Beginning Monday, outreach workers will have to drive a van around downtown Victoria in hopes of finding drug users on the street to give them clean needles. (CBC)

The only needle-exchange facility in Victoria will close on Monday, raising concerns that drug users in the area will turn to sharing dirty needles.

The needle exchange is essential to stop the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, the organization that runs the facility on Cormorant Street said on Friday.

"Needle exchanges basically exist to keep people safe until they can make the decision to access treatment," Katrina Jensen, executive director of AIDS Vancouver Island, told CBC News.

About 400 people a month use the facility, which opened 20 years ago.

'Clients will have a lot harder time trying to find us and access clean harm-reduction supplies.' — Erin Gibson, outreach worker

The needle exchange is being evicted from its downtown location after months of complaints from businesses and residents about noise, crime, garbage and human waste on the tiny two-block street.

Beginning Monday, outreach workers will resort to operating a van and travel a downtown route seven days a week, said Erin Gibson, an outreach worker at the facility. The route will stay away from schools, daycares and open businesses.

Gibson said she's worried that clients will miss the van and end up sharing used needles.

Katrina Jensen, executive director of AID Vancouver Island, says most drug addicts have developed a connection with staff at the needle-exchange facility and are more likely to access addiction treatment. (CBC)

"Clients will have a lot harder time trying to find us and access clean harm-reduction supplies as well as support," she said.

"A lot of people will become sick and may die. They're really worried."

Outreach workers will also do foot patrol, going into alleyways with carts full of supplies, Gibson said.

Dr. Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer with the B.C. Ministry of Health, said people using the site have a better chance at accessing treatment.

"That clearly takes people away, improves neighbourhoods, increases public safety, and it gets people into a better life," he said.

Jensen said the needle-exchange program is more than a convening place for addicts.

"They also manage to get a connection with the staff so they are more likely to access things like basic health services and addiction treatment," she said.