Unhoused Neighbour Makes Heartfelt Presentation to Mayor and Council

One of NSUN’s activities is pushing back against policies and regulations that are harmful to unhoused people.

The change to bylaws regarding personal property introduced by the City of Victoria in early-December 2023 is one such action. This bylaw allows officers to impound the belongings of unhoused neighbours for several days, and the changes include a shorter holding period for impounded items, changes to the definition of “trash” which allow more items to be discarded, and changes the pickup location from Centennial Square to multiple storage facilities across Victoria. Advocates and unhoused people oppose the changes.

Unfortunately, despite sending emails and engaging in conversations with Councillors against the proposed bylaw changes, they were passed unanimously. It remains to be seen how these changes impact unhoused people in 2024 and beyond.

City Council did put together a bid opportunity for an organization to come forward to provide day storage for the belongings of unhoused people. An NSUN member reviewed this bid opportunity and found it complicated and with high requirements for potential organizations that might run such a storage facility. This bid opportunity is now closed and it will be interesting to see if any suitable submissions were made and if this becomes a reality.

Niki Ottosen, an advocate from the Backpack Project, and Tammy Cardinal, an unhoused neighbour, spoke to Victoria’s Mayor and Council about the harm caused by current personal property bylaws on January 11, 2024. You can watch their presentation starting at 12:30 or read Niki’s speech.

At NSUN, we often wonder if our activities have impact. One of our members took the screenshot below from a Facebook group where community members were discussing the January 11 council meeting. As you can see, some were very moved by Tammy’s heartfelt presentation.

We hope that council too will listen to those neighbours with lived experience of homelessness and repeal the current bylaws on personal property and sheltering outdoors during extreme weather that are causing more harm than good.