July 2, 2025
Parteek Singh Mahal
Victoria, B.C. – The City of Victoria is allocating $10.35 million to kickstart its Community Safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) Plan, focusing initial efforts on Pandora, Princess Street, and the downtown core. This significant investment comes as residents express growing frustration with street disorder impacting public spaces and businesses.
Mayor Marianne Alto acknowledged that while the provincial government primarily handles issues of poverty, homelessness, addiction, and health, Victorians expect their city to respond to these crises. The CSWB plan outlines a shift towards both “upstream” interventions and “downstream” enforcement, aiming to change how the city delivers services and collaborates with other agencies.
Key initial actions approved by the Council include hiring 12 new Bylaw staff for focused deployment in designated areas ($1.9 million) and requesting 9 additional police officers for Pandora, Princess, and downtown, with at least two dedicated to partnering with bylaw ($1.35 million).
As per the plan, the city will also match VicPD’s CSTEP funding ($220,000) to bolster efforts against street crime, increasing Public Works attention in key downtown areas to improve maintenance and waste management ($390,000), beginning comprehensive repair and rehabilitation of public infrastructure on Pandora Avenue ($3.75 million) and Princess Street ($1.1 million), boosting funding for non-profit service providers to expand relocation services ($624,000) and enhance emergency weather crisis response ($308,000), investigating the purchase and staffing of a vehicle to transport unhoused individuals to services ($180,000 for vehicle, $440,000 for staff).
Establishing new short-term shelter options, including up to two managed, secure emergency shelter spaces ($1.95 million for infrastructure, $850,000 for operations, $300,000 for property rental), and resourcing community service providers to fill unused shelter spaces ($250,000) will also be part of the plan.
Further city said to fund these initiatives, the city will reallocate existing funds, drawing $700,000 from planned housing reserve contributions, $1.5 million from Royal Athletic Park upgrades, $1.65 million from the current housing reserve, $2.5 million from Centennial Square renewal, and $4 million from the Financial Stability Reserve.
These changes, expected to take effect on January 1, 2026, will allow local governments time for necessary upgrades and training. Mayor Alto described these as “hard choices,” emphasizing the paramount urgency of addressing the city’s social disorder crisis.
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