Dear mayor and councilors,
At the Oct. 7, 2025 Committee of the Whole ,Councillor Mike Caljouw asked the Director of Social Planing & Protective Services Mr. John Horn how much money it was costing the taxpayers of North Cowichan per day in relationship to the homeless.
The answer from Director Horn and CAO Mr. Ted Swabey was north of $25,000 per day.
I find this answer from these highly paid professionals unacceptable. Why are they not prepared to answer this question in its entirety? What is north of $25,000? Is it $30,000? $50,000? And my next question is, what is this money actually being spent on? Can you please give the taxpayers a breakdown of these highly outrageous daily costs to justify its spending and tax burdens?
CAO Mr. Swabey also stated that the Municipality of North Cowichan also spent $140,000 last year on contract garbage pickup and that cost did not include staff garbage pickup.
As Councillor Caljouw stated, couldn't this money be spent in a different way? (Mind you he did not allude to what is a better way.) Councillor Tek Manhas proposed to the council that the lot behind the municipal office (which we own) would be the perfect place to house the homeless and have the services that are needed to help transition the clients come to them (just like they already do on Lewis Street). The OPS centre could also be moved to that location and be housed in an Atco trailer until a more suitable location is acquired by the municipality.
As we are all aware that this homeless/camping situation is a major concern for public safety and public health both for the homeless, who obviously need the help with transition, but also for all of the residents on Lewis Street and York Road, among other places, who are affected by the repercussions of this environment and we all know what they are.
So basically, this meeting was a waste of time, there was no time limits for the plan to be implemented (oh, I'm sorry one to 10 year time limit) after two years (really eight-plus years) it is back to 2017 for the taxpaying voters.
Please enough of this wasteful spending of our tax dollars. We know the provincial and federal governments are not going to be forthcoming with financial assistance at this time so let's work together proactively to fix this problem.
In closing, myself and many, many taxpaying voters are waiting for your answers to these questions. Will you respond publicly in the local paper so that all the voters in North Cowichan can see that there actually is a public safety plan, because as far I can see it's status quo. And that is unacceptable.
Leslie Chance
Lewis Street resident
