Why should VicPD get a bigger 2025 budget increase than affordable housing initiatives?
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
Nestling into my scarf to ward off the biting cold air, I watch as two Victoria Police Department (VicPD) officers corner an unhoused woman on Pandora Avenue who is huddled for warmth under a threadbare pink sakura flower duvet on the wet sidewalk. It is December, and I can’t feel my toes in my fleece-lined boots as I stare at her bare feet, stark white against the darkened pavement.
After a brusque exchange, the two officers awkwardly leer at her from their warm VicPD vehicle as she shuffles to gather her few precious belongings. The unhoused woman, myself, and the officers displacing her all know there is nowhere else for her to go, and yet, on the dime of taxpayers, the officers sip coffee and watch cozily as she is forced to walk to find a new location to survive the cold.
The City of Victoria has released their draft budget for 2025, and I was appalled to discover that VicPD is proposing a 9.7 per cent increase in budget, costing taxpayers over $7 million. In contrast, the proposed operating budget increases for initiatives that combat the housing crisis — such as the Housing Accelerator Project, Victoria Housing Reserve, and Overnight Sheltering, are proposed to receive no budget increase at all.
Talks of enforcing a daytime sheltering ban, which includes policing costs, seems to be the only “solution” to the growing unhoused population that the Victoria City Council is interested in. This would cost an estimation of over $4.7 million per year.
This proposed budget is a slap in the face, when the line between housing and no housing for the majority of people in Victoria could be a couple of unlucky months, a bad landlord or roommate, or losing your job. In my first year renting in Victoria at age 19, I moved six times due to unsafe living conditions, lack of affordable housing, and bad luck. Thankfully, I was able to couch-surf with family and friends, but not everyone is so lucky to have a tight-knit community — or any community — to fall back on.
As the number for VicPD’s budget increases, so does the unhoused population in Victoria. I might liken the VicPD budget increase to putting a band-aid over a bullet hole, but it’s more like we’re loading bullets to shoot ourselves in the foot.
Activists on the ground protesting sweeps of unhoused encampments in Victoria suggest that these sweeps lead to the deaths of unhoused people. From 2015-2022, Victoria was found to have one of the highest death rates for unhoused people in B.C. People should not have to sign a lease for their lives to be valued by those in power.
As the City of Victoria unveils its proposed budget for 2025, our councillors have made it clear where their loyalties lie in our city. With the housing crisis continuing to demonstrate no end in sight, the City of Victoria needs to make serious changes to their investments. By giving VicPD a 9.7 per cent budget increase and neglecting housing initiatives, I can’t help but wonder if we’re simply creating more wardens for the prison this housing crisis is becoming.
