Homelessness in Calgary

[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.