[Calgarian]

I want to start up some discussion/debate about how to fix the homelessness problem that exists in Calgary today. I was in Victoria Park C-train station yesterday and there were about 30 people sleeping there. It is well documented that Calgary homeless population is exploding along with the rest of the population. I think the discussion should go beyond the affordable housing discussion (which is still valid, but only would help about half of those people on the street), and focus more on the social aspect, and by that I mean drug/alcohol addiction and prostitution. And the fact that most Calgarians (myself included) just turn a blind eye to the problem, and tell the panhandlers to get a job, or to sober up.

What do people think?

[Coldrsx]

^i have found Edmonton has a much worse problem of late as well...in a province with dire need for labor...even if unskilled manual labor.

[Boris2k7]

There are several problems of course:

1) The affordable housing situation is forcing out not only the people at the bottom rung but the people just up the rung from there. The amount of working poor is getting quite large.

2) There aren't enough shelters for those who can't afford even the affordable stuff, and there is too much concentration of such facilities in the Eastern portion of downtown.

3) There is a lack of institutions for the mentally impaired.

4) There is either a severe shortage of addiction treatment centres or they may be rejecting people. The Sheldon Chumir should help this only slightly once complete.

5) Backwards laws on drugs and prostitution have kept these people out of regulated employment areas and forced them onto the streets, exacerbating the homeless problem

6) The Downtown Business Association has done a fine job of demonizing the homeless population and Calgarians rarely understand the true issues (instead it is the usual 'get a job' attitude).

7) Employment is harder to get if you don't have a place of residence, and even worse if you are not as socially integrated as the rest of us and lack some other things, such as Photo ID, Birth Certificates, a clean criminal record (imagine if you were forced sometimes into petty offences in order to survive!), etc.

That's all I can come up with for now.

EDIT: Might as well throw this in as well...

8) The poor who do have jobs actually need to get to them. Say you can land a job out in Foothills Industrial, but stay at an affordable unit in downtown. You can't afford a car and rely on public transit. It is critical that the service be able to get you to near you workplace in a timely and inexpensive fashion. It is also critical that a strike DOES NOT HAPPEN.

[ssiguy]

With no controls on rental increases, even the homeless who find apts they may find themselves back on the street in less 6 months as their rent could hypothetically double and they have no legal recourse.

[marts1x]

there are still plenty of cheap rents in Calgary.... however its hard to just rent a room if you have a substance problem because most people will have you out in no time.

[Wooster]

Homelessness has been happening in every city in every era of civilization.

There are reasons for why a certain segment of the population are facing these problems. Having the 'get a job', or the homeless are just lazy bums attitude is just not helpful, nor is it all that well informed. It jut further marginalizes people in these situations.

The majority of the addicted and/or homeless end up where they are due to mental illness, abuse, abandonment or other issues. Unless you have experienced any of these things, it is difficult to contemplate how difficult it is to cope. Addiction usually begins with self medicating for depression, bipolar issues, schizophrenia or other issues with illicit drugs. Personally, I have had a charmed life with few problems so it is difficult to put myself in someone else's shoes whose circumstances have been so different. But it is still possible to contemplate how this can happen in someone's life.

The fact is people get into situations where they are simply not in the position to help themselves. They are mired in an addiction, or have severe mental illness. These situations are next to impossible to get out of without the proper supports in the community. In Alberta these services are sorely lacking.

[Western Spaghetti]

High rents etc.. are part of the problem, but the main issues causing this problem is the same in all cities. Most of it relates to drug addictions or mental health issues.

Very true, this is where we are really lacking. We need more programs to deal with these people.

[Calgarian]

So how can we get the City and Province to stop dragging their feet and actually do something about this problem. I hope this becomes a major issue during the next civil election.

[Wooster]

It really, really should be at or near the top of the priority list. It will leave a pretty empty feeling from this boom if the problem is not rectified to a substantial degree.

[Calgarian]

Maybe I will try to find time to write the Mayors office or Global News to see if I can press the issue.

[m0nkyman]

Number one thing to do is to get involved. Does your Chamber of Commerce, Community League or other similar organization have a commitee dealing with homelessness issues? Are they sitting down with the social service providers on a regular basis. Do the social service providers in your community have a commitee where they can all sit down and minimize duplication of services, discuss trends and strategies?

This is basic stuff, involving making sure that people know what needs to be done, what is already being done, and where effort and funds need to go, and communicating it to A: The people who can provide the funds, and B: The people who can provide the work.

[Boris2k7]

The province has an affordable housing task force right now that is doing a study. I believe that Bronco and Mandel are part of that group. I am interested in what solution they come up with. A rise in affordable housing won't help the core homeless population much, but it should curb the rapid growth.

The top business leaders in Calgary also have their own little scheme they are working on.

[Policy Wonk]

You can't just lump together the whole lot of them into the collective "homeless"

There are vagrants, junkies / drunks, the insane and the just plain poor. Many of those who are just plain poor do not end up on the streets, while the other three groups are highly represented on the streets.

Usually because they are unwilling or unable to follow the rules in shelters - i.e. you can't smoke crack in the mustard seed.

In the case of the insane, these people need to be returned to mental institutions - the problem is the very same people who claim to be so concerned about the homeless are opposed to forced institutionalization.

When the insane asylums of north america were shuttered, the residents did not go on to live productive lives with the aide of out-patient care and voluntary medication, they wound up on the street within days.

As for the vagrants and junkies, they just need an ass kicking, unfortunately the days of the police just rounding them up and dumping them half-way to Red Deer seem to have passed.

[Wooster]

As for the vagrants and junkies, they just need an ass kicking, unfortunately the days of the police just rounding them up and dumping them half-way to Red Deer seem to have passed.

my IQ just went down from reading that.

In regard to institutionalization. Any expert will tell you that some people with mental issues will function in an institution better, and others are better served integrated in the community with the proper supports available to them. It is a case by case thing.

[Stephen Ave]

my IQ just went down from reading that.

In regard to institutionalization. Any expert will tell you that some people with mental issues will function in an institution better, and others are better served integrated in the community with the proper supports available to them. It is a case by case thing.

Agreed. It's a case by case situation, but why not start by getting the people who really need to be in an institution, into an institution, and work from there.

[Policy Wonk]

unfortunately those judgements are made at a time when the patient is under their medication and supportive care by ideologues who are against forced care, not based on their potential situation while not on their medication that many will promptly stop using and rapidly fall through the cracks.

Some dear friends of mine are fighting tooth and nail to get a brother commited after multiple suicide attempts and all sorts of self-destructive behavior. They put him under observation, back on his medicine and 72 hours later say he is ready to take on the world. Several weeks later he is back on the street and the process repeats itself.

[Wooster]

Agreed. It's a case by case situation, but why not start by getting the people who really need to be in an institution, into an institution, and work from there.

I agree. Just saying, oh it is their fault and they should be responsible for their own situation will not solve anything. It hasn't worked in the past, and will never work. It is just bitching. Obviously, the status quo needs to change and there needs to be action of some sort. I don't pretend to know exactly what the solutions are, but we should be studying best practices from all over the world to find out what is. It is not like resources are a problem.

[m0nkyman]

I'll disagree. Resources are a huge problem. Human resources that is. Calgary, like Edmonton is swimming in money, but there are no people available. And social services is a very labour intensive field.

[walli]

I'll disagree. Resources are a huge problem. Human resources that is. Calgary, like Edmonton is swimming in money, but there are no people available. And social services is a very labour intensive field.

What proportion of the homeless are not mentally ill and do not have jobs?

My old boss used to always say, go after the 'low hanging fruit' first.

[Calgarian]

I'll disagree. Resources are a huge problem. Human resources that is. Calgary, like Edmonton is swimming in money, but there are no people available. And social services is a very labour intensive field.

A very low paying, labour intensive field. Are there any institutions in Calgary that would be taking these people in?

Another question I have is about the worst of all the people on our streets, the crack dealers. Just driving by the Cecil you can see people openly dealing crack, you don't have to be a genius to figure out what is going on. You see a big group of shady people standing around another shady person with their hands out, then 30 seconds later they all scatter to the wind. Don't the cops see this kind of stuff? having beat cops walking around the area isn't going to do shit, we need plain clothes cops out there ready to slap the hand cuffs on every one of these rodents every time they see them peddling that shit.

[Policy Wonk]

the problem with that is it requires the slacker calgary police to come in contact with people who might be dirty or otherwise unpleasant. And we can't have the police dealing with such triviality when there are clean and sober jay walkers to ticket

[Boris2k7]

A very low paying, labour intensive field. Are there any institutions in Calgary that would be taking these people in?

Another question I have is about the worst of all the people on our streets, the crack dealers. Just driving by the Cecil you can see people openly dealing crack, you don't have to be a genius to figure out what is going on. You see a big group of shady people standing around another shady person with their hands out, then 30 seconds later they all scatter to the wind. Don't the cops see this kind of stuff? having beat cops walking around the area isn't going to do shit, we need plain clothes cops out there ready to slap the hand cuffs on every one of these rodents every time they see them peddling that shit.

Cops cannot solve drug issues. They are plain and simple incapable of doing so. You throw one dealer in jail and another pops up in his place, because there is demand for drugs. The only solution is to relax the laws on softer drugs and cut down on the profits of criminal elements. We also need addictions treatment centres so that people can get off of the stuff.

There is this misplaced assumption that law enforcement officers are actually able to solve social problems.

[Calgarian]

Cops cannot solve drug issues. They are plain and simple incapable of doing so. You throw one dealer in jail and another pops up in his place, because there is demand for drugs. The only solution is to relax the laws on softer drugs and cut down on the profits of criminal elements. We also need addictions treatment centres so that people can get off of the stuff.

There is this misplaced assumption that law enforcement officers are actually able to solve social problems.

With proper investigative techniques the cops SHOULD be able to work their way up the food chain, and take out the top guys. That is how it Should work, it never actually does though. :(

Global TV has a web survey on whether you are satisfied with the city's treatment of the homeless I am going to vote on it because Global seems to be willing to press the issue at city hall.

[Boris2k7]

With proper investigative techniques the cops SHOULD be able to work their way up the food chain, and take out the top guys. That is how it Should work, it never actually does though. :(

Okay, say you work your way up one organization. As soon as you finish with that one, another will emerge. This is no different from prohibition in the 1920's/30's. And it is failing for the exact same reasons.

We don't need more cops. We need a change in the laws that the cops are enforcing in the first place. REAL solutions.

Besides, we can't get more cops, given the labour shortage. There's just too many things to try to enforce in this vast city and nobody to do it.

[Calgarian]

Are you suggesting that we legalize crack?

[Boris2k7]

Are you suggesting that we legalize crack?

Not necessarily crack (since that is just a combination of other drugs). But legalizing softer drugs such as marijuana will take away some of the demand for crack. Hell, cocaine was originally a rich white person's drug, crack is just a cheap knock off of that. But basically, having a range of legal, better choices will make it easier to regulate harder drugs. Addiction centres would also ease people off of the harder stuff.

[Policy Wonk]

and that does what to ease the homeless problem?

[Calgarian]

Police can spend more time enforcing Crack and less time on enforcing Weed. It is a small step in the right direction I think.

[Boris2k7]

and that does what to ease the homeless problem?

They won't be spending all their money on drugs? There will be less prostitutes out there dependent on their crack-shoving pimps, who just add to the homeless count? The fact that if you have a proper network of facilities, you can keep track of the homeless and help to reintegrate them into society?

johnnyc just made a good point as well.

EDIT: It would be interesting to study the effects of the safe injection site in Vancouver. I've heard that it has been quite successful.

[Calgarian]

Is Heroin a big problem here too? I know Crack and Meth are pretty bad.

[Boris2k7]

Is Heroin a big problem here too? I know Crack and Meth are pretty bad.

Note sure if it is a big problem or not, but the same treatment could probably be applied to those other drugs as well. Of course, Meth is pretty bad stuff.

IIRC, in Spokane they set up a seperate court for drug offences, so that meth addicts get sent to treatment facilities.

[Calgarian]

I can't comprehend what would possess someone to want to try any of that shit, you know you are going to get addicted.

[Policy Wonk]

They won't be spending all their money on drugs?

Right... because junkies have such self control, "well, the price of crack is falling, I guess I could either buy more crack or put the savings into a GIC"

Cheap drugs lead to an increase in abuse, especially among recreational users and youth.

[Boris2k7]

Cheap drugs lead to an increase in abuse, especially among recreational users and youth.

I'd really like to see what you use as a basis for that statement. Marijuana is legal in the Netherlands but the rate of usage is half of what it is here. And a regulated industry is better than them getting their junk in back alleys. Maybe you've been watching too much Reefer Madness...

The whole point of having addiction centres is to reduce rates of abuse. Now, I know that sociology is a little out of your grasp, but there are REASONS that people do the things they do. If we can do anything to address the structural issues in people's lives that cause them to abuse drugs, prostitute themselves, and cut them off from both housing and jobs, then we should be doing it. Oh, but wait, they are just irresponsible people who simply don't give a shit about themselves... :rolleyes:

[e909]

I'd really like to see what you use as a basis for that statement. Marijuana is legal in the Netherlands but the rate of usage is half of what it is here. And a regulated industry is better than them getting their junk in back alleys. Maybe you've been watching too much Reefer Madness...

The whole point of having addiction centres is to reduce rates of abuse. Now, I know that sociology is a little out of your grasp, but there are REASONS that people do the things they do. If we can do anything to address the structural issues in people's lives that cause them to abuse drugs, prostitute themselves, and cut them off from both housing and jobs, then we should be doing it. Oh, but wait, they are just irresponsible people who simply don't give a shit about themselves... :rolleyes:
Cigarettes.

Having a higher price keeps new people from starting, and makes people like me think twice every time they light one up, but in the end if you're addicted to cigarettes you're going to buy the smokes.

Same thing with alcohol.. The taxes we have on them are there because high prices give less money to consume more, among other things.

[vid]

Actually, the taxes result in my dad pawning our TV to buy a 12 pack. :frog:

Most people I know buy smokes on the reserve anyway.

[e909]

Actually, the taxes result in my dad pawning our TV to buy a 12 pack. :frog:

Most people I know buy smokes on the reserve anyway.
Cigs cost $2.98 a pack, for a regular non-discount brand. Every thing you pay above that is taxes.

They do make teenagers without money think twice about starting though.

[Policy Wonk]

Lumping marijuana and harder drugs together is pretty disingenious, there are not very many non-recreational marijuana users. While there are very few recreational crack or heroin users.

Equating a reduction in weed use to legalization and extrapolating that into an obvious reduction in use of hard drugs like heroin or meth is pretty naive.

Addressing structural issues in peoples lives is a great idea, unfortunately few methods that would address the core issues surrounding the hardcore homeless would be acceptable to those of you who will tolerate absolutely anything.

[m0nkyman]

Lumping marijuana and harder drugs together is pretty disingenious, there are not very many non-recreational marijuana users. While there are very few recreational crack or heroin users.

True. And it's the same person who sells both. You think he might have some motivation to 'up-sell'?

[Boris2k7]

Addressing structural issues in peoples lives is a great idea, unfortunately few methods that would address the core issues surrounding the hardcore homeless would be acceptable to those of you who will tolerate absolutely anything.

What, you mean methods that don't work like locking up all the drug addicts and dealers alike? Like crackdowns and drug busts? Better us tolerant idealists instead of intolerant fools.

Besides which, drugs aren't the problem. It's the abuse that follows the drugs. People may be discouraged to try out meth if they know weed is legal and widely available.

[Policy Wonk]

Guess what, locking up junkies DOES work, it gets them off the street and unless your Inspector Clouseau comming up with a list of charges that will keep a junkie in jail for a very long time isn't very difficult. Perhaps that isn't good for the junkie, but does anyone ask what is good for Paul Bernardo?

Uhh... there are not very many places where weed isn't in abundance, it isn't as though people are turning to meth for lack of weed. Meth is sort of the last resort for the hardcore junkie, it will still get them off when everything else has been dulled.

[Hardhatdan]

Locking up junkies doesn't solve the problem, drugs are rampant in the prison system. All it does is remove them from the street for a period of time.

[Calgarian]

Guess what, locking up junkies DOES work, it gets them off the street and unless your Inspector Clouseau comming up with a list of charges that will keep a junkie in jail for a very long time isn't very difficult. Perhaps that isn't good for the junkie, but does anyone ask what is good for Paul Bernardo?

Uhh... there are not very many places where weed isn't in abundance, it isn't as though people are turning to meth for lack of weed. Meth is sort of the last resort for the hardcore junkie, it will still get them off when everything else has been dulled.

The problem isn't whether locking up junkies would work, it would for some, and it wouldn't for others. That is irrelevant, you CAN'T lock up junkies, what are you going to charge them with? being intoxicated? even if you caught them with a bunch of rocks, our legal system is a joke, they would probably get 2 years or a conditional sentence or some other bullshit. We have to make it so that people won't start, and get rid of the pushers that get them to start.

I don't know how many other people see crack heads everywhere downtown, but I do. The East Beltline if full of them. I used to work with a guy who got stuck on crack, he had a pretty rough childhood and didn't get any direction. He found the wrong people and got hooked. Some people make a bad decision and spend the rest of their life paying for it. This guy has been trying to get clean for years, but once that shit gets you, it's pretty much impossible to get off. He tried to go to AADAC about a year ago, but they told him they were too full and that he had to come back in a couple weeks.

THIS is what we need to fix, we need the cops to be able to arrest and force treatment on the people who are addicted, and we need the places that accept voluntary treatment to be able to help those who want it. Sentences for people selling crack, meth, heroin and all the other hard drugs have to be steeper so that they will think a little harder about selling shit.

[Policy Wonk]

All it does is remove them from the street for a period of time.

That is all I am looking for,

[Policy Wonk]

The problem isn't whether locking up junkies would work, it would for some, and it wouldn't for others. That is irrelevant, you CAN'T lock up junkies, what are you going to charge them with? being intoxicated? even if you caught them with a bunch of rocks, our legal system is a joke, they would probably get 2 years or a conditional sentence or some other bullshit. We have to make it so that people won't start, and get rid of the pushers that get them to start.

Vagrants commit crimes every day, unfortunately throwing the book at the vagrants for a cumulative list of crimes is difficult, because it requires police work that our slacker cops just won't do - after all there are non-smelly people JAYWALKING after 11:00 at night! Won't someone think of the children!

[ummagumma66]

forced De-Tox for the hard drug users, and the second offence, make it a federal offence and boot them off to prison for 5 years, when they get out they should stay clean, unfortunatly we need to take a very hard stand against, remember the double murder last month was a deal worth $60 gone bad, and I agree with whoever it was who said, you wanna use a DI, be ready to piss in a cup. this cities drug, homeless and crime problems are going out of control and some hard and drastic mesures are going to be needed, sure the so-called bleeding hearts are going to strongly disagree with my point, but when you see deals going down in front of young children and the elderly and the public in general, how safe can the that area be? on a warm day just walk down riverfront and look along the bike path and watch the deals going down.

[KrisYYC]

You will never stop a junkie from using drugs unless they go to treatment. However, if somehow the price of crack is so low that profits off of it are minuscule than most would be dealers wouldn't bother with it. This removes much of criminal element at least. Throwing more police at the problem (stings etc.) doesn't help. Look at how much the US invests in its "War on Drugs" that goes nowhere.

Another thing I'd like to add:

Prostitution should be legalized. This drastically reduces the criminal elements of the sex trade. There will always be a small amount underground catering to sickos. But the majority of Johns are just Joe Schmoes looking to get off, if they had the option to go to a legal brothel that has to maintain certain standards to be licensed, then they would go for that option without question. Much safer for them. Hell the government could even slap a tax on it and make some money off of it. Good examples are The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

Kris

[Rob D]

City agrees to shelter homeless
'Humanitarian' beds provided at last minute
Kim Guttormson Calgary Herald Tuesday, April 03, 2007


http://media.canada.com/a84cc1cc-47e6-47a3-8408-78dd852f6392/homeless.jpg?size=lCREDIT: Calgary Herald Archive

A man walking with a shopping cart filled with personal belongings, during a cold spell.After dozens of homeless people spent a cold night sleeping on the street, the city abruptly reversed its stance at the 11th hour and provided emergency shelter Monday night.

Calling it a "humanitarian" response, between 100 and 125 people were to be housed in the EMS headquarters in Whitehorn. As well, the Salvation Army found room for 24 more people at its Centre of Hope and Booth Centre, prevented by lack of staff from opening more beds. "It's wonderful news," said Diana Schwenk of the Mustard Seed, which has operated at capacity all winter and allowed 15 people to keep warm in its lobby Sunday night as the temperature dropped. "It takes the pressure off all the shelters."

The move to use the Whitehorn multi-service centre in northeast Calgary allows the city to provide shelter under a humanitarian banner, after vigorously stating it couldn't unless strict criteria were met under disaster services legislation. City staff -- including fire Chief Bruce Burrell, head of disaster services -- spent most of Monday defending the decision to not provide temporary accommodation Sunday night for those left without shelter after the Brick site closed. The city argued the rules stipulated the air temperature -- without windchill -- had to hit -15 C before it could activate its disaster services response. It was -18 C with windchill Sunday night, and social agencies were vocal in their criticism the city should have done something as dozens were turned away.

Chris Branch, the city's director of community and neighbourhood services, said the powers allowed under disaster services legislation are so sweeping the rules must be followed. "You don't want to go there unless you're really at that emergency situation, that major disaster, that forces you to go down that path," Branch said. "This is really a response to what's happened on our streets and the fact that we don't feel it's OK that people be out in the cold in these conditions." Asked whether looking at humanitarian alternatives a week before would have meant shelter Sunday night, Branch said it was "a tough call."

The city also worked with shelters Monday trying to find ways to accommodate more people. Late in the afternoon Monday -- with predictions the temperature would drop to -17 with windchill overnight -- administration decided to use the Whitehorn building as a temporary facility. The sudden move angered the area alderman, who had been told a few weeks ago the community would be consulted beforehand, and the president of the Whitehorn community association. "They're talking to me two hours before people are put in there," Ald. Ray Jones said. "I understand the need to put these people somewhere, I truly understand that. "It's probably just (Monday) and (Tuesday) night . . . but it just comes down to consulting people when you do something."

Raleigh Dehaney, president of the Whitehorn community association, said it was a "typical case of a community being blindsided by idiots at city hall. "My concern is that the community was not consulted and the concern is what is the security going to be. If the security is as good as the information, I have no confidence in it." EMS Chief Tom Sampson and Erika Hargesheimer, general manager of community and protective services, were to be at a community meeting Monday night to discuss the decision. "It's going to be cold in May, too. What's the plan?" Jones said. "I can't believe they couldn't leave the Brick open for three or four more days."

While many have questioned why the city didn't allow the Brick site to remain open a little longer, Branch said it wasn't possible. He said the development permit expired March 31. Monday, crews were to begin removing showers and other fixtures from the building, which will likely be used in whatever temporary site is found for next winter.

kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2007

[skytowers]

What portion of the people on the streets are actually from Calgary?

Are our services providing for people who are looking at Calgary as the success story of places to go and let the city / province help them.

In my opinion if we build more shelters, more will come. Sorry if that sounds awful as I'm not against helping people. But it's like that old phrase - build it and they will come. Are we providing for our homeless or a lot of people who are thinking that Calgary is just the place to go?

I also think that the people on the streets downtown are becoming a blight. From a tourist viewpoint I'd personally be turned off if I was walking around downtown and hit up several times for money.

[Calgarian]

There are lots of working poor from other parts of the country who can't afford an apartment yet, so they sleep on the streets in the meantime.

[Policy Wonk]

the working poor are a minority among the people literally on the street.

[Calgarian]

the working poor are a minority among the people literally on the street.

Do you have some stats to back that up? I think there are a hell of a lot more working poor than people realize.

[Policy Wonk]

There are the visible homeless and the invisible homeless,

When I say "literally on the street" I mean sleeping on a park bench as opposed to in a shelter or other marginal housing situation. The working poor don't usually fall through the cracks that far and in many situations are favored for support by service organizations as they are the most likely to be sucessful.

[Blue_Cypress]

A lot of you have strange concepts about drugs, poor people, social services, and law enforcement. I offer the following thoughts and responses.

- Jaywalking and drug use are both crimes, and both are equally worthy of enforcement.

-Many people use marijuana, in a manner similar to cigarettes, in moderation and with consideration of its' effects both short-term and long term. I don't think it should be used without care, but nor do I think that its' current level of criminalization is justified. Alcoholic beverages, for example, result in more widespread social ails and are more readily available.

-Homeless people who have jobs don't ask for money. They're at work during the day, and in shelters during the evenings, and I've often found that they're too ashamed to call attention to their plight, and favor short-term benefit over long term gain to an extreme, I.E. they cannot get an apartment because they spent their paycheck on drinks at the bar and rent for a hotel room for a couple days.

-Our holding cells are full, our arrest processing unit is overworked, and we don't have enough J.P's. The city has told the police department to try and find alternative solutions to arrest for minor crimes. The provincial government made huge cuts to mental health and social programs 2 decades ago, and the system never recovered. The funding doesn't meet minimum levels. We don't have enough resources to keep our society socially healthy. There is no place in our society for the least fortunate of us because Klein thought we couldn't afford it, and the justice system has been trying to mop up ever since. A lack of funds and facilities are greatly exacerbating common social ails.

-Methamphtamine is jib, crack is food (yes, they really call it that), and it's pretty difficult to address a drug problem if you don't even know the name a drug is given by those who use it. The problem with trying to cure drug use is that no one who is in a position to help wants to get near enough to the problem to understand what the root causes are.

-Drug use is a passive crime, and by itself should never result in criminal sentences and imprisonment, as this has been shown time and time again to be an ineffective deterrent, and may actually worsen the overall social condition. There are lots of drugs in our jails, and incarcerating people won't help them kick the habit. A criminal record is a barrier to social advancement, locking criminally convicted drug users into poverty. Community service, rehabilitation, and counselling are the most effective in deterring repeat drug-use.

It is my opinion that simply locking up those who would choose to take drugs has a net negative impact on society -- sooner or later we let them out again and while they're in there it's a free ride, with free food, free t.v. free education and free room and board, all paid for by the taxpayer. On a larger scale, this system rewards the criminal element and punishes the honest and the just.

-Homelessness and poverty are longstanding and widespread social issues that have been seen around the world and for millenia. This first thing any of you should do is do your homework. This isn't a new problem, and while there is certainly room for new solutions, there is also a lot of data on what has been tried elsewhere and what came of it, and we should start by looking around for success stories elsewhere.

The time we spend looking will save us the time it would take to implement and review an ineffective methodology, and will shorten the time it takes us to find something that works. If anything, looking around will tell us what not to do. The probability of our finding the right solutions the first time around is astronomically high.

[ArtRambo]

To me homelessness is a symptom of the decline of our society. I can remember when there were no homeless people in Alberta. Then we thought that made us superior to third world countries like India or Brazil that had homeless people. Old people would tell stories about the dirty thirties and we looked back at that time like the dark ages. Nobody bothered to board up derelict houses. We thought we had learned our lessons. Now we've been down for so long that it looks like up. In the future we will look back with amazement that nobody realized anything was wrong. Cities have existed for thousands of years, its not normal for the centers to be transformed into giant parking lots after 100 years. There are a lot of people in denial. I blame Ralph Klein.

[e909]

To me homelessness is a symptom of the decline of our society. I can remember when there were no homeless people in Alberta. Then we thought that made us superior to third world countries like India or Brazil that had homeless people. Old people would tell stories about the dirty thirties and we looked back at that time like the dark ages. Nobody bothered to board up derelict houses. We thought we had learned our lessons. Now we've been down for so long that it looks like up. In the future we will look back with amazement that nobody realized anything was wrong. Cities have existed for thousands of years, its not normal for the centers to be transformed into giant parking lots after 100 years. There are a lot of people in denial. I blame Ralph Klein.
When did Edmonton have no homeless people?

[DizzyEdge]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070403.wbchomeless0403/BNStory/National/home

B.C. government buys up hotels, buildings for homeless
STEVE MERTL

Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The B.C. government has quietly bought up more than a dozen fleabag hotels and other properties as part of a plan to curb rising homelessness in Canada's most expensive real estate market.

Community activists have led a rising clamour that owners of so-called single-room-occupancy hotels want to cash in on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics by converting their buildings to house tourists.

The expected wave of evictions will exacerbate Vancouver's already serious homelessness problem, critics say.

The Pivot Legal Society estimates hotel conversions have already led to some 700 evictions.
But neither Premier Gordon Campbell nor Housing Minister Rich Coleman say the province's $80-million announcement Tuesday was intended to quiet the alarm.

“The short answer is no,” Mr. Campbell said in an interview after announcing the funding at the Salvation Army's headquarters on the edge of Vancouver's bleak Downtown Eastside.

They said it's part of the Liberal government's provincial housing strategy announced last fall to protect existing affordable housing and couple it to support programs to help people such as drug addicts and the mentally ill to overcome their problems.

“We made a major commitment to municipalities and to communities across the province in October last year,” Mr. Campbell said.

Mr. Coleman said he came up with the buy-up plan in January as a way of expediting the government's strategy.

“I said to my guys, what if we became the purchaser and the modernizer here and we went and protected some of the stock for transition and supportive housing,” he said in an interview.

Mr. Coleman said the plan flew below the radar. The ministry set up a numbered company and worked through a real estate group to avoid a scramble of property owners hoping to sell their buildings at inflated prices.

“We wanted to pay market price like anybody else,” he said. “I thought if we could get five, we would do well. We didn't have any expectation we would get 10 in Vancouver.”

The funding covers the purchase of 15 buildings, including 10 single-room occupancy hotels in the Downtown Eastside and one in Victoria.

In addition, four buildings in Burnaby and Victoria will be converted into housing units for those with mental health and addiction issues, along with three sites owned by the City of Vancouver for a total of 996 new units.

Mr. Campbell says the government has an obligation to give people the opportunity to live in “safe, clean and affordable housing.”

The housing initiative was first announced last fall, with additional funding committed in the February budget.

Mr. Campbell said his government has tripled the amount of money spent on social housing since 2001, including increased shelter allowances and assistance for elderly renters.

The announcement will bring to 2,200 the number of supportive housing units the government has funded, he said.

“This is the largest single acquisition of this critical housing stock in the history of the province,” Mr. Campbell said.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan effusively endorsed the government's housing strategy, calling it the largest commitment ever to social housing.

“I think today is the day that we begin to turn the tide on homelessness,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This is a wonderful day.”

The mayor said he'll recommend to city council that $5 million it allocated to buy and upgrade single-room-occupancy buildings be put towards the provincial program.

The announcement even drew praise from Pivot.

“This response is a direct response to the advocacy of Downtown Eastside organizations and the work that we've done on the housing issue,” said lawyer David Eby, a Pivot volunteer.

“We're very pleased to see that the government is finally reacting to the problems down here.”

But Mr. Eby said the plan protects only about 20 per cent of low-income units in the Downtown Eastside, leaving many residents still vulnerable to eviction.

The program fulfils a recommendation by a committee that looked at the Olympics' impact on housing, which called for government to buy up and improve 800 downtown units.

But it also recommended 3,000 new units be built leading up to the Games, he said.

“What we'd like to see happen is the provincial and federal governments begin to build replacement social housing,” he said.

The buildings the government purchased are run down and will need a lot of renovation, Mr. Eby added.

“B.C. Housing has essentially become Vancouver's biggest slum lord now with the purchase of these buildings,” he said.

Mr. Coleman said his officials will sit down with non-profit groups to discuss who will manage the buildings.

“Some of it needs to be upgraded, frankly,” he said. “We'll go in and fumigate the things for bedbugs, cockroaches or whatever's in them.”

http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20070403/wbchomeless0403/0403wbchomeless_230.jpg
A resident of Vancouver's troubled downtown eastside walks past the abandoned Pennslyvania Hotel, in this 2005 file photo. The B.C. government is buying up hotels and other buildings in Vancouver, Victoria and Burnaby to reduce homelessness. (Chuck Stoody/CP)

[Blue_Cypress]

Cities have existed for thousands of years, its not normal for the centers to be transformed into giant parking lots after 100 years.

A symptom of the skyscraper. A hundred years ago stacking floors a hundred storeys high was a dream, and cities had to have ground density because that was the only kind of density available. Now we have vertical density, and we make more tradeoffs in our economic benefit. We evolved a different citybuilding method which gave rise to the skyscraper and the parking lot next door. It's just an order of magnitude more dense than the 4 storey cities of the last few thousand years, just as a city itself was an order of magnitude more dense than countryside and small townships, and we're still getting accustomed to the extra space.

[DizzyEdge]

... Cities have existed for thousands of years, its not normal for the centers to be transformed into giant parking lots after 100 years...

100 (or 1000) years ago, there weren't many cars :)

[Blue_Cypress]

Wow that article about Vancouver is really fucked up.

[ssiguy]

Drugs are here for good so all we can do is offer effective rehab and lessen the misery for those who are unfortunate enough to be at their whim.

"Just say no" doesn't work.

The rehab/social services must be there when needed and must be long term, not a month or so and then throw these poor souls back on the street.

Afffordable housing and poverty reduction is essential to help people get grounded and find employment and integrate with the larger community. People who are homeless tend to all live in areas where prostitution and drugs are rampant. All it takes is some fuckin son-of-a-bitch dealer or pimp to get them hooked by dropping something in their drink and it could lead to full time, life time addiction and the misery, poverty, violence, and prositution that goes with it.

Money.............government money now for social services and save the the province in lost taxes, police, hospital stays, long-term health, prisons/justice system.
Think about this. One year in a Canadian prison is $70k a year. A drug addict is between 10-13 times more likely to need emergency health services than the population at large.

Pregnancy under addiction leads to drug addicted new borns, FAS children,
domestic violence, special schooling.

All this because there isn't the money, or will, to spend a lot less money than that now.

It is particularily inexcusable in a province that easily has the money to fund these programs.

[Policy Wonk]

The problem with drugs is tolerating junkies undermines your goals for the urban environment, unfortunately very few people will chalk a junkie breaking into their car every other week up to the local urban colour.

Unchecked vagrantcy does more to undermine urbanism than sprawl ever could. Calgary shouldn't allow itself to become a dumping ground for the "creeps and bums". Fortunately thus far Calgary has not found itself developing a full fledged "poverty industry" like you see in Vancouver or San Francisco.