The mayor of Esquimalt says she is going to meet with local service providers and the provincial government after the City of Victoria called on Capital Region municipalities to offer their own emergency warming centres.
In early November, Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto wrote letters to the other Greater Victoria municipalities, calling on them to "stand up their own Emergency Warming Centre for the unhoused during extreme weather events starting immediately," as the city holds about 80 per cent of the region's warming centres.
At the Monday (Dec. 2) council meeting, Esquimalt Mayor Barbara Desjardins said she recently had a conversation with local non-profit Rainbow Kitchen, and said there is a lack of understanding as to what exactly each service provider does and what services they can offer, and where the gaps are in the warming centre system.
"The reality is that I can just call together a meeting of the social service providers and find out what exactly they do, and we can compare and come back with where the gaps are," Desjardins told council.
Couns. Ken Armour and Tim Morrison agreed with starting the conversation with local non-profits, but they did caution not to raise expectations that the municipality will step in, saying it should be a provincial responsibility.
Morrison also mentioned that council has a good relationship with the new Esquimalt-Colwood MLA, as Darlene Rotchford is a former council member herself, and opted to ask her to join the conversation as well. He also mentioned discussing with religious organizations, mainly churches, and Desjardins agreed.
"This is not for us to take over from another government's responsibility but it is going to be [valuable} in terms of who does what in our community to [help] direct people to services as well," said Desjardins.
Since Alto wrote to the other municipalities, Saanich has since ordered a staff report to explore options for more emergency shelter spaces, and the Sidney CAO said emergency weather response is up to the province.
"I do support as a first step meeting with non-profits to establish a baseline of services that they have here in Esquimalt, and this knowledge will also support that work that we're going to be doing with the community advisory group and the Primary Care Network, they're also looking at what is provided through the non-profits, so I think it's a great first step," said Coun. Andrea Boardman.
In an emailed response, the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said they understand the need for additional shelter spaces in the region as the weather turns, and they will work with local governments and community service providers to provide extreme weather response shelters.
"We’re grateful to have partners who are willing to come to the table to find housing solutions. The province, through BC Housing, will continue to work with municipalities to support additional shelter spaces when suitable locations are identified at the local government level, including emergency winter shelters," noted a statement from the ministry. "We know we have much more to do, and we will continue to work across government to address the root causes of homelessness so that no one is left without a home."