With a little forethought and patience the city is emptying Compassion Park of inhabitants quietly, without a confrontation for the media. Getting the people of the Park onto Social Assistance has given these homeless the ability/option of finding a roommate (with the unrealistic provincial shelter rates you NEED a roommate) so as to have accommodation. Having been together in the Park and on the streets will hopefully allow them to find a roommate they can live with – at least long enough for both people to get onto their feet. Helping the few percent of the homeless that were camping in the Park still leaves the vast majority (96 – 98%) of the homeless on the street and outdoors. However, having reminded the reader, that so far only a tiny portion of the homeless on the streets of Abbotsford have been helped, there is another very important issue connected to the process of helping that needs addressing. FOLLOW UP.

What happens now with those the city has succeeded in helping these people, this one small group of homeless, in getting onto assistance and (hopefully) into shelter? Most have, at one time or several times, been on assistance before. Being on assistance and in accommodation did not stop them from ending up on the streets homeless. Which is were (with high probability) they will end up again if all the help they get is to get them onto assistance, into some form of shelter – and incidently, out of the Park and the city’s hair. Which begs the question: Was the city’s purpose to merely get them out of the Park quietly OR was it to help them get life together?

As I stress the homeless are not one single thing, but I also stress the need to be realistic in addressing the issue of the homeless. Being realistic, if you have ended up homeless and on the streets, there is a strong likelihood that one has barriers other than just the need to get onto social assistance and into shelter. If those who would help do not acknowledge and plan for the need to address these underlying barriers they have, in the mid to longer term, accomplished nothing as those in need of non-existant support slide back down and back out onto the streets. I have all to often watched people come out of treatment and back into the same circumstances that they were in before they sought treatment. Slowly they slip back into their old habits and behaviours, then back into their addictions. In the same way, merely getting those in the Park into housing is only the begining of getting them back onto their feet and into mainstream society. If we do not establish some system to – get them help in addressing any barriers, help in making better choices, help in establishing a support system for the rough patches, help in finding employment, getting them engaged with ‘normal’ people and activities and some touchback system to maintain contact so that if there is a need it can be (one hopes) addressed before they crash and burn; what will help them to avoid landing on the streets once more?

Getting them onto assistance, into shelter and off the streets (or out of the Park) is the easy part. Getting together and delivering the support needed to aid them to make the lifestyle changes needed to get on with life and to not slip back down and out onto the streets of Abbotsford is complex, tricky and hard. It is also the the most important aspect to success in aiding the homeless.