At a City Council meeting on Thursday, July 24, Victoria City Council voted 5:2 in favour of rezoning 525 Ellice Street to accommodate a new, purpose-built shelter to be completed in 2010. The new shelter will be much improved over the current Streetlink location on Store Street with a large outdoor courtyard area, additional interior space for counselling and support services, storage for residents’ belongings, the capacity for 82 shelter beds for men and women, 20 emergency, cold weather shelter mats, 23 self-contained, transitional apartments, and two family shelter units – where none currently exist in the Capital Region.

Chamber News - June 4, 2008 - The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce is concerned that there is significant risk to the proposal to build a shelter and supportive housing facility on Ellice Street. The funding to build and operate the facility is already committed by the provincial government. Building the facility would also allow the downtown Streetlink location to be converted to additional supportive housing.

A move is underway from the community association to inhibit the removal of the under-utilized park from park zoning so that the land could be used to build the facility. In the end, should this proposal for building more housing for the homeless not get city approval, it will represent a significant set-back in efforts of the larger community to make positive headway on this issue. We encourage our members to let your municipal councillors know that housing the homeless, in all areas of our community, is important to the overall well-being of the entire city.

The goal of the 40th Anniversary projects are to celebrate Cool Aid’s successes past, present and future in order to educate the public, raise the visibility of our diverse programs, and to connect old friends and colleagues. Three main activities will be pursued during 2008 which are described below. A short history of Cool Aid is also available on the web site.

1. Cool Aid Culture - Arts Festival & 40th Reunion, Saturday, August 16 in Victoria.
2. Creation of a short, documentary video celebrating Cool Aid's 40-year history.
3. A dinner event in November to honour Cool Aid's 38 years of community health services and raise money for the ACCESS Health Centre.

Over 50 volunteers are still needed for the Arts Festival. An orientation session - all are welcome - is being held on Monday, August 11, from 5 to 6:30 pm at 755 Pandora.