Adopted by Council on July 3, 2025 the City's Community Safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) Plan identifies actions, in collaboration with multi-sector partners, to build a safe, inclusive and connected community where all residents feel welcome.
Read the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan
Community safety and wellbeing require a collective approach to multiple complex issues, such as declining civility and social cohesion, increasing social disorder, inadequate housing supply and homelessness, poverty, inequality, addictions, mental and physical health challenges, criminal activity and other factors. The City’s Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan includes immediate interventions to reduce crime and public disorder, while creating longer-term solutions.
Initial Actions
On July 2, 2025, Mayor Marianne Alto announced that the City will spend $10.35 million to address community safety as it implements its first actions of its Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan. Initial actions will focus on Pandora, Princess and downtown. Read the City Acts on Community Safety media release.
Recent Highlights
Council continues to advocate to other orders of government to invest in housing, mental health and addictions support while the City steps up to implement prevention, intervention and enforcement solutions to meet the community’s diverse safety and wellbeing needs. Some recent highlights include:
- Additional housing and sheltering solutions with BC Housing and community partners, such as the upcoming recovery-oriented housing at 1153 Johnson Street
- New programs to connect outreach workers with unhoused residents to help them access shelter and housing solutions and increase compliance with City bylaws
- Enhanced daily cleaning and garbage removal in the downtown core by the City’s Urban Clean Team
- New officers in the Community Safety & Bylaw Services division to support the delivery of programs and education, connect vulnerable residents with outreach and support services, investigate complaints, provide visible presence and conduct enforcement.
- An expanded Victoria Police presence downtown through the Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program
- A partnership with the Downtown Victoria Business Association to launch the Neighbour Network pilot, a new online resource for businesses
- Support for community-led funding applications to Health Canada that address urgent and immediate needs related to substance use and overdose
Council Updates
The City is committed to keeping Council and the public informed on progress made:
On September 18, 2025, staff presented an initial progress update on the City's community safety and wellbeing priority actions to City Council. Watch the archived presentation.
A CSWB progress update was presented to Council at the November 20, 2025 Committee of the Whole Meeting.
Background
The Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan was guided by an 11-member Community Leaders Panel convened by Mayor Alto. The panel included Indigenous, business, public health, housing, law enforcement, fire prevention, local service provider and neighbourhood leaders.
Read the BACKGROUNDER Community Leaders Panel Biographies.
Learn about the community engagement that helped inform the development of the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan.
The Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan is a deliverable of the City’s 2023-2026 Strategic Plan priority of “Community Wellbeing and Safety.”