BC Housing and the owner of the Victory Church are both in Penticton council鈥檚 crosshairs.

Council is waiting for a response from the province in writing before they proceed with any legal action regarding Minister David Eby鈥檚 announced use of the Interpretation Act to override their decision on the shelter.

鈥淲e have our bylaws, and we鈥檒l go forward according to our bylaws. We鈥檒l take whatever actions are necessary in order to put not only our point across but to abide by those regulations,鈥� said Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki on Thursday. 鈥淚ncluding the landlord as well as BC Housing, we鈥檙e going to hold both of them responsible if they break our bylaw regulations.鈥�

The permit for the use of the church as a shelter that council had approved will not run out until March 31, and after that, council will discuss matters at their next public meeting on April 5.

Vassilaki said that the delay is to see if the province actually follows through on asserting their paramountcy as Minister Eby had announced on Wednesday.

鈥淯ntil we receive actual correspondence from them, I don鈥檛 think we should be paying taxpayers funds,鈥� said Vassilaki 鈥淚f it does come, we will definitely seek legal advice from our people to see if we have grounds to stand on, with council鈥檚 permission.鈥�

The mayor also called out the Minister for the delay in responding due to what he viewed as not giving the subject the appropriate focus.

鈥淲e鈥檒l have to wait until we hear from the Minister. We鈥檙e just waiting for a written reply, which we haven鈥檛 received yet. He鈥檚 too busy getting media to interview him. If the Minister spent as much time giving interviews as he spent doing his job he would do a much better job for the public than he鈥檚 doing at the present time.鈥�

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