Choices Transitional Home in View Royal should be at full capacity this week once new security upgrades are installed.
Grant McKenzie, director of communications for Our Place, which manages the temporary shelter at the former youth custody centre at 94 Talcott Rd., said about 24 people initially took advantage of tents erected in the courtyard area.
Once the security upgrades inside are completed, involving mostly changing locks, he expects a similar number of people to move in.
“Almost all of the people are from tent city,” Mckenzie said, referring to the homeless encampment on the courthouse lawns in downtown Victoria.
“We accommodated one homeless person who was living in View Royal that asked to move in.”
McKenzie said some of the people living in the courtyard tents have expressed a desire to move indoors at the facility, which offers meals, hot showers and laundry service.
B.C. Housing made about $450,000 in funding available for Choices Transitional Home for a six-month period.
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