It would cost $4.7 million in new funding and take as long as a year for the City of Victoria to start enforcing a prohibition on daytime sheltering in parks and on streets, sidewalks and boulevards, according to a report presented to council Thursday.
The report said the city would need to increase front-line staffing and related supports by more than double current levels.
It estimates increased labour costs of $4.13 million, $150,000 in new equipment like protective clothing and communications gear, and $420,000 for vehicles, fuel, insurance and training.
Hiring and training staff and implementing the enforcement program could take as long as a year, the report said.
While spending money on enforcement would result in “some visible improvements in some locations and an increase to the perception of safety,” enforcement alone is unlikely to end the city’s issues with sheltering, which require a more comprehensive approach to addressing homelessness, the report said.
It said a longer-term solution would require significant investment and co-ordination by the province around issues such as addiction, mental health, trauma and problems with the criminal justice system.
Council has not made any decisions about whether to go ahead with implementing an enforcement program for daytime sheltering in the city.
It asked for the information about estimated costs after an incident this year in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue where a paramedic was assaulted while attending to a patient, which led to police and other first responders being swarmed by about 60 people.
For a time, paramedics needed a police escort to go into the area.
In the wake of the incident, Coun. Stephen Hammond pointed out that it has never been legal to set up a tent or structure on streets, boulevards or sidewalks.
He said the city has bylaw-enforcement tools to tackle the sheltering but has chosen not to use them.
The report said the city’s bylaw department does not have the capacity or resources to address the enforcement of daytime sheltering bans.
Bylaw officers are deployed seven days a week, 362 days each year, on patrols to deal with sheltering and street disorder, it said.
But the officers are also responsible for bylaw investigations for work without permits, licensing, graffiti, neighbourhood disputes over bylaws, derelict boats and noise complaints, among other things.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said the report “answers a lot of questions for the public and gives us some things to think about.”
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