Facts…

….. are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.                                                                                John Adams

Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read said the city believes the Salvation Army is not solving Maple Ridge’s homeless problem, that a different provider of shelter services would have success solving Maple Ridge’s homeless problem..

If Mayor Read and Maple Ridge believe the Salvation Army is not solving Maple Ridge’s homeless problem and that changing the organization providing shelter services in Maple Ridge will solve the city’s homeless problem, then it follows that Mayor Read and Maple Ridge believe shelters are the solution to homelessness.

The organization Maple Ridge spoke of as a possible replacement for the Salvation Army has experience providing shelter services in Vancouver.

The current list of Vancouver shelters runs three pages, yet the number of homeless has not been slowed by the continuous opening of more shelter beds, continuing to grow.

In the good old days, when decisions were based on fact not fiction, people, politicians and media were capable of the simple logic needed to examine the facts and understand:

More shelters  +  more homeless  = shelters are not a solution to homelessness.

Unfortunately these are not the good old days when 2 + 2 = 4. No, these are modern times when 2 + 2 = 5 or 11 or 9 or whatever politicians, people and media chooses to believe, whatever is convenient or preferable to believe. Thus:

More shelters  +  more homeless  = the shelter service provider is doing a bad job.

The evidence makes it clear that believing shelters can or will reduce homelessness 1) disguises the size of homelessness*; 2) enables the continued growth of homelessness; 3) consumes scarce resources without effectively addressing homelessness; or even ineffectively addressing homelessness; 4) is a barrier to effectively addressing  homelessness; 5) is far more comfortable than making the choices and commitment to necessary to execute a Housing First Action Plan – the only course that has been demonstrated to reduce homelessness.

* Vancouver defines someone who has access to a shelter bed as not being homeless; during the last homeless count in 2014 the 1277 year round shelter beds reduced the reported number of homeless by 70%.

Shelters are politically convenient, serving as evidence that politicians are doing something about homelessness. Unfortunately while what is being done may good for politicians and is very beneficial to the bank accounts of service providers, treating shelters as a solution is a barrier, promoting the recycling of the homeless through shelters – housing – homelessness – streets – shelters and not taking the actions that would enable the homeless to become stable in permanent housing – to cease to be homeless permanently.

Ignoring the facts, continuing the same actions and behaviours over and over as if this time the outcome will be different, is foolish.

It is also pointless, wasteful, and ineffective.

In other words, your governments in action.