Pandora Avenue is ground zero for the homeless in Victoria. Many there battle addiction and mental illness. The city kicked in $10 million last July to address public safety, including for the hiring or more police and bylaw officers. That’s when Mayor Marianne Alto acknowledged the area was a “blight,” and promised tangible improvements in half a year. “This can’t wait, in six months you’ll see a difference,” Alto promised last July. A year later, Alto acknowledges a lot of work is left to do—and says the province needs to step up. “There’s no doubt that the complexities of the issues there are taking longer than expected, requiring more help than we expected,” Alto said Wednesday. CTV News spoke to staff at Robinson’s Outdoor Store, a downtown retailer where they expressed frustration with vandalism and petty crime last summer. Staff there say nothing’s improved “It’s pretty much the same,” said Cole Legree. “If there is a change it’s pretty hard to delineate or justify what has improved.” The Downtown Victoria Business Association welcomed the city’s efforts, and its CEO agrees with Alto that blame for the lack of progress falls at the feet of the NDP government—and a lack of funding for treatment and housing supports. “The province is not providing the services that clearly these individuals so desperately need, and until the province steps up and starts providing significant services, we’re not going to see any real improvement,” said Bray Wednesday. The Ministry of Health told CTV News in a statement Wednesday, “We will continue to work with our partners to improve access to mental health and addictions care for people, so that people can access the right level of care based on their individual needs at the right time.”
