A Victoria mayoral candidate says he would take the money his opponents would spend on policing and put it into housing instead.

“Poverty isn't illegal, so police can't help,” said Steve Filipovic, who ran as a Green Party candidate in the 2005 provincial election but is running as an independent to be mayor. “What we need are housing solutions.”

The Victoria Chamber of Commerce wants an increase in the police budget to allow the department, which serves both Victoria and Esquimalt, to hire 60 more officers, Filipovic said. The department's website says the force now has 222 officers.

(The Chamber's spokesperson, Shannon Renault, said she'd be “hesitant on the exact number,” but somewhere around 60 is right.)

Adding 60 new officers would cost taxpayers about $6 million a year, said Filipovic. Either of the presumed leading candidates for Victoria mayor, current councilor Dean Fortin and business owner Rob Reid, would spend that money, he said. “I'm sure we'd see that in the near future if either of those get elected.”

You could take the whole police budget and put it into affordable housing, but the city would still have crime, said Fortin, who has sat on the city's police board and has also been an advocate for affordable housing. "It's not that simple," he said. "It's always got to be a question of balance."

The department argues it needs 60 more officers to bring Victoria's crime load per officer in line with the provincial average, he said, but the police board has so far declined to meet the demand. The department added 20 new officers this year, he said, 16 of whom will be done their training in February and will go to work on the city's streets. "We'll evaluate what will happen with those," he said. "It will help with the downtown social disorder."

Reid's website says he supports the police department's recruitment goals, though he's reluctant to name a number of needed officers. “I was thinking it was more in the 40s,” said Reid. “There's a good chance I would probably okay 40 police.”

A search is on for a new police chief, with former Vancouver chief Jaime Graham reported to be at the top of the police board's short list, and Reid said he would want to sit down and talk with whoever is hired about the department's overall plans and strategy before he commits to a specific number.

Asked how he would spend the money, Filipovic said, “Housing. Easily on housing. That would eliminate the need for more policing because we wouldn't have so many problems on our streets.”

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.