I’ve visited Victoria several times in the past few years and the decline in the downtown area is shocking. This article describes the situation quite well. Frankly it’s hard to expect any businesses to remain much longer. https://apple.news/Ai6IZoLI0S-mC3x3rV9JjIA
I’ve visited Victoria several times in the past few years and the decline in the downtown area is shocking. This article describes the situation quite well. Frankly it’s hard to expect any businesses to remain much longer. https://apple.news/Ai6IZoLI0S-mC3x3rV9JjIA
Paywalled.
Anyways, I live on Pandora and haven't had any issues. The BC Supreme Court has also been pretty clear on this. If you're not going to build more housing and safe-consumption sites, you shouldn't be surprised when people are using drugs out in the open.
Weird. It’s not paywalled when I click on the Apple link, but it is when I go directly to The Globe and Mail. Sorry, I make an effort to not link to paywalled sites.
Weird. It’s not paywalled when I click on the Apple link, but it is when I go directly to The Globe and Mail. Sorry, I make an effort to not link to paywalled sites.
One of the reasons Pandora is the way it is is because a lot of the support services that the homeless population need are centralized in that area. There are obviously pros and cons to this.
Yep, pretty much every outreach center is inside a two block radius on Pandora. Between Vancouver and Douglas. And a couple more on Johnson between Douglas and Quadra.
It's a very compact zone to try and manage such a large population of homeless and addicts. And those places are always always stretched beyond acceptable limits of their resources.
Post pandemic there's been a few more locations added out towards uptown but it's still over run. I'd make a blind estimate that less than 50% of the at risk population are getting adequate care and housing. And they pretty much taken up all the old hotels the government bought up during the pandemic. Which I think was around 7 motels/hotels within the area of uptown and downtown proper?
I cannot recall what Langford has but I think it's inadequate as well and Esquimalt seems pretty contained . Perhaps the most contained neighborhood outside of the upper end ones.
When I was living in my car as a working homeless person I never strayed close to those places. I felt those resources were better served towards those that really truly needed them.
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Yep, pretty much every outreach center is inside a two block radius on Pandora. Between Vancouver and Douglas. And a couple more on Johnson between Douglas and Quadra.
It's a very compact zone to try and manage such a large population of homeless and addicts. And those places are always always stretched beyond acceptable limits of their resources.
Post pandemic there's been a few more locations added out towards uptown but it's still over run. I'd make a blind estimate that less than 50% of the at risk population are getting adequate care and housing. And they pretty much taken up all the old hotels the government bought up during the pandemic. Which I think was around 7 motels/hotels within the area of uptown and downtown proper?
I cannot recall what Langford has but I think it's inadequate as well and Esquimalt seems pretty contained . Perhaps the most contained neighborhood outside of the upper end ones.
When I was living in my car as a working homeless person I never strayed close to those places. I felt those resources were better served towards those that really truly needed them.
Sounds like John Carpenter was onto something and we should just isolate Vancouver Island as some sort of rehab/penal colony 'Escape from New York' style.
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Sounds like John Carpenter was onto something and we should just isolate Vancouver Island as some sort of rehab/penal colony 'Escape from New York' style.
I've suggested similar although we definitely don't need to give them all of Vancouver Island. Something like Salt Spring should be enough. Just need to air drop food, drugs and supplies periodically and let the inhabitants sort things out on their own according (Lord of the Flies style.)
I've suggested similar although we definitely don't need to give them all of Vancouver Island. Something like Salt Spring should be enough. Just need to air drop food, drugs and supplies periodically and let the inhabitants sort things out on their own according (Lord of the Flies style.)
The problem is that if you dont give them the whole island then blockading them off from the mainland becomes really problematic and much more difficult.
You just tell the islanders that they have until a certain date and time to vacate and then after that they're on their own and we parachute in convicts, criminals and addicts after that and then...let come what may.
Of course televising the entire event.
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I’ve visited Victoria several times in the past few years and the decline in the downtown area is shocking. This article describes the situation quite well. Frankly it’s hard to expect any businesses to remain much longer. https://apple.news/Ai6IZoLI0S-mC3x3rV9JjIA
Downtown Victoria is a lot more than just those couple blocks of Pandora. The core certainly has issues, but to use this article to paint it as uniformly declining is fallacious.
Downtown Victoria is still vibrant, beautiful, full of history, and fun to spend time in. Of course there are homeless people - Victoria has by far the best climate in the country - and of course that stretch of Pandora is absolutely awful. But to indict the entire downtown based on a two-block stretch is dishonest.
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and of course that stretch of Pandora is absolutely awful. But to indict the entire downtown based on a two-block stretch is dishonest.
It's also a lot more well-managed than the DTES. Obviously there are crimes and open-air drug-use, but it's all fairly contained and doesn't really affect the average citizen as long as you're not being confrontational with the people who live there.
That's been my experience anyways. I definitely prefer it when my girlfriend takes an Uber over instead of walking late at night, but that's also true in general.
Downtown Victoria is a lot more than just those couple blocks of Pandora. The core certainly has issues, but to use this article to paint it as uniformly declining is fallacious.
Downtown Victoria is still vibrant, beautiful, full of history, and fun to spend time in. Of course there are homeless people - Victoria has by far the best climate in the country - and of course that stretch of Pandora is absolutely awful. But to indict the entire downtown based on a two-block stretch is dishonest.
When I was last in Vic (early April 2025) it seems to have been cleaned up, there was fencing along the road.
All that means is those individuals have to find somewhere else.
It's sad really, my wife always reminds me that these are someone's kids, brother/sister or parent.
Since the boy has been at UVic this past year we have been out there a few times.
Absolutely lovely city and part of the country.
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All that means is those individuals have to find somewhere else.
It's sad.
Not completely sad! Some of that crowd have been given supportive housing, and you'll never guess what happened. They largely got sober and have reintegrated back into society.
Wild what happens when you take care of a basic human need.
This year’s Downtown Victoria Business Association’s member survey received a record number of responses. Nearly half of respondents (48%) said they would consider closing if their lease were up in the next 12 months. Over 39% of businesses reported a decline in net profit over the past year. Retail vacancy sits at 11%, and nearly 54% of businesses gave downtown a C+ or lower as a place of business. These are serious indicators of erosion in confidence and stability.
Outside of a section of Pandora I don't get this. I haven't felt unsafe downtown, and the people who are crying about the situation just want them swept under the rug. Like, you have to have a plan for how to actually address this. Police presence isn't going to do it, these people need support.
Anecdotally, I read a story from someone on the VictoriaBC subreddit who got out of this doom loop and it all starts with loss of housing. You lose your job/house and maybe are able to survive living out of your car or couch surfing for a while. Eventually that runs out and you'll find yourself in a shelter. You'll lose your stuff pretty quickly, and probably get beat up for it as well. You're not sleeping, constantly terrified, in a lot of pain, then someone offers you something to help with the pain and sleep (opiates). It's a runaway train crash after that point.
Almost 20% of the homeless population are locals. Nearly 50% have been here for 5+ years. 45% have either a physical disability or a medical disability. 2023 homeless census: https://www.crd.ca/media/file/2023-p...e-count-report
This hits really close to home for me because my wife is now disabled with ME/CFS as a result of long covid. We're extremely lucky as she has LTD, but we very nearly lost it as her insurance challenged her disability and forced her into a functional capacity evaluation which hospitalized her. Thankfully I have a friend who is an OT who primarily works with patients like my wife and he managed to get us a family doctor as well as guiding us through the system and advocating for us.
If we didn't have that, I would have lost my house for sure, and I have a good job that pays well.
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It was a few years ago but one of the reasons we stopped taking my son to the Conservatory for piano lessons was the state of that area. There were used syringes now and then by the parking lot and it made the decision easier.
Outside of Yates near London Drugs, Quadra and Pandora, it’s not really much of an issue.
I remember growing up here in the 80s - Douglas and Yates were a bit of an issue with street kids etc. or across from A&B Sound. Man I miss A&B Sound. My brother got jumped on Yates between Blanchard and Douglas in 86 waiting for the bus at night. He came home and had to be taken to emergency. He had a concussion. A girl he went to school with happened to walk by after the fact and helped him onto a bus home.
The city will spend $1.9 million of the plan's budget to hire a dozen bylaw staff, with a focus on deploying to Pandora and Princess avenues and the downtown area, and working to complement police officers in the area, it said Wednesday in a statement.
The Victoria Police Department will receive $1.35 million to hire nine new police officers
