Category Archives: Homeless

Homeless, Municipal, Provincial

Irony, Paradox and Greek Tragedy.

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Irony, Paradox and Greek Tragedy.

The front page of Saturday September 6/08’s News overflowed with irony and paradox flavoured by classical Greek tragedy.

On one side of the page we read of the Salvation Army and about government pouring money into a program to help people get off the streets. “Miller said he was put in contact with Simpson through the Salvation Army.”

On the other side of the page you read about government putting people out onto the streets. Cory Frostad stating: “The city bylaw is going to put us on the streets. The bylaw has no right to do such a thing.”

In this case it is a conflict between municipal and provincial government actions. But this kind of conflict and counterproductive behaviour happens often and seemingly easily as a result of policies and actions by a single level of government.

Government’s refuse to listen to something they do not want to hear; like an ostrich they bury their head it the sand – and then are surprised when programs and actions do not work or result in negative consequences.

When the City began formulating its recovery house policy it was pointed out that before closing down “recovery houses” they needed to put in place affordable housing or they would be throwing people onto the streets homeless.

Two years later the City has failed to increase the stock of affordable housing in the housing market and in pursuing its recovery house policy and closing down this type of affordable housing, the City is throwing people onto the streets.

When the province announced its 24/7 shelter plan it was pointed out that without providing affordable housing for people to move into the shelters were going to become flophouses because there was nowhere for the people to move out of the shelters to.

Even with the “cheat” of an extra rent subsidy to those using the shelter plan (an extra rent subsidy denied to those who are not/were not a client of the shelter plan) the 0% vacancy rate for places under $1,000 on the downtown eastside means there no housing clients can afford. And while the cost of housing in Abbotsford has not yet reached the same $1,000 level, there is not nearly enough affordable housing to meet the demand.

In both cases you would think that the need for and the importance of affordable housing in getting people off the streets would be obvious – apparently not to government.

As long as governments, and other agencies, fail to think through the consequences of their actions and fail to focus on what the goal is (housing people) and what is needed to achieve that goal (affordable housing) actions by these groups will continue to have more in common with a Three Stooges movie than with a successfully executed strategic plan.

The Result being an occasional newspaper front page that overflows with irony and paradox, while the homeless, mentally ill, addicted and poor continue to suffer the suffer the tragedy of homelessness.

Homeless

It is not that easy.

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This quote is from Joey Thompson’s column in the Province of Friday June 20, 2008.

“In the meantime, I’m with Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu: Send them off to jail, and make sure facilities offer them plenty of treatment and recovery options.”

So neat, so tidy, so simple why have we not solved these problems this way? Because Reality, as it so often does, intrudes.

Faced with the suggestion that we begin locking all these people up for long terms I thought it prudent to check the number of spaces available in our prisons. According to the research I did on the web our prisons currently runneth over with inmates.

These repeat offenders are released time after time due to a lack of space in the prison system. So where are we to put all the new prisoners resulting from this “…purging Vancouver streets of 379 prolific offenders…”?

We could raise the $$$ billions needed to build more prison spaces and the $$$ millions needed yearly to operate the new prisons through tax increases or by redirecting current funds spent on law enforcement into prison building and operating.

I wonder what percentage of the Vancouver Police budget Chief Chu is prepared to forgo so it can be spent on prison construction and operation? Just how much more is Ms. Thompson willing to pay in taxes to fund the major expansion in prison spaces to incarcerate these criminals?

Alternatively we could lock these prolific offenders away and let others who have committed lesser numbers of crimes free.

Of course currently priority is given to locking up those who are violent and dangerous, resulting in those who commit property crimes, even repeated and multiple offences, getting little or no jail time. A policy of releasing those who commit property crimes and locking up those who assault people seems an intelligent choice to me.

However if we would rather protect property rather than people by changing our incarceration policies we can. I just wonder what killers, rapists, child pornographers and other violent criminals Ms. Thompson and Chief Chu want to release from prison in order to make room to lock up those dare steal our precious stuff.

The problem with the Vancouver Police Department report is it fails to address the underlining complex reality of a statement as simple as “Send them off to jail”, much less the far more complex problems connected with “…and make sure facilities offer them plenty of treatment and recovery options.”

It misleads the public into thinking that the solution is simple, straight forward and easy when that is not the reality.

The public perception of simple, straight forward and easy answers becomes another barrier to our ability to get on with the hard, messy and complex tasks required to put in place the recovery based systems and supports to address addiction and help addicts get into recovery.

If we seek to address the social ills associated with addiction, such as property crime, we need to address getting addicts into recovery and the complexities of addiction recovery systems and supports.

While this will not be as easy as “Send them off to jail …” it is the only approach that will, if we are patient, persistent, creative and focused on the goal of recovery, achieve the results we want

Homeless, Provincial

Torn

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As I drive along listening to my car radio I repeatedly hear the provincial government’s radio advertisement to inform people of the rent subsidy program for families whose income falls under $35,000.

Listening to these ads I am torn.

I am glad for those the Province chooses to help and that the government has recognized at least this limited acknowledgement of the cost of housing and the level of need/poverty in British Columbia.

Unfortunately the government continues burying its head in denial of the reality of the higher levels of poverty and need their ideology denies.

Worse is that this denial appears to be driving the few provincial Liberals who have removed their ideological blinders and opened their minds and eyes, enabling them to see the desperate levels of need, to leave the government in frustration over party leaderships blind insistence on continuing to deny a Reality they have no wish to see.

Perhaps Mr. Campbell could explain what makes some BC residents worthy of his governments aid and others unworthy of help in recovering their lives?

Homeless

What a treat!

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I do not have all the details involved in the preparing and serving of the New Year’s Day feast at the Abbotsford Salvation Army, so if I get details wrong I apologize.

My understanding is that sisters, members of our Sikh community, wanted to serve a meal for the hungry. They were looking at Christmas, but Andy Kwak, the new man in charge at the Salvation Army suggested New Year’s Day would be better. Great suggestion Mr. Kwak and thank you for allowing the use of the meal centre.

Family and friends of the sisters pitched in to help and from all the people who were there preparing and serving the food, the sisters have a lot of family and friends.

They served up lots of great East Indian fare. Enough so that people were waddling out the door unable to eat a single bite more. Many left with sandwiches and/or ‘takeout” for supper that night.

Keeping it simple I will merely say that I heard from many people how much they enjoyed and appreciated the food, expressing their Thanks.

What a great way to start out the New Year; and the food wasn’t bad either.

This is the kind of spirit and community initiative we need to make a start at ending homelessness, addiction and hunger in Abbotsford.

Truly a great, an energizing beginning for the New Year.

Thank you all very much. For the food, the thoughtfulness, your company and your generosity.

Thank you.

Homeless, Municipal

New Recovery House Policy

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Mr. John Smith still has not answered the most important question concerning the recovery house policy.

Mr. Smith and council have failed to answer: “when you close a ‘bad’ recovery house, where are the people/residents going to go”?

I support closing bad recovery houses, probably not for the same reasons as Mr. Smith, but I do support closing them. But, and isn’t there always a but with a people problem? But I felt, and still feel, that Mr. Smith and council need to have a plan in place so the people in those recovery homes that will be closed have a place to go – rather than mindlessly adding 100 – 200 more homeless to the overcrowded, overrun streets of Abbotsford.

Since it appears the Mr. Smith and council have followed their usual policy with taxpayer questions, they did not listen and ignored the question, I want to pose something to think about for the citizens of Abbotsford who will be affected by the new recovery home policy.

Before celebrating the closing of a recovery house in your neighbourhood – where are the people who live in the house going to go?

Recovery houses were a market response to the demand for affordable housing. When you close a recovery house there is nowhere else the residents can afford to move to.

You may not have liked a recovery house in your neighbourhood but are you prepared for the ex-residents seeking shelter in you carports, crawl spaces, sheds or trees around your/their neighbourhood? With nowhere else to go the people are going to stay in the neighbourhood they know – your/their neighbourhood. That is their comfort zone and where they will want to stay.

Perhaps any newly displaced residents of recovery houses can find rides to Mr. Smith and other councilors homes and neighbourhoods?

After all they have been aware of the question of where displaced residents of recovery homes will go for over a year and … done nothing to address this question/aspect of the new recovery homes policy.