Category Archives: Homeless

Homeless

Keeping Faith.

Leave a comment

Last Sunday a lesson in keeping a promise was delivered by the members of the Open Door church, who have pledged to the hungry that they are in for the long haul. Over my time on the streets of Abbotsford I have witnessed several groups come and go in providing lunch to the hungry on Sundays. The people who undertake to provide food on the first Sunday of every month have been dependably there every first Sunday, but the rest of the month has seen churches come and go as the notion took them. Were it not for the members of the Open Door there would have been many hungry men, women and children on most Sundays. These “brown-bag lunch” people have been devoted in keeping their pledge to be there when others were not.

This past Sunday they were gathered out of town on church business, which included a wedding. What of their Word? If ever there was a reason for not being there to hand out bag lunches this was surely it and there were no bag lunches. Nevertheless there were no empty stomachs; in fact people were saying NO to offers of more to eat. Even with all the preparations involved, the people of the Open Door had taken the time to make arrangements to ensure lunch was served. As Pastor Bill told me, they are in for the long haul.

So we want to draw to the attention of the citizens of Abbotsford the faithfulness of these good people and to say a big “Thank You” to both those who work so hard month after month to feed the hungry and those who stepped in to help them keep their pledge. We also desire to extend our best wishes and congratulations to the dirty old man and the sweet young thing on their nuptials; with the good hearts they have shown in their steadfast care for the hungry they should journey well together.

Consider, Homeless

Thank you for your letter Marilyn Kozak

Leave a comment

Editor, The News:

I wish to affirm the letter from Mr. James Breckenridge regarding the deplorable and callous treatment meted out to a homeless person called Kevin (The News, July 15).

On June 28, I spent five hours in an emergency room hallway waiting for my husband to be seen by a doctor. I witnessed first-hand the indifferent way this very, very ill person was treated. It disturbed me greatly.

It was clear that the emergency room staff had dealt with Kevin often and knew him well. He was sent away twice in the time I was there, despite his obvious extreme difficulty breathing.

At some later time, he was admitted to ward Two West, where my husband was also admitted. Once on the ward, he seemed to get the care and kindness to be expected by a patient and it seemed like he was made as comfortable as possible in his final days.

I wish to let Mr. Breckenridge know that Kevin’s death has had a profound effect on both me and my husband, and we won’t soon forget what happened to a fellow human being in desperate need of help.

Marilyn Kozak

The original letter about Kevin is below.

Consider, Homeless

Kevin George Ellis

Leave a comment

Kevin George Ellis, a member of Abbotsford’s homeless community, died last Tuesday night. His release from the pain of these soulless streets will be mourned in the homeless community and those who care to serve the needs of these citizens. Kevin was human and had the flaws that come with that state of being. It was his misfortune that one of his flaws was addiction, a scourge that devoured his life. Kevin had serious respiratory problems that were only complicated by his addiction. Worse misery lay in his having the wrong addiction. If you ever doubted the driving power of addiction consider that Kevin knew his addiction would, together with his respiratory illness, cause him an early, painful death. Even in the face of this death sentence Kevin was a helpless prisoner of his addiction. Sadly, Kevin is not unique. I lost a cousin decades ago because he could not stay sober (from beer) long enough for life saving medical treatment.

While the broad majority of his fellow citizens will not notice his passing from the City’s indifferent streets and those malignant of spirit will demonstrate this warping with the utterance “Good, one less homeless bum, the rest need to die – the faster the better”, the humane will deplore the circumstances of his passing. It was wrenching to see the suffering inflicted on Kevin by the system and to a lesser degree society. I do not know if system and attitude changes would or could have granted him a longer life. I do know our current systems and attitudes condemned him to death and made his life at the end extremely miserable and painful, denying him any comfort. Others with a desperate need for caring will die in pain and loneliness, killed by the callousness of our society.

Kevin is not the first person I have seen die or dying from the complications of a respiratory illness and an ongoing addiction. He is the first who I have seen with an illegal drug addiction. Until now the addiction I have associated with respiratory problems has been nicotine, with cigarettes the method these addicts use to get their drug fix. While this group of addicts may not have received a great deal of sympathy, they did receive care, consideration and un-begrudged medical treatment. Having labeled Kevin as a homeless druggie and bum the system and society judged him as unworthy of solicitude and denied him simple mercy.

When you look at the world around you and find it an unfriendly, dark and frightening place, remember it is this way because of choices we make and have made as a society. We have made human life the cheapest commodity on the planet and created a class of disposable human beings. The society and behaviour we so deplore is merely the reaping of the whirlwind we as a society have chosen to sow. If we want a better world we need to build it on a solid foundation of love for our fellow man, especially the least among us and those in desperate need.

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.

Isaac Asimov
Homeless, Municipal

Re: Comment sent to me on Water and Shade

Leave a comment

I would draw your attention to the portion of the letter you quoted from my article, specifically the words “or to solve property crime”. The crimes you enumerate all fall under the term property crimes, with my words clearly demonstrating that I fully support the local police in pursuing the perpetrators of these crimes. Having experienced the theft of property from my family I know just how frustrating it is that the police currently seem to have no interest or expectation of prosecuting these criminals.

I would also draw your attention to an earlier article on the web site: Crime Wave coming to your Neighbourhood (November 2005). I believe that anyone who reads this can clearly see I have no illusions about the honesty of some of the homeless or about just what power an addiction has and what it can drive the addict to do in order to satisfy his addiction. I would go on to say that as the homeless are human beings I harbour no delusions about what they will do in order to survive – just as I harbour no fantasies about the behaviours (or lack thereof) the ordinary citizen would take should their survival be at stake.

I feel the need to comment that you need to consider your own closing words “but take a look and you’ll see they live among you too.” To often those who choose to cite the argument that the homeless are thieves fail to accept that there are many more criminals who are living among them – those with homes. If you were to round up all the criminals in this city you would find that the vast majority were members of the “Homed”. As the homeless are a very small percentage of the overall population, they cannot constitute more than a small percentage of the thieves in this city. In particular I wish to address the issue of metal/recycling theft. I am well aware of the involvement of some of the homeless in minor thefts to sell the metals. The reason I say minor is only because the homeless lack the resources (transportation, cutting tools, storage) to commit the large thefts one hears about. You need to look to those who live among you.

I admit to being annoyed by this argument, not because I do not see the crooks who are part of the homeless population but because it is so often use to deny or ignore those among the homeless that need help. On the other hand I like to point out that what crime costs society makes it far cheaper and more sensible to pay for programs to address issues of addiction and homelessness, than it is to use the police, courts and incarceration to deal with these same people. I will be posting an article about the mayors of many US cities planning to stamp out homelessness because they have been doing cost/benefit studies that clearly show/demonstrate it is far cheaper to avoid involving the legal and medical systems to deal with the homeless.

The final point I want to raise is that “the senseless pursuit of the homeless” has nothing to do with arresting criminals. The police ventured into the homeless camp (Compassion Park) to arrest a specific person for a specific crime. There were those who claimed they should not have done so and called upon me to write to the papers, the website and others condemning this “invasion”. I publicly took the position that it was a perfectly reasonable action for the police to take. They had specific charges about a specific person concerning a specific crime. I have absolutely no problem with that type of action. The senselessness of which I am speaking is such things as forcing the homeless to stop “loitering” under shade on days with a blazing sun, move along under the sun getting sunburned and chancing heatstroke; when they wake someone 10 times to get them to move from where they are sleeping on the streets during the night (yes it is unsightly but what is the point when there is no place else for them to go – if you want them off the streets you need to provide the alternative); ignoring a neatly dressed homeless person to search a poorly dressed/groomed homeless person; searching the homeless for stolen goods but not searching those who have homes when statistically most of the crime is committed by those with homes; chasing the homeless and addicted for petty crimes and letting major crimes go unsolved. There are many, many more instances I could cite were the police treatment and behaviour towards the homeless, would be considered persecution if it were aimed at any other group such as East Indians or those of African decent.

Harass: 1) to irritate or torment persistently; 2) to wear out; exhaust; 3) to impede and exhaust (an enemy) by repeated attacks or raids. This is the way the police treat the homeless, except those of us who they cannot identify by merely looking at us – and that is unacceptable behaviour. If they spent as much time on property crimes as they currently do on harassing the homeless, not only would they solve the crimes committed but they would undoubtedly get a reduction in property crimes from deterrence.

The point is that this behaviour towards the homeless community is a waste of police resources that could better be used elsewhere. Again, I would argue that this issue is best – most effectively, efficiently and in terms of the best return (results) for the money invested (cost) – addressed as a social issue and treated in a proactive manner. The Chief Financial Officer, businessman and auditor in me feel appalled by the waste and failure to accomplish anything, often making things worse, I witness in the current systems. Cost/benefit analysis would suggest that we can either change our actions to achieve results or we can go on wasting resources and accept all the costs (crime, homelessness, youth on the streets, etc) we currently accumulate while accomplishing nothing. Choose.

Should you desire to stop wasting your tax dollars do you have any ideas and/or a willingness to be part of the solution?

Copy of the e-mail:

“This senseless pursuit of the homeless is undoubtedly cooler and far easier than getting off their Asses and out of their air-conditioned vehicle in seeking out gang activity or to solve property crimes. Earn the wages by the sweat of their brow? You must be kidding…” Take the opportunity to look around at the homeless of Abbotsford and determine how many of them are criminals. Whether or not they are new to the world of crime or are veterans in stealing and robbing, makes NO difference whether or not they have a home. Look at your brothers and sisters in the tent city and know that some were criminals before they were homeless. Know that each and every night that some of them are out committing crimes against people and property on a regular basis. And know that the police are pursuing, tracking and arresting criminals regardless of there socio-economic status. When the police respond to an armed robbery, a car theft, a break and enter or a shoplifting call; they do not prioritize their response based on whether the perpetrator has an address of not. Know that when crime occurs, the police will do their job to apprehend the offenders. People involved in committing crime come from all walks of life. Whether the impaired driver is a businessman drunk after a few too many or some cracked-out thief who lives on the street makes little difference to the police officer who is putting his or her personal safety in harms way so that they may protect society. Look at the homeless men and women who display a considerable effort every night they go out to steal scrap metal from homes and businesses around Abbotsford. No, I’m not talking the binners or dumpster divers who collect cans or bottles. I’m talking about the hardcore thieves who steal metal to sell so they can buy drugs or whatever. I dare say that if those poors souls could dedicate that much energy to theft and scamming, they could seriously put forth a good effort at a wage-earning legitimate job. That however, would entail being responsible, punctual, sober and honest. Don’t get me wrong…I know that not all homeless are criminals. But a good number of them turn to theft, robbery, break and enters and numerous other crimes. I realize that some homeless have physical disabilities, mental health issues, medical problems and addictions. There are many that suffer in the same way all over the world. If the police respond to an assault call, do you think they will walk away from arresting and charging the assailant if the victim is homeless? No way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say all homeless are criminals, but take a look and you’ll see that they live among you too.

Homeless

American cities plan to end homelessness within 10 years

Leave a comment

At a June 21 reception hosted by Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, Philip Mangano, chair of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, described a new administrative movement in more than 200 cities in the United States, to begin initiatives that will end chronic absolute homelessness within 10 years. He explained that the idea is predicated on the work of Malcom Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point”. It tells us, he said, that “modest resources invested in intelligent action can achieve success when we focus on the result of the investment.” Mangano said that this is equally true in business and social development. Baselines are required to define the problem; benchmarks incrementally define success; best practices (“that is, what actually works”) are applied with a modest but consistently available budget. Over time the objective is achievable. Why are these cities so sure that they can afford to end homelessness in 10 years? Because, he says, they’ve run cost-benefit analyses, and see that they can’t afford not to. In Boston,119 people “on the street” were studied over a five-year period. In that time they were admitted into hospitals a total of 18,000 times, at a cost of $1,000 each just for admission processing (not counting ambulance, police, treatment or medication). In Reno, two policemen tracked the costs of managing some of their most familiar homeless “clients” as they pinballed from services to shelters, jails, hospitals and so forth. They discovered that one person can cost $50,000-100,000 over only a few months. One man, who had been on the streets for ten years or more, had clearly cost the government over a million dollars, with no difference made to his lifestyle. In San Diego, Mangano said, 15 homeless people were followed for 18 months. In that time they cost $3 million in government services: an average of $200,000 per person. “The city fathers, having assumed that homelessness didn’t cost them much at all, were shocked. They realized that they could have rented these people oceanside condos with servants for less than that.” [For details of these cases and the US national initiative see http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060213fa_fact and http://www.usich.gov ] Ad hoc, unco-ordinated crisis intervention is most expensive and least effective, Mangano said. Permanent supportive housing, as a package tailored individually to each client, is less expensive and more effective. The new effort involves a process of identification, outreach, and housing with concurrent wraparound services. There is no transition from a shelter through transitional or second-stage housing; clients are invited to come off the streets, directly into their own apartments. Housed clients are provided with an outreach worker and therapeutic team to help them stabilize and settle, and to make their way over the long term. Mangano said that 20 American federal agencies have now come together as partners on this issue. “Incremental investment that produces results and a return on investment are making a difference. We now have 222 cities involved.” He mentioned the success of the Rough Sleepers Initiative in the UK, in which the number of people sheltering on the street has dropped 75% in five years. (The RSI is recognized as a “best practice” by the UN. See http://www.unesco.org/most/westeu18.htm.) He also cited a 28% reduction in absolute homelessness in San Francisco since that city began its program. Mangano said that the use of sound business planning is a crucial element in the success of these programs. He encouraged the audience “not just to ladle soup or make emergency shelter beds – although you need to keep this going ­ but to plan with an end in mind. Without a business plan things only get worse.” “When modest resources are consistently focussed on intelligent action toward the most visible expression of the big social problem, change becomes possible. Change to a problem that was once deemed intractable reaches a tipping point. This creates a portal to address all the less visible housing issues and others related to them.”