Saanich had offered a plot of land near the municipal hall to build modular housing after the Regina Park Tent City was shut down. However, after the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing surveyed the land, they deemed it unsuitable.
Mayor Richard Atwell says the Ministry told him it would be very difficult to build on the site, and he is not surprised by their assessment. “It didn’t meet the minimum surveying standards that BC housing has in order to build a building there. The difficulty of building in this area, which is not quite a ditch, but it is undeveloped. I felt it was our worst piece of land that we could have offered." Atwell said.
B.C. Housing says the land won’t work due to the steep slope of the property and the that the placement of the modular units would require significant construction and engineering. Mayor Atwell still thinks modular housing needs to be built in Saanich, and would like to revisit the idea of converting the former Emily Carr Library into modular housing.