sustainable career as a maker. Through spark, angel taught workshops at make space and was astonished by the demand. There was a waiting list. What started as teaching a class became validation that their craft. And in this case, it was leather work. Um, and their knowledge had real value in the community. Another is Professor Mo up at UVic where she teaches film studies. Uh, but she has this side hustle passion for digital music. So she came into the
FAB lab and volunteered and created a curriculum for young people to create beats and experiment with music using donated computers and free software. And the goal for her was not just to make music, but it was to show youth that creativity and technology can remain accessible outside of school environment. So the grant also helped launch what we believe is the first sloyed woodworking program in Canada led by our board member Dylan, a red seal carpenter and father of three whipper snappers. Um, the children in this program learned patients and confidence and problem solving through a lattered woodworking curriculum. It was established in Sweeden and now, uh, it has been important to Victoria. I think if we can't have an Ikea, we can hubs this Lloyd woodworking. But the response to it has been extraordinary. And if we had more time, um, and I know we've got lots and I don't want more, but really there's incredible stories that have come out of that. The classes
now have waiting lists and what began as a pilot is now becoming a lasting program. And, um, and Dylan is over the moon about it. Some of the most important outcomes weren't even planned at all. One afternoon representatives from Isamba, the African and Caribbean cultural centre walked into our cafe because their meeting space, uh, wasn't available to them. So they came to have a couple of coffee at North Perk. And, um, they asked what makes space was. So we gave them mature. And a few weeks later a bus load of young people arrived for hands - on activities, uh, during their youth conference. Some learned spoon carving in the wood shop. And others participated in Cedar weaving with LoRA, a tolloquiat artist. We connected with through our strong relationship with the anti - collective. Many of these young people had never been inside and make your space or a workshop before. And not one. Has sat quietly with a master artist and an elder. So
that moment captures what this grant accomplished. It helped us transform a building that was full of tools, lots of potential into a community where young people were able to build skills, relationships in a sense of belonging. And the most important outcome wasn't the attendance numbers in the workshops or even being able to showcase our cool equipment. And those numbers are pretty good. It was a connection. It was connections with young people. Connections with parents. Connections with partner organisations, connections with instructors and volunteers. This program literally brought people out of the woodwork. Um, and they've stuck around now since this program. And they're now part of the fabric of the make space. So we're so grateful for that. All these connections continue to create opportunities long after the grant has ended now. And today organisations across Victoria know that maker space North Park is also a youth serving organisation. They know that in the future they can come to us with collaborative ideas. Program Ideas referrals
because they understand the values this space can offer to young people. We just had ICA come by this week to talk about what we can do in the fall and how we can work together. We are still learning how to sustain this model over the long term though. And I think this is a common theme that you're hearing. Here we can't lose our opportunity to put that in there. But one of the challenges we're working through is that our values are rooted in inclusion and low barrier access. So we want young people, newcomers, artists, aspiring entrepreneurs and people living on limited incomes to be able to participate in the creative economy. And at the same time, like many social enterprises and nonprofits, we rely on memberships and earned revenue to sustain our operations. Programs like Spark give organisations like ours the runway to test refine strength and models and create both community impact and long - term sustainability. But one thing we are increasingly confident
about is that the communities need places like this. Just as cities invest in libraries and pools and parks and recreation centres because of the public good they create. We believe maker spaces can serve a similar purpose providing accessible places where people learn skills, discover talents, build relationships and create opportunities for themselves and others. In many ways, this spark grant just didn't fund programming. It helped us discover what makes space could become a spark grant accelerated our learning like you cannot believe it catapulted as I think six months ahead. Like we are, we are, we are running, man. And it allowed us to test ideas, build partnerships, develop programs and gather evidence that youth focused, more, your space programs are, they work and their wanted. And most importantly, it showed us that this kind of infrastructure matters. Weng young people have access to tools, mentors, creative opportunities and spaces where they belong remarkable things happen. So please, on behalf of our staff and our many now
volunteers and our wonderful instructors and our partners and the many young people who walked through our doors because of this investment, we thank you. And we please accept our gratitude and your support has helped us discover that make space North Park is not just a place for making things. Not just that. It's a place for the next generation of makers, creators, tradespeoples, artists, entrepreneurs and community leaders. And it's a place that we have come to realise is fostering belonging and its connection. And it's becoming a resilience hub. And so, um, we're just honestly, you guys really kicked it off for us. So thank you and hijasium. Thank you. Thank you, Sue.
Up next, I believe we have someone on the phone. Is that correct? The folks from Connecticut. Hello, there are folks from Connecticut. Can you hear us? Yes. Can you hear me? Absolutely. Go right ahead. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Uh, good evening Mayor and Council. Thank you for the opportunity for our organisation to share tonight. My name's Jennifer Ferguson Welch and I'm the regional director with Connective for the Vancouver and the Victoria region. Um, my sincere apologies for not being there in person, uh, tonight I had planned to, but there's this, uh, small sporting event taking place in Vancouver right now that has complicated travel.
Otherwise known as FEFO. It's, uh, I will try my best to share, uh, with my PowerPoint and speaking notes. And it's my understanding that as I need the slide, the next slide I'll just request that as I go. So I hope that is all right. Um, with that, I will request the next slide. Go ahead. Thank you. Connective is honoured to support people on the traditional territories of the Le Quanjin Peoples, which include the Song East Nations. And the COSAP Sun Esquimalt Nation. We'd like to just move to the next slide, please. Okay. So I'm here today to tell you a little bit about Connecticut.
So who are we. Connective is a Canadian nonprofit with decades of experience. Um, our experience is in delivering person - centred social services. Emed at creating space, um, that is healthy and inclusive and providing inclusive and safe communities for all. Our vision is simple. A safe, healthy and inclusive community for all. We've earned the trust of governments, uh, including federal municipal as well as provincial. Um, we've gained a trust of our government partners, our other nonprofit partners and the public. Through accountable and impactful service. Being responsive to communities and funders is a core part of who we are. And we continue to live all alongside the community needs. Our mission and everything we do is to strengthen communities by supporting people experiencing barriers so that they can achieve greater independence. Next slide, please. Our values are core to everything we do. And our first value is being inclusive. We foster a culture where everyone can feel accepted and valued. We are accountable. We focus on
meaningful outcomes, take responsibility for our actions. And honour our commitments with integrity. Herson - centred. I'll speak more to this later, but this is court everything we do. We adopt our approach to the person and we are empathetic and compassionate in all of our interactions. Collaborative. We engage proactively and seek shared understanding through curious and open communication. And we are nothing, if not determined. We are innovative, courageous, and resilience in the face of challenges. Next slide, please. So why does our work matter. Um, much like many of the other partners that spoke before me, they will understand that our communities are facing overlapping crises of affordability, mental health and substance use. And nonprofits are being called on to fill critical gaps in support. A connected, we believe that everything is connected. For example, a losing housing can lead to challenges with mental health, substance use, physical health issues, or job insecurity. With our depth of the experience, connective is being called on to deliver increasingly
complex services. In more ways to more people. And in more places than ever before. Next slide, please. So if you can see on this slide, we're a very large organisation. We operate in 28 communities in various regions, including the interior, the Yukon, northern BC, Fraser Valley, the lower mainland. And of course, Vancouver Island and now Victoria that follows under that region. Next slide, please. Um, this is a slide that we like to share. It's just a little bit of highlights for our organisation that gives you an idea of, uh, some of the strengths that we bring as a nonprofit, one that we're very proud of was that we were honoured to be named BC nonprofit housing associations 2025 housing provider of the year for innovation.
Um, we also received the high performance and cultural award by the supporting lines institute. We are a certified living wage and employer and have been since 2019. And we were recently named a nonprofit employer of choice. Next slide, please. So what do we do? What does connective do. Uh, we do a lot of things. We offer a range of innovative programs and services that address complex and systemic issues. Including housing and homelessness prevention. Complex mental health care. We do a lot of work with supporting people with acquired brain injuries, co - occurring disorders, problematic substance abuse. We provide services in treatment and recovery for people, uh, seeking recovery or supports from substance use challenges. Next slide, please. Uh, we provide community service and outreach. That's actually a very large volume of our programming on the lower mainland. Uh, we also provide justice services for pre - release and reintegration support for those involved with the criminal justice system. And we also provide education and employment
offering specialized skill development certification training, et cetera to address needs for those that are experiencing complex barriers. Next slide, please. What makes connective different. Uh, for us, we focus, um, rather than focusing on just a single issue, we offering from a multi - service model. So that can be anywhere from individualized supports to large - scale affordable housing development. We combine scale innovation, cultural integration and business discipline to deliver social impact and long - term sustainability. Remission - driven operationally sophisticated and focused on systemic change. Our growth that connective is driven by our strong partnerships with government, indigenous communities, nonprofits, as well as the private sector. Next slide, please. Our impact on banks, COUREILEN. So while we may be new to Victoria, we are not new to Vancouver Islands. We've been here for 35 plus years. Right now we have over 100 staff. We oversee 540 housing units, and we have approximately 20 plus programs.
Next slide, please. So some of the existing housing programs we have on the island include transitional housing. We have Westwind Transitional Housing that is a 50 unit facility funded by B. C. Housing. We have recovery - oriented care housing. Our Gladys Brewster home has five units. We also offer a unique program called the Vancouver Island Therapeutic Community, which has 24 units, and that is funded by the Canadian Mental Health Association. Next slide, please. Um, supportive housing. We have cornerstone supportive housing, which is 51 units, also funded by BC Housing. As well as the new Duncan supportive housing, which is 48 units. Um, in addition to those programs, we also offer 330 plus units of affordable housing. Across nine different properties. And that's funded by the rental protection fund. Next slide, please. So for Victoria, um, as many people here already know, we just opened our 34 bed referral - based shelter. And this is, of course, in partnership with the City of Victoria and B.
C. Housing. So this program's a bit unique. Um, our outreach team. Actually connects with people sheltering outdoors. And with our local service providers to refer people to the shelter. Um, our approach prioritizes who are actually in a place where they're engaging with support services and are ready to be housed. Um, that's sort of the target demographic that we're looking at for this particular program. Participants at Bridge Street Pathway Shelter will have access to meals, single occupancy washrooms and showers, laundry facilities, bedding, personal hygiene, et cetera. We have a day room for that has a computer and wifi access, personal storage. And of course, we have all the program space upstairs, which a few of the councillors have seen so far. Next slide, please. So I mentioned person - centred care before, and this is front - end centre at Bridge Street. It really is at the core of what we do in the heart of everything we do. Staff take the time to understand each
resident's goals. And what we do is we like to adapt the support to specific needs. The support that we provide is going to be tailored to each individual. We combine trauma and inform practices with flexible and innovative approaches. Next slide. Please. Examples of supports that program participants will receive at Bridge Street Pathways shelter. Include case management and connections to long - term housing, which is sort of that next actual, that's one of the names pathways. It is we're trying to move forward with a pathway to more longer term housing for the folks that are coming to us with this need. We're also going to be working on life and employment skills training. Of course, connecting them to community services and other partners in the area.
And then we like to have a little bit of fun as well. And we often have many different activities that we do with the residents. They've actually already started a karaoke. Um, situation going on, which is kind of fun. That's just one example. Next slide, please. So in closing, um, we are committed, well, we're committed to our ongoing connections in Victoria. We want to commit to continuing to support and maintain a safe healthy and inclusive community in Victoria. Ours FAF will continue to work with partners and the community to ensure that the shelter and the immediate environment are safe and clean. The Breach Street pathway shelter, um, we would all be very happy to facilitate any tours, uh, we're open for business. And I know some of you have taken us up on that, but please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to answer any questions or show you around any time.
And we would really sincerely like to thank the City of Victoria, not only for the funding, but for the support and the partnership in developing and operating the Breach Street Pathways shelter. And the last slide is me saying, thank you. Um, I have put my email address in there. It is probably the easiest way to get a hold of me. But by all means, please reach out if you have any questions. And again, thank you very much for having us this evening. Thank you. Thank you very much, Jennifer. Much appreciated. And our last presentation tonight is actually a video presentation from Pacifica. Hi, I'm Carolina. I'm CEO of Pacifica Housing. I couldn't be here today. So I've prepared short video for you.
In 2023, the City of Victoria engaged Pacific a housing to assist in relocating individuals camping in City Parks. There were significant encampments in most City of Victoria Parks at the time. This was probably one of the earliest initiatives in an effort that evolved into the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan. Since then, homelessness and parks is largely been eliminated, as most people were offered housing and supported in the following years. The team continues to visit the parks and engage with anyone found sheltering outdoors. And this consistency has helped maintain a much improved situation through support and assistance. In 2025, focus turned to the downtown core. Occasional early morning outreach hours were added around 5 a. m.
to capture those who may be missed later in the day. We particularly were able to connect with people's sheltering and doorways. Many of whom are able and willing to pack up before bylaw arrives. They too are included in our support efforts. Since 2023, Pacifica Housing has housed 70 people and assisted countless others by referring them to services and collaborating with other agencies. Some individuals are able to find their own way with these referrals and guidance. Supports provided include ensuring people have live housing applications on BC housing's registry, referring people to CAA, filling out rental applications, leasing with landlords, providing transportation to viewings and lease signings.
Applying for rent subsidies as well. Our team has also made medical referrals to detox recovery treatment and other health services. The team also arranges shell to referrals. Provides move - in support and short - term housing stabilization. Overdose prevention. And on occasion supported through situations like gender - based violence. Most importantly though, the focus has been on the ultimate goal of housing each person in the right place. So far, in 2026, the team has engaged with 242 people. Collecting information and making referrals. Since January, they have housed 19 people. 11 in independent living, Aiden supportive housing. 12 of these individuals were homeless in the downtown core. Tut Gonzalez Park and Ford other locations. Who is currently on the streets of Victoria. Age groups range about in the last few weeks, this is what we have seen. The gender is 62 percent female and 22 percent.
Uh, have self - reported as indigenous. The next steps. We are considering strategies to better understand and appropriately approach the areas where we see a higher concentration of unhoused individuals. We are looking to approach it in a way that optimizes resources. And this is being explored with city staff. The team will continue methodically and consistently working through areas around the city to engage with individuals who do not have a home. Refer them to resources and endeavour to find housing, one person at a time. We are proud to be a part of this initiative. We are proud of the results and look forward to continuing our contribution along with many other organisations who are making a real difference as we face these complex challenges. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for that. We do have one last contribution this evening. It's not live, but it is attached to our agenda. And that is the restorative justice society, Victoria, who provided a very lengthy written
submission. Uh, I'm not going to read it. I had planned on it, but it is six and a half pages long, about 1500 words. So rather than doing that, uh, I'll just let you know that it is attached to the agenda tonight. And it is available to the public. Uh, that actually concludes the number of folks who had joined us this evening to share their stories. And, um, I just want to make a couple of closing comments. It seems. Almost impossible to say anything that could capture all of the stories that were shared tonight other than to say that they're indicative of so many more.
There are so many people who are engaged in this work building community and responding to the incredible need that it is in the community that it's difficult to imagine being able to provide all of their stories at any one time. They happen daily and revolving constantly. But we appreciate the fact that those of you who have come tonight have been willing to share the stories of the people that you're working with and serving and responding to. And the lives of whom you're making better. Because it's hard. Their hard stories to tell. But in the end, your stories are about. Doing the right thing. With the right people at the right time and very different ways.
Because everyone is very different in what they need. For me, the things I would just, it seems always you've talked about connection and working together in relationship. And seeing the opportunities sometimes unexpected, but always in front of you, whether you find them or seize them or create them. It's really all about thank you for what you've done tonight and showed us tonight, but mostly for what you're doing every single day. And so I think it's fair to say that Council and the City, if they had the chance to hear these stories, would just say thank you to not just those of you who are here in the room, but all of the people with whom you're working. All the people who are like you, who just as I said earlier this evening, that I hope sometimes everyone takes a moment each day to think about how remarkable is the generosity and stewardship of the nations to give us these opportunities. What you're doing. Is you're
creating opportunities for people to change lives. And we thank you for that. I would be remiss in particular for tonight's stories because they have come from a particular series of commitments of council and staff not to single out to two city staff. We don't do that very often because our staff works so well together and they are indeed a group of people who work collaboratively. But CORWEb and Peter Rantucci are the authors of this particular program. And I venture to say that they have created opportunities for all of you to do the work that you've talked about tonight. And a remarkably short time and an incredibly complex environment. With a lot of heavy - handed direction from council saying, do the right thing and do it quickly and do it impossibly. And they've done it.
So I'd like to thank Peter and Sarah. And in addition to everyone else who shared their story tonight and to say that I believe that you are all here with hope and intention. And commitment and courage. And the more to do and more to come. So thank you for what you've done and what you will do next. With that, that concludes. The appropriate. Yes, entirely appropriate. Thank you all. That concludes our meeting this evening actually. We have no clothes meeting and no other agenda items tonight. So formally it's required of me to ask for a motion to return. Thank you Councillor Coleman, seconded by Councillor Dell. All those in favor, anyone opposed. That is unanimous. Thank you everyone.