We’re proud of our environment and generally perform well when it comes to protecting it. We support our provincial museum and we’re big users of the Internet. However, the availability of housing monopolizes the concerns that we have – be it rental or social. And, we’re very troubled by the increasing loss of life from illicit drugs, the lack of childcare spaces and the cost of living for families in Greater Victoria.

Things We’re Doing Well

Victoria’s Vital Signs with the highest grades:

Recycling rate In 2007, 99% of households in Greater Victoria had access to a recycling program and 97% of those households used that program.

Natural environment In 2008, 85.9% of residents were satisfied or very satisfied with their opportunities to enjoy the natural environment.

Museum visits In 2007/08, the Royal BC Museum had 542,596 paid visits to their galleries, up from 294,772 in 2006/07 and 318,808 in 2005/06.

Parkland Greater Victoria had a total of 16,141 hectares of regional, provincial and federal parks and ecological reserves in 2007, an increase of 878 hectares since 2005 and 2,687 since 2001.

Internet use In 2007, 79.1% of Greater Victoria residents 16 and over used the Internet for personal use in their home.

Things We Need to Do Better

Victoria’s Vital Signs with the lowest grades:

Rental availability The total number of apartments in Greater Victoria in 2008 was 23,948 compared to 24,050 in 2007, a net loss of 102 apartments.

Illicit drug use The three-year average rate of death in 2005 - 2007 from illicit drugs was 7.5 for every 100,000 people age 19 – 64, up from 6.7 in 2004 - 2006, and 3.2 in 2003 - 2005.

Social housing waitlist In March 2009, there were 631 families, 347 seniors, 327 people with disabilities, 31 single people and 49 people needing wheelchair access on the social housing waitlist in the Capital Region.

Child care spaces In January 2009, there were 5,244 registered child care spaces for 18,126 children age 5 and under in the Capital Region.

Rental vacancy The rental vacancy rate of two-bedroom apartments in Greater Victoria in April 2009 was 1.0%.

Affordability index In 2008, a two parent family with two children would need to work a cumulative 70 hour work week earning $17.02 an hour to afford a modest standard of living in BC's Capital Region.

Greater Victoria’s Most Important Issues

Vital Signs graders were asked to identify what they think are the three most important issues facing Greater Victoria today. Based on responses from over 860 people, these are their top 10.