Hotels 'caught off guard' by Victoria's request to use rooms for the homeless

[Disir]

The City of Victoria is calling for the British Columbia government to take over its empty hotels and motels as a solution to housing the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Victoria council passed an emergency resolution calling on the provincial government to use its powers to house those without homes in empty hotels across the region.

"There are a number of hotels and motels fully closed that may welcome some source of revenue from the provincial government,'' Mayor Lisa Helps said on Friday. "I don't care how people get inside; if it's hotels, motels, arenas, community centres, it doesn't matter to me.''

Housing those people would provide them with a safe place to protect themselves from COVID-19, she added. If the government doesn't want to wade in, then the city wants to be able to declare a state of emergency and requisition the properties themselves, Helps said.

The request was a surprise for hotel operators.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/victoria-council-pandemic-homeless-housing-1.5537060

I bet it was a bit of a shock. There is a line in there that says these people have never worked with the homeless.

Where are you at that you have zip experience with homeless people?

 

[Canon Shooter]

I wouldn't mind being put up at The Empress...

 

[The Irish Ram]

Requisitioned property is property that is involuntarily seized by a governmental authority for any reason. Requisitioned property can be taken for a number of reasons relating to the furtherance of the public good.

A slippery slope....