Community Care Tent to help homeless reappears in Beacon Hill Park

Community Care Tent to help homeless reappears in Beacon Hill Park
BalmoralTinyHouse / Instagram
A Community Care Tent that is geared towards helping Victoria's unhoused population has reappeared in Beacon Hill Park. 

A Community Care Tent that is geared towards helping Victoria’s unhoused population has reappeared in Beacon Hill Park.

A group of community organizers in charge of the tent say they have set it up without receiving permission from the City of Victoria.

According to one organizer, Anthony Bryan, the group does have a permit, however, the city hasn’t decided on a location for the tent, which is larger than the standard sheltering size bylaw.

The new care tent, built by the grassroots group of volunteers, comes two months after a previous tent was taken down by city bylaw officers. The city also dismantled custom-built showers in the park, that were installed by volunteers at the beginning of November.

During the time of the dismantling, the city said the two homemade showers and the community care tent were unauthorized.

Organizers say they are still waiting on a response from the city regarding a permit location for the community tent, however, opted to set it up in the meantime.

“If we wait for bureaucracy to do its job, we are talking end of official sheltering before this thing is even allowed to get set up,” said Bryan.

The organizer added, “we want to get this up and running so people don’t freeze.”

According to a post made on Instagram, the Community Care Tent “provides warmth, shelter from the winter elements, food, water, medical supplies and a hub where housed and unhoused community members can pool resources to support each other.”

The tent has been erected in Beacon Hill Park, near the area of the petting zoo.

“This Community Care Tent also provides a space for folks to relax, unwind, decompress, and feel love and support from others, which is pretty significant considering that Bylaw and VICPD serve unrelenting hostility and violence towards this community constantly,” reads the online post.

Organizers are asking members of the community to “show some love and support” by bringing food and water or asking how to help.

City Council has had an ongoing discussion about a variety of plans to help the area’s homeless population over the last several months.

The City announced back in December that it would be funding mobile showers for people experiencing homelessness and there have been discussions about building ‘tiny homes’ at Royal Athletic Park in recent weeks as well.

CHEK News has reached out to the City of Victoria for comment on the most recent Community Care Tent and is waiting a response.

Community Care Tent in Beacon Hill Park

Graham CoxGraham Cox

Recent Stories

Send us your news tips and videos!