VICTORIA — Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said residents will see a difference in community safety within six months after announcing $10.35 million in funding for additional police and bylaw officers, temporary housing and the "huge task" of cleaning up parts of the city.
Alto's announcement comes after the city released a Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan last month on how it will tackle declining social disorder in the city set off by homelessness and addiction.
The council will not raise taxes to fund the measures, but will divert money from existing plans in this year's budget, with a focus on Victoria's Pandora Avenue, which is considered the centre of the city's homeless problem, the mayor said.
A tent community on Pandora Avenue set up along temporary fencing that separates it from the nearby church was bustling on Wednesday with residents coming and going.
Alto said council had to make "hard choices," but the "urgency of responding to the city's social disorder crisis is paramount."
The mayor said her announcement is not in reaction to recent chaos, including several assaults, that Victoria police said they've responded to in the last few weeks, but it is instead an intentional and thoughtful plan they've been working on for months.
Victoria city council is expected to ratify the safety and well-being plan Thursday following its approval in principle last month.
Alto said about $1.9 million of the announced funding will go toward additional bylaw enforcement, with the city set to hire 12 enforcement officers to focus on Pandora and Princess avenues, and the downtown generally.
It will be an ongoing expenditure, she said, along with the hiring of nine more police officers to support enforcement downtown, without giving a timeline for their hiring.
"But I do know that Chief (Del) Manak has suggested that there are ways to do this quickly, and I will rely, of course, on his expertise to figure out how to do that," she said.
The city is budgeting about $1.35 million in on-going costs for the additional officers.
The city said in a news release that "resources are needed to demonstrate that criminals can no longer thrive in Victoria," and Alto acknowledged that "in some parts of the community," criminals are "taking advantage of vulnerable folks."
The city will also work with experienced service providers to establish new secure, short-term emergency shelter spaces outside the downtown core by investing what Alta said was a "significant amount of money."
Figures from the city call for a one-time infrastructure investment of up to $1.95 million, up to $300,000 for property rentals and up to $250,000 to boost existing shelter capacities.
"Let me be clear — we do not have any specific destinations in mind at this point," she said, referring to where those in tents would go. "But we do know, that if we don't step in, at least on a temporary basis for a couple of years, and create some destinations for these folks, they are still going to languish where they are."
Alto added that the city still has much work to do to determine how these spaces would work.
"Could we have moved faster?" Alto said. "Yes! Was it important for us to allow there to be time to figure out what to do and how best to do it? Yes! Were we trying to make sure that we were playing ball with the other orders of government? Yes! At a point, we realized that we can't wait any longer."
Also on the list of changes is a "comprehensive rebuild" of the 800, 900 and 1000 blocks of Pandora Avenue, where a transient homeless community has been long established, and it grew larger during the pandemic.
Early design estimates put the rebuild at more than $7 million, but the city said "preliminary work will make tangible changes with a $3.75 million budget" starting in 2025.
Alto also used the occasion to remind senior spheres of government about their responsibilities to help the city with financial resources and legislative changes, including bail reform that allows repeat offenders back into the community.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2025.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
