Voting yes on affordable housing necessary to solve problems
This summer I spent a lot of time downtown helping to repair an old building. I was amazed and disturbed by the number of homeless people we encountered along with the number of discarded syringes, crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia. While many of the folks we encountered were relatively placid, we had a few upsetting encounters with people who were unusually aggressive and intrusive towards us.
We are a community with a homelessness crisis and with an affordability crisis, which are different, but overlapping issues.
The fact of the matter is that the needs of many chronically homeless are such that they cannot function successfully in conventional housing arrangements. However, to become stable, they require housing (along with supports). Stability = fewer demands on the community.
Homelessness in Canada has increased due to government policy changes (cutbacks) and deinstitutionalization.
In Canada, responsibility for housing policy is shared amongst three levels of government. As a result there is no strong approach to housing. In fact, we’re one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy!
Of the people using homeless shelters, some only require the service temporarily as a transition. On the other hand, there is a substantial number who are in chronic need due to mental health issues, drug use problems etc.
Whether it’s national, provincial or local, it’s always the taxpayer who pays, either through incarceration, hospitalization, property crimes, funding emergency shelters, etc.
We need to repair the damage done to our social safety net from years of counter productive policy changes and cuts to social programs.
Unless we start to take action, the situation will only continue to deteriorate and continue to impact the livability of our downtown for everybody.
Providing stable housing (with supports), is key to helping the chronically homeless become stable and to reduce the negative impact on communities, which is a far cheaper (and more humane) approach, than the current situation.
If we want to achieve a meaningful result for the benefit of everyone, we need to be smart and pragmatic about solving the issue and stop pretending it doesn’t exist.
Voting YES on Oct. 20, to support the Affordable Housing bylaw, is one step in the direction of addressing this crisis.
V. Bramhill
Duncan