The City of Victoria is urging the province to requisition hotel and motel rooms to house homeless people during the COVID-19 crisis.
City council voted to ask B.C. Premier John Horgan to use its powers under the Emergency Program Act to requisition hotel rooms as a way to address the homeless population currently living in tents on Pandora Avenue and in Topaz Park.
If that fails, the city wants to declare a local state of emergency and take the rooms itself. “My hope is that the province takes seriously council’s motion and takes action,” Mayor Lisa Helps said.
Bill Lewis, chair of the Hotel Association of Greater Victoria, says he has fielded calls from industry colleagues who are sympathetic to the COVID-19 crisis but are worried for the