(HP) Homeless Press

No, this does not stand for Excessive Social Pressure. That course would require the News to become an active participant in: a continuing community wide dialogue on homelessness and its associates (poverty, mental illness, unemployment, drugs – to name but a few); an exchange of ideas on lines of attack; community wide tackling of these issues. This seems highly unlikely given that contentious issues or positions, no matter how well they would serve the community, have far too much potential to cause a reduction in advertising revenues.

No, I am no mind reader myself. It is clear from the language used that the News can only be advocating the use of Extra Sensory Perception in dealing with homelessness in Abbotsford. Psychics would, one assumes, be used to determine who in our community was about to become homeless. Remedial actions could then be undertaken to prevent this homelessness from occurring, thus avoiding the creation of additional members of the homeless community. One would presume that once this use of clairvoyants proved proficient in averting additional homeless, the News would call for additional seers to be employed in addressing the needs of those currently homeless. How foolproof! Using psychics to divine the specific set of actions that would enable each and every homeless person to deal with and overcome the maze of issues that have reduced them to a life of living on the streets. No failures, no relapses, no need for community involvement … only correct actions need be undertaken under the guidance of the paranormal practitioners. Brilliant … or sheer lunacy

“NO!” That was the almost unanimous answer given by the homeless surveyed on the question of whether the use of psychics would prove successful in resolving homelessness. It needs to be noted that some of the more dedicated practitioners of chemically altered reality did feel the News may be onto something with this approach of dealing with current problems by fortune telling the future.

No, Oh No. One can only hope that there are enough thoughtful citizens aware of the complex reality of homelessness to, in voting no, counterbalance those looking for a neat, quick, easy solution. Otherwise the fairytale illusion championed by the News in their Question of the Week:

Do you believe (take as true) homelessness can be
averted (avert: to keep from happening; ward off; prevent)
in communities that establish special committees to tackle the issue?

– will permit this community to continue to avoid the grim, harsh, despairing reality that populates its streets.