The Tiny Town village adjacent to Royal Athletic Park has been sold, but is expected to stay in Victoria.
The 30-unit community of shipping containers that has provided temporary housing for those at risk of homelessness for the past two years was sold by the Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region for $300,000.
Twelve youth tenants moved out this week to new supportive housing at 1075 Meares St., and the last two tenants were expected to be out of the structures this week, said Sylvia Ceacero, executive director of the organization.
Ceacero confirmed that the village has been sold, but would not say who bought it or where it is going. “I do believe that announcements will be made shortly, as we are coming to the end of the project, but it is staying in the region and is staying, actually, in Victoria,” she said.
Ceacero said the dismantling of Tiny Town will start immediately and then it will be moved to its new site.
Tiny Town was built with shipping containers in the spring of 2021, with funding from B.C. Housing and the City of Victoria, to provide temporary homes for people until permanent housing could be built. Units were around 100 square feet and equipped with a bed, nightstand/dresser, wardrobe and small refrigerator. Each of the insulated units had an electric heater, but no cooking capacity.
Two meals a day were delivered, breakfast and dinner, and residents had access to a common area to reheat food. Showers and washrooms were communal, with four shower/toilet rooms and one separate toilet room.
The community sprang up to house some of the city’s growing homeless population, many of them living in tents in parks or in doorways of businesses throughout the city, in part as a result of restrictions on capacity at temporary shelters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The alliance, then called the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, partnered with Aryze Developments on the project, launching a crowdfunding campaign that raised $550,000 from the public and businesses in three months.
The village was assembled on the parking lot of the adjacent Royal Athletic Park, which is owned by the City of Victoria.
The pilot project was supposed to house people for only a few months, but ended up running for almost two and a half years, as few permanent alternatives opened up. At the Tiny Town’s one-year anniversary, many of the original residents were still there.
All of the Tiny Homes Village residents were clients of B.C. Housing, which develops, manages and administers a range of subsidized housing options in the province.
The city most recently extended the use of the parking lot at Royal Athletic Park for the Tiny Town until the end of October.
The City of Victoria confirmed Friday it did not purchase the homes.
The alliance said proceeds from the sale will go to bridging its funding gaps, and the board will meet in November to determine what should be done with whatever remains.
Ceacero admits it’s been a difficult time for the 15-year-old organization, which brings together a wide variety of groups, governments, private-sector entities and individuals to address the needs of those experiencing homelessness in the region and advocate for more resources to tackle the issue.
She said funding that was readily available through the pandemic has since dried up, and funding has not kept up with costs that have continued to rise.
The City of Victoria provides $100,000 a year to the group, while the Capital Regional District had been providing $225,000 annually.
While Island Health has already rejected a request for increased funding for next year, two weeks ago the CRD committed to a one-time increase of $120,000 in annual funding that will bring the annual funding amount to $345,000 next year.
The alliance had told the district that without an increase in funding, the organization would not be viable in 2025.
Ceacero made a presentation to Victoria council Thursday, outlining the alliance’s activities and making it clear it was stretched thin and needed an increase in funding.
The alliance is asking the city for an additional $50,000. It says it currently is a team of four and a half positions, with one and a half focused on administration and finance and another on research, leaving two people to try and support the community, its partners and members.
Ceacero said homelessness remains a massive problem in the region, but advocacy and pulling together various organizations, service providers and government bodies tends to be a long game, which means the alliance doesn’t always have hard numbers to show progress.
“There is the desire for everybody, including us, to have very clear, tangible results in front of everybody and be able to say, here is what we’ve accomplished,” she said.
But she noted there is a big difference between a backbone organization that is there to support an entire sector and a direct-service provider.
“I believe the organization creates a great deal of value for the community and I hope that the city and all the other partners will continue to support it.”
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