154 submissions sent to Housing Advocate through successful joint project

Planning the project with The Shift

Since fall 2022 NSUN, along with members of the Living/Lived Experience of Homelessness Network (LLEOHN), The Backpack Project, and the Peer2Peer Indigenous Society, have been in discussion with an organization called The Shift around doing a project in Victoria.

The Shift is an organization helmed by Leilani Farha, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Housing from 2014-2020. Farha is a human rights lawyer by training and started The Shift in 2017 with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Cities and Local Government. Farha is also “the central character in the documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing “.

In summer 2022, The Shift approached grassroots groups working on homelessness in several cities across Canada. Here in Victoria they timed their visit to coincide with a visit by the newly appointed Federal Housing Advocate, Marie-Josée Houle. Representatives from The Shift, as well as Houle and local members of her team, met with folks from NSUN, LLEOHN, The Backpack Project, and others with lived and living experience of homelessness.

In the fall, we began discussions with The Shift about a project that would see NSUN and other groups support people with experience of being unhoused (either currently or previously) make submissions about their experiences to the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (OFHA). We spent a lot of time that fall figuring out how to do this work.

Gathering insight from those with lived experience

Finally, in March 2023 the Housing Submission went live on the OFHA website and we were off!

Among ourselves we had whispered the goal of 100 submissions, but it was such a long road to getting started that we didn’t really think that this was obtainable.

Our first couple of events were small and gathered less than 10 submissions at each. That all changed on April 14, when we had a fantastically successful event where we collected 27 submissions. Another big event on Pandora Avenue on April 21 garnered 79 submissions, far exceeding our goal of 30. And then at our final submission event at Topaz Park on May 12, we collected 14 more submissions. We also held a roundtable discussion event May 26th that garnered more policy-focused information.

Along with submissions collected one-on-one, we have sent a total of 154 submissions to the OFHA!

The original deadline for submissions was May 26, but that was extended to June 20, and our group of collaborating organizations will continue to collect submissions until then.

Insights will inform report recommendations

The submissions to the OFHA will go into a report that the Advocate will produce with recommendations for the federal Minister responsible for housing. This will likely be out in fall 2023.

NSUN thanks all members that were involved in the project, as well as the other organizations that came together and worked so hard to make this project such a huge success.

And of course our most sincere thanks go to all those with lived and living experience of homelessness who shared with us so genuinely. They are the real heroes of this story.

Friend of NSUN talks to Mayor and Council About Inhumane Treatment of the Unhoused by Bylaw

Friend of NSUN, Jeff McEown (husband of breakfast crew member Helen), gave a stirring and powerful address to Mayor and Council on March 9, 2023, about the inhumane treatment of the unhoused by the City’s bylaw officers.

See the video beginning at 14:46: https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/Players/ISIStandAlonePlayer.aspx?Id=1c772d0c-358b-4cb9-b79e-d6447889c60f.

NSUN Breakfast Program

The NSUN breakfast program is the brainchild of one of our members who enjoys helping people in a very concrete way – with hot coffee and a hearty, homemade breakfast sandwich on Sunday mornings.

Since November 6, 2022, the ‘breakfast program crew’ (usually NSUN members Heather, Helen and Susan) have gone out – rain, sun or snow – to deliver as many as 30 breakfast sandwiches and coffees to those camping in Stadacona and Topaz Parks. This has proved to be a great way to build new and strengthen existing relationships with campers and stay in touch with them and their evolving needs and concerns.

NSUN has learned that most campers like lots of sugar and cream with their coffee (in fact, one camper just says that she’d like a cup of milk and sugar with a splash of coffee!) and that the friendly conversation and consistency is almost as welcome as the coffee and food.

The plan is to continue the program until the last Sunday of winter (March 19, 2023) but the crew will consider whether to extend that based on the weather forecast for late March/early April.

Susan of the breakfast crew preparing a coffee for a camper in Stadacona Park.

Call to city council to end bylaw enforcement during Emergency Weather Response

One of our members spoke to the Victoria City Council on February 9, 2023, about the confiscation of unhoused folks’ tents and belongings by bylaw officers when the Emergency Weather Response (EWR) is active and the need for trauma-informed outreach.

Many people living on our streets and in our parks are hesitant to use EWR shelters because they can’t bring their tents and belongings with them. If they do stay in a shelter, they may have their belongings confiscated as “abandoned” if left in the parks. Victoria bylaw policy is enforcement-focused, so people with very few resources are having everything they own – including tents, clothing, food, blankets, and personal belongings – confiscated or thrown away. This is harmful to citizens and is a violation of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Watch the video presentation starting at 25:40.

Washrooms needed for people living on Pandora Ave

One of our members spoke to the Victoria City Council on January 12, 2023, about the need for 24-hour washroom access and other supports to improve sanitation and safety for people living on Pandora Ave. She called on Council to take three important actions.

Watch the presentation starting at 14:40: https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/Players/ISIStandAlonePlayer.aspx?Id=fdff5deb-9294-4da7-b00a-e2ecafc5a794.

Extreme Weather Response

The Cook Street Activity Centre (318 Cook Street) is open from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m Monday, Wednesday & Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Friday & Saturday. During EWR there are staff and volunteers on site distributing food for those in need. There is capacity for 30 people in the lounge and everyone is welcome.

Our Place Drop-in (919 Pandora Avenue) is open 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

EWR for December 3rd overnight:

Visit the City of Victoria’s Twitter feed for updates on daytime and overnight warming centres.

Focus on homelessness in Greater Victoria

By Susan Z. Martin. Originally published in the Fairfield Gonzales Observer in September 2022

When the pandemic struck in Victoria it became impossible for most of us to ignore the problem of homelessness any longer. As shelters were forced to reduce occupancy due to COVID social distancing restrictions and those precariously housed found themselves homeless due to a myriad of reasons, downtown streets and parks became filled with tents and makeshift shelters. 

I became involved in supporting the unhoused in October 2020 when the Fairfield Gonzales Support for the Unhoused (FGSU) had its beginnings. This was all new to me; I’m more than a bit embarrassed to reveal that until FGSU got its start I had no idea that half of Beacon Hill Park is in Fairfield. And to my greater shame I was one of those people who tended to scuttle by unhoused people with my eyes downcast and pretending not to hear whatever they were saying – even if it was a cheery “Hello, how are you?”. 

But something changed when I was at Gonzales Park one day and I saw a couple of people looking at the sign that explained where sheltering would be allowed in the park. I remember mentioning to folks at FGCA that I thought we needed to get out ahead of this because it was likely going to be divisive. This was the impetus for me to join FGSU, which started out as a loose group of housed neighbours who would meet once a week on Zoom as well as go into the parks – mostly Beacon Hill Park – regularly. Other neighbours – like those in North Park, James Bay and Fernwood – were also supporting people sheltering outdoors in their neighbourhoods; Central Park, Irving Park (as well as Beacon Hill Park) and Stadacona Park respectively. For the larger group the main motivation to forming FGSU was to support our fellow human beings in this perfect storm of awful circumstances.

For several months we continued to meet on Zoom each and every Wednesday, only changing to meetings every two weeks in July of 2021. In June of 2021 we also changed our name to Neighbourhood Solidarity with Unhoused Neighbours (NSUN) to recognize that we were not limited to the Fairfield Gonzales neighbourhoods and in June 2022 we resumed meeting in person. Today, in the fall of 2022, we still go out to the parks regularly and try to support those sheltering there by bringing them material support (tents, sleeping bags, food, clothing), advocating for them if they want us to and simply being in community with them. We also try to stay in touch with those that we know who have moved into shelters/hotels though this is challenging because of security at these facilities.

As a group, NSUN is concerned with what will happen this fall and winter. We know anecdotally, though stats are hard to come by, that many lower income housed people are falling into homelessness in Victoria’s incredibly challenging rental market. Additionally, climate change makes extreme weather more likely which makes sheltering in tents even more unpleasant and in some cases downright dangerous (in January 2021 a large tree fell in Stadacona Park narrowly missing a camper’s tent). There might also be a surge in COVID that may force shelters to reduce numbers again. 

In preparation for the season, we welcome your donations of either sheltering items (tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads) or funds to purchase these (canadahelps.org/en/dn/6848 and select ‘Supporting unhoused people in the community’). We’d also love to have you join NSUN. Contact event@fairfieldcommunity.ca to hear about our next meeting date and location.