An art gallery in Campbell River, B.C., says it feels it is being unfairly punished by the local city council due to homelessness issues in the community.
Last month, council voted to rescind a 100 per cent permissive tax exemption for the Campbell River Art Gallery (CRAG) as well as the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society, which operates an overdose prevention society, deeming both as “nuisance” properties. Both organizations are non-profits.
CRAG executive director Sarah Lopez-Assu, said the gallery has recieved the exemption every year until now — and that the city’s move will put a $10,000 hole in its budget next year.
It will certainly impact our operations. We’re not for profit; every nickel and dime is accounted for. We have no fat to trim,” she said.
Lopez-Assu said the heart of the issue appears to be council’s belief that the gallery is encouraging homelessness on its grounds, by permitting people to sleep on the property and by offering a once-a-week art program for the unhoused.
“They perceive we have given folks who are experiencing homelessness permission to be here — I mean folks have been congregating and sleeping in and around the centennial building for decades, long before the art gallery was here, in fact, so those claims are misguided,” she said.
“We told them we are not allowing it, it simply happens after hours. We have complied with all their reasonable requests, which is to make sure we don’t implicitly give people permission with our language, but they seem to think we can do more about it.”
Lopez-Assu said the gallery is now concerned that the city could go after the rent-in-kind it receives to operate in the municipally-owned building as well as its community grant and aid — together worth about $120,000 per year.
In an email, Campbell River city councillor Tanille Johnston said the city had received hundreds of letters in support of the two organizations.
Both organizations, she said, are doing what they can to help with social issues in the city, but neither are resourced to solve homelessness or the drug crisis.
In a media release, the City of Campbell River said it had voted Thursday to scrap another amendment that would have reduced some other groups’ tax exemptions by 10 per cent.
However, the art gallery appears still to have been left without its exemption — at least for now.
“The removal of the PTE for the Campbell River Art Gallery was acknowledged and Council committed to working with the organization on a productive solution and path forward, which could see the 2024 property taxes funded through Council Contingency,” the city said.
The Vancouver Island Mental Health Society said there had been no change in the city’s move to restore its exemption either.
On Thursday, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon slammed the city for the move.
“I met with Campbell River officials at (The Union of B.C. Municipalities conference), they talked to me about getting more supportive housing online, which I said I would work with them to do that — but attacking people who are trying to be good neighbours and trying to address that challenge in communities is not the way to go about it,” he said.
Kahlon added the move could ultimately backfire by poisoning the relationship between the city and non-profits, who could be reluctant to step forward in the future to operate supportive housing.
“My recommendation to the Campbell River council is work with your partners; we’re willing to be at the table. Let’s find solutions,” he said.
“I know it’s not easy, I know people get frustrated and they’re tired and they want the problem just to be solved but the only way to address it is by working together.”
Lopez-Assu said ahead of Thursday’s council meeting there were “some good conversations with a few city officials,” and that the gallery and its board were “ready, eager and willing” to address and fix their relationship with the city.
In the meantime, she said the organization is gearing up to start fundraising to cover its surprise tax bill for next year.
“We love being downtown, we love our neighbours, we collaborate with all of them, we enthusiastically participate in all downtown revitalization efforts,” she said.
“We think we’re an important part of downtown. There’s nowhere else we’d rather be, we just need help.”
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