Homeless in Abbotsford, BC

Something Cool News

tribute to the fallen

http://www.somethingcool.ca/backissues/073106/

Keeping Faith.

Last Sunday a lesson in keeping a promise was delivered by the members of the Open Door church, who have pledged to the hungry that they are in for the long haul. Over my time on the streets of Abbotsford I have witnessed several groups come and go in providing lunch to the hungry on Sundays. The people who undertake to provide food on the first Sunday of every month have been dependably there every first Sunday, but the rest of the month has seen churches come and go as the notion took them. Were it not for the members of the Open Door there would have been many hungry men, women and children on most Sundays. These “brown-bag lunch” people have been devoted in keeping their pledge to be there when others were not.

This past Sunday they were gathered out of town on church business, which included a wedding. What of their Word? If ever there was a reason for not being there to hand out bag lunches this was surely it and there were no bag lunches. Nevertheless there were no empty stomachs; in fact people were saying NO to offers of more to eat. Even with all the preparations involved, the people of the Open Door had taken the time to make arrangements to ensure lunch was served. As Pastor Bill told me, they are in for the long haul.

So we want to draw to the attention of the citizens of Abbotsford the faithfulness of these good people and to say a big “Thank You” to both those who work so hard month after month to feed the hungry and those who stepped in to help them keep their pledge. We also desire to extend our best wishes and congratulations to the dirty old man and the sweet young thing on their nuptials; with the good hearts they have shown in their steadfast care for the hungry they should journey well together.

Re: Comment sent to me on Water and Shade

I would draw your attention to the portion of the letter you quoted from my article, specifically the words “or to solve property crime”. The crimes you enumerate all fall under the term property crimes, with my words clearly demonstrating that I fully support the local police in pursuing the perpetrators of these crimes. Having experienced the theft of property from my family I know just how frustrating it is that the police currently seem to have no interest or expectation of prosecuting these criminals.

I would also draw your attention to an earlier article on the web site: Crime Wave coming to your Neighbourhood (November 2005). I believe that anyone who reads this can clearly see I have no illusions about the honesty of some of the homeless or about just what power an addiction has and what it can drive the addict to do in order to satisfy his addiction. I would go on to say that as the homeless are human beings I harbour no delusions about what they will do in order to survive – just as I harbour no fantasies about the behaviours (or lack thereof) the ordinary citizen would take should their survival be at stake.

I feel the need to comment that you need to consider your own closing words “but take a look and you’ll see they live among you too.” To often those who choose to cite the argument that the homeless are thieves fail to accept that there are many more criminals who are living among them – those with homes. If you were to round up all the criminals in this city you would find that the vast majority were members of the “Homed”. As the homeless are a very small percentage of the overall population, they cannot constitute more than a small percentage of the thieves in this city. In particular I wish to address the issue of metal/recycling theft. I am well aware of the involvement of some of the homeless in minor thefts to sell the metals. The reason I say minor is only because the homeless lack the resources (transportation, cutting tools, storage) to commit the large thefts one hears about. You need to look to those who live among you.

I admit to being annoyed by this argument, not because I do not see the crooks who are part of the homeless population but because it is so often use to deny or ignore those among the homeless that need help. On the other hand I like to point out that what crime costs society makes it far cheaper and more sensible to pay for programs to address issues of addiction and homelessness, than it is to use the police, courts and incarceration to deal with these same people. I will be posting an article about the mayors of many US cities planning to stamp out homelessness because they have been doing cost/benefit studies that clearly show/demonstrate it is far cheaper to avoid involving the legal and medical systems to deal with the homeless.

The final point I want to raise is that “the senseless pursuit of the homeless” has nothing to do with arresting criminals. The police ventured into the homeless camp (Compassion Park) to arrest a specific person for a specific crime. There were those who claimed they should not have done so and called upon me to write to the papers, the website and others condemning this “invasion”. I publicly took the position that it was a perfectly reasonable action for the police to take. They had specific charges about a specific person concerning a specific crime. I have absolutely no problem with that type of action. The senselessness of which I am speaking is such things as forcing the homeless to stop “loitering” under shade on days with a blazing sun, move along under the sun getting sunburned and chancing heatstroke; when they wake someone 10 times to get them to move from where they are sleeping on the streets during the night (yes it is unsightly but what is the point when there is no place else for them to go – if you want them off the streets you need to provide the alternative); ignoring a neatly dressed homeless person to search a poorly dressed/groomed homeless person; searching the homeless for stolen goods but not searching those who have homes when statistically most of the crime is committed by those with homes; chasing the homeless and addicted for petty crimes and letting major crimes go unsolved. There are many, many more instances I could cite were the police treatment and behaviour towards the homeless, would be considered persecution if it were aimed at any other group such as East Indians or those of African decent.

Harass: 1) to irritate or torment persistently; 2) to wear out; exhaust; 3) to impede and exhaust (an enemy) by repeated attacks or raids. This is the way the police treat the homeless, except those of us who they cannot identify by merely looking at us – and that is unacceptable behaviour. If they spent as much time on property crimes as they currently do on harassing the homeless, not only would they solve the crimes committed but they would undoubtedly get a reduction in property crimes from deterrence.

The point is that this behaviour towards the homeless community is a waste of police resources that could better be used elsewhere. Again, I would argue that this issue is best - most effectively, efficiently and in terms of the best return (results) for the money invested (cost) - addressed as a social issue and treated in a proactive manner. The Chief Financial Officer, businessman and auditor in me feel appalled by the waste and failure to accomplish anything, often making things worse, I witness in the current systems. Cost/benefit analysis would suggest that we can either change our actions to achieve results or we can go on wasting resources and accept all the costs (crime, homelessness, youth on the streets, etc) we currently accumulate while accomplishing nothing. Choose.

Should you desire to stop wasting your tax dollars do you have any ideas and/or a willingness to be part of the solution?


Copy of the e-mail:

"This senseless pursuit of the homeless is undoubtedly cooler and far easier than getting off their Asses and out of their air-conditioned vehicle in seeking out gang activity or to solve property crimes. Earn the wages by the sweat of their brow? You must be kidding..." Take the opportunity to look around at the homeless of Abbotsford and determine how many of them are criminals. Whether or not they are new to the world of crime or are veterans in stealing and robbing, makes NO difference whether or not they have a home. Look at your brothers and sisters in the tent city and know that some were criminals before they were homeless. Know that each and every night that some of them are out committing crimes against people and property on a regular basis. And know that the police are pursuing, tracking and arresting criminals regardless of there socio-economic status. When the police respond to an armed robbery, a car theft, a break and enter or a shoplifting call; they do not prioritize their response based on whether the perpetrator has an address of not. Know that when crime occurs, the police will do their job to apprehend the offenders. People involved in committing crime come from all walks of life. Whether the impaired driver is a businessman drunk after a few too many or some cracked-out thief who lives on the street makes little difference to the police officer who is putting his or her personal safety in harms way so that they may protect society. Look at the homeless men and women who display a considerable effort every night they go out to steal scrap metal from homes and businesses around Abbotsford. No, I'm not talking the binners or dumpster divers who collect cans or bottles. I'm talking about the hardcore thieves who steal metal to sell so they can buy drugs or whatever. I dare say that if those poors souls could dedicate that much energy to theft and scamming, they could seriously put forth a good effort at a wage-earning legitimate job. That however, would entail being responsible, punctual, sober and honest. Don't get me wrong...I know that not all homeless are criminals. But a good number of them turn to theft, robbery, break and enters and numerous other crimes. I realize that some homeless have physical disabilities, mental health issues, medical problems and addictions. There are many that suffer in the same way all over the world. If the police respond to an assault call, do you think they will walk away from arresting and charging the assailant if the victim is homeless? No way. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say all homeless are criminals, but take a look and you'll see that they live among you too.

American cities plan to end homelessness within 10 years

At a June 21 reception hosted by Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, Philip Mangano, chair of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, described a new administrative movement in more than 200 cities in the United States, to begin initiatives that will end chronic absolute homelessness within 10 years. He explained that the idea is predicated on the work of Malcom Gladwell's book, "The Tipping Point". It tells us, he said, that "modest resources invested in intelligent action can achieve success when we focus on the result of the investment." Mangano said that this is equally true in business and social development. Baselines are required to define the problem; benchmarks incrementally define success; best practices ("that is, what actually works") are applied with a modest but consistently available budget. Over time the objective is achievable. Why are these cities so sure that they can afford to end homelessness in 10 years? Because, he says, they've run cost-benefit analyses, and see that they can't afford not to. In Boston,119 people "on the street" were studied over a five-year period. In that time they were admitted into hospitals a total of 18,000 times, at a cost of $1,000 each just for admission processing (not counting ambulance, police, treatment or medication). In Reno, two policemen tracked the costs of managing some of their most familiar homeless "clients" as they pinballed from services to shelters, jails, hospitals and so forth. They discovered that one person can cost $50,000-100,000 over only a few months. One man, who had been on the streets for ten years or more, had clearly cost the government over a million dollars, with no difference made to his lifestyle. In San Diego, Mangano said, 15 homeless people were followed for 18 months. In that time they cost $3 million in government services: an average of $200,000 per person. "The city fathers, having assumed that homelessness didn't cost them much at all, were shocked. They realized that they could have rented these people oceanside condos with servants for less than that." [For details of these cases and the US national initiative see http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060213fa_fact and http://www.usich.gov ] Ad hoc, unco-ordinated crisis intervention is most expensive and least effective, Mangano said. Permanent supportive housing, as a package tailored individually to each client, is less expensive and more effective. The new effort involves a process of identification, outreach, and housing with concurrent wraparound services. There is no transition from a shelter through transitional or second-stage housing; clients are invited to come off the streets, directly into their own apartments. Housed clients are provided with an outreach worker and therapeutic team to help them stabilize and settle, and to make their way over the long term. Mangano said that 20 American federal agencies have now come together as partners on this issue. "Incremental investment that produces results and a return on investment are making a difference. We now have 222 cities involved." He mentioned the success of the Rough Sleepers Initiative in the UK, in which the number of people sheltering on the street has dropped 75% in five years. (The RSI is recognized as a "best practice" by the UN. See http://www.unesco.org/most/westeu18.htm.) He also cited a 28% reduction in absolute homelessness in San Francisco since that city began its program. Mangano said that the use of sound business planning is a crucial element in the success of these programs. He encouraged the audience "not just to ladle soup or make emergency shelter beds - although you need to keep this going ­ but to plan with an end in mind. Without a business plan things only get worse." "When modest resources are consistently focussed on intelligent action toward the most visible expression of the big social problem, change becomes possible. Change to a problem that was once deemed intractable reaches a tipping point. This creates a portal to address all the less visible housing issues and others related to them."

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

While serving lunch to the homeless on Sunday one of the “brown-bag lunch” people commented about the weather that “summer is better than winter.” A few days earlier I received and e-mail from the editor of www.somethingcool.ca who having read “Water and Shade” was wondering about an article on summer weather and the homeless to go with his “Winter in Hell” series. I am sure that many people would, greatly mistakenly, believe as these people did that it is only winter weather that poses a threat to the homeless and that summer weather is enjoyable. I would remind all that Hell is a hot place, a damn hot place and that winter weather effects would not stand “a snowballs chance in hell”.

The ability to luxuriate in hot, sunny weather is taken for granted by most people who have access to shelter from the elements and access to luxuries like running water. I will not attempt to compare winter vs. summer for the two seasons present very different survival challenges to the homeless. I will bring to the reader’s attention some of the realities of “summer in the city”.

Number one on the list, and by far the most threatening to health and life, is WATER – the very stuff of life. The homeless obviously have no convenient taps to step up to and fill a container with water to drink. They cannot afford to step into the store and buy bottles water. How often have you seen a sign stating “Washrooms are for Customer use only”, aimed at banning the homeless from using these PUBLIC washrooms, denying the homeless access to a source of life giving drinking water. Some use the denial of access to water as a method of “encouraging” the homeless to move along – to another neighbourhood. Yes, you need drinking water in the winter but your system does not need nearly the same amount of water in the winter. As the weather warms up the human body requires more and more water to sustain life. On a blazing hot sunny day you need liters of water to avoid heat stroke or death. Part of the difficulty is that water is heavy, as demonstrated by the many items such as portable basketball nets that use water as ballast. You cannot carry a days supply of water with you which means you need to refill you water containers regularly or risk your health. The brown bag lunch people from above are aware of this and on Sunday they did not bring hot coffee but instead provide iced tea. On previous hot Sunday’s they have even brought bottled water, perhaps a bit of an expense but in truly hot weather a necessity for people.

During periods of sunny weather the sun itself becomes an enemy, with sunlight threatening to inflict serious burns on those who lack shelter from the deadly rays. If you cannot afford to buy drinking water you have no money for sunscreen. Compound this with the current practice of the Abbotsford police to drive the homeless from place to place and I have been seeing many bad, painful sunburns. Speaking of police harassment, winter weather tends to discourage them from leaving the shelter of their cars. So as the weather improves the police are more comfortable out of their cars and so can spend more time on homeless harassment. The suns rays serve also to heat you up further in addition to the heating caused by the air temperature. Again you face the very real threat of heat stroke as your core temperature climbs and you lack both water and shelter.

Summer hot weather brings with it numerous headaches. Insects, from mosquitoes to poisonous spiders, all plaque the homeless who have no place to seek refuge from their attacks as summer flourishes. Food spoils so fast. Winter is a little cool, but that coolness helps prevent food spoilage and when you have no mechanical refrigeration you depend on nature. During winter you can keep any foods such as fruit or vegetables handed out by the Salvation Army for several days. During hot muggy weather even bread can go moldy after just one day. What this means is that you must find food every day since you cannot keep any food from quickly spoiling.

Summer means sweating. You really need to shower more often and wash you clothes to avoid smelling badly. Hot sweaty sticky weather makes your feet sweat heavily. Without new socks or the ability to wash the few pairs (IF you have more than one pair) your feet blister, sometimes badly and the person is reduced to a painful hobble to move around. Without somewhere to be able to get off your feet and let them heal they just get worse. Socks (the shelter could easily give out 12+ pairs a night – if they had that kind of supply) and bandages for blisters are items much in demand at the Salvation Army emergency shelter. For those who are unable to get their feet looked after there is only pain, until they reach the point that they are hospitalized. Which is an expensive result of not investing in a preventative measure - the distrubution of free socks.

Then there are the general side effects of hot weather. Bad tempers. Fatigue because it is to uncomfortable to sleep. Heat exhaustion or heat stroke when you cannnot find a place to either cool down or shelter from the intense heat. Like a series of rainy days can wear on you and cause your mood to be negative, so to do a series of hot sunny days stress you - to the point you are looking for rainy days for relief.

Personally I myself found the weather of winter to be less of a problem than summer, with the effects of winter weather easier to counteract and live with.

Follow Up is so IMPORTANT because …

… it works. I was standing there enjoying the coolness and peace of the early morning contemplating the artist Paul Gaugain’s statement “I shut my eyes in order to see” when the peace of the morning was shattered by the arrival of a long legged, leather clad, Harley riding lady I know. She told me “I loved your letter, BUT … you need to write one about Christina.” With closed eyes I watched the story take shape in my mind’s eye, the words flowing down my arms and onto the page. For she was correct it is a story that contains many lessons that need to be thought about, on many different levels, when looking at the issue of helping the homeless.

The story begins before Abbotsford had a homeless problem that needed to be faced and issues of homelessness addressed – you know, late summer/early fall of last year (2005). It began with the closing of the Fraser Valley Inn. Yes, there were reasons for the City’s actions in closing the Inn, but in pursuing this course of action the City failed to consider the consequences of closing the Inn on the residents. Worse, the city refused to accept responsibility for its actions or to discharge the duty of care it owed to these Abbotsford citizens for the effect its actions would have on their lives. At a point in time where the City was wilfully denying the existence of homeless in abbotsford, its actions were putting several dozen people on the streets of the city – homeless. At least half of the people thrown onto the streets that pitiless day currently remain without home to provide shelter from the weather. Among those displaced person’s was a woman who possessed five decades worth of life experience who, through the thoughtless actions of others, was about to gain the entirely unwanted, unsought experience of living homeless. There was a cute picture of her in a flowered hat and with her dog in a local paper, along with a “lite” story on the closing of the Inn and the fact that many of these people were without shelter as a result of the City’s actions. It did, and still does bother me, that no one seemed to spare a thought to these people’s fate. That none bothered to follow up to see what had happened to these people and to call the City to account for failing to act in an ethical manner.

Christina was thus to find herself on the streets of Abbotsford as the seasons turned to winter and the weather to a threat to life, unable to find the help needed to find a place to shelter - a home. Her home, her shelter against the elements became a tent pitched in a patch of woods or brush somewhere within the City. Some of these “homes” were actual tents donated from good samaritans, some were “tents” constructed from tarps or plastic sheeting. While all these shelters’ where inadequate dwellings for a human being, they permitted survival, keeping Christina alive. Sharp readers are correct; she went through numerous “homes”. Because, even as the City was in “see no homeless, hear not of the homeless, speak of no homeless” denial of reality mode, their enforcement officers where chasing Christina, and other homeless, out of their meagre shelter and placing them at the mercy of weather conditions. I am sure that even Christina lost count of just how many times she was driven into the deluge that fell last winter. It was hearing that once again the City, through its enforcers, was intending to harass Christina and drive her out of what poor shelter she had that led me to start to writing and protesting the senselessness, the pointlessness of this
behaviour.

This idiocy had previously occurred FIVE times to Christina. The compassionate citizens of Abbotsford giveth and the pitiless City taketh – everything: food, her shelter from the cold winter rains, warm, dry clothing and horded personal treasures with all their attached memories of life before she was reduced to depending on callous governments for survival. Caring city citizens donated items to their fellow citizens in dire need and their City, with callous disregard for the consequences to the homeless, turned their generosity into garbage. At the end of their fifth visit they also left the items they ruined littered about the floor of the woods, creating a massive eyesore. I am sure someone who is all knowing, but totally lacking any appreciation or experience with the hurdles faced by the homeless, about these “drug using, trouble causing bums” will essay that all Christina had to do was take her stuff with her. These same experts also appear to think that chasing the homeless from spot to spot around the city, when they have nowhere to in fact go, will accomplish something besides a total waste of the City’s resources. The donations of the generous souls of our city, while making an invaluable contributing to the survival and quality of life of the homeless, can also give rise to the dreaded “Shopping Cart Syndrome”. With no storage the homeless must carry their belongings with them or risk losing them. One can become as loaded as the proverbial pack mule, force to use the clichéd shopping cart to transport your belongings. I will not dwell upon, merely bring to the readers attention, just how lacking in panache hauling a shopping cart is for those of use with refined sensibilities.

It was following one of the destructive visits by city enforcers that Christina and other members of the homeless community sought shelter form the winter weather in an unoccupied building. It was here that tragedy struck. Forced to use open flame sources for warmth and cooking, fire is an ever present danger for the homeless. The building burned and Christina’s constant companion and friend, her small dog Buster, was killed. There is a group of school children who visit the Salvation Army Café, who knew Christina and felt her sadness. These kind souls gave her a little stuffed dog and an invitation to attend their Christmas concert, a concert Christina enjoyed greatly – almost as much as she appreciated the care and thoughtfulness of these young students. The great irony here is that if local or provincial governments were treating animals like Buster the same way they treat the marginalized and homeless they would be arrested and someone found to treat the animals with proper care. Unluckily for the homeless they are human beings and thus subject to what ever cruel treatment government chooses to inflict upon their bodies and spirits.

Abbotsford, like an ostrich, insisted on keeping its head buried so that it could avoid seeing the reality of its homeless citizens. Then CBC news reporter Belle Puri as part of the story about www.homelessinabbotsford.com, perhaps the only website in the entire world designed, built, written and maintained by a homeless person, approached the Mayor with questions about the homeless of the City of Abbotsford and why nothing was being done to address the issues associated with this growing need.

Mayor George Ferguson chose to LOOK, forcing many others to begin to see and think about the questions homelessness raises. The Mayor also chose to call a time-out in chasing the homeless around, and around, and around, and around the city, in order to give at least some thought to what would be an effective course of action. While this pause only spanned a period of six weeks, it did serve to make people aware of the issues and began a dialogue in the community on what needs doing. One can only hope that over time this dialogue will prove to be a case where actions speak louder than words. I feel that trying to put a label of successful or unsuccessful on the experience with “Camp Compassion” would be as pointless as chasing the homeless from spot to spot within the city. The value of the Camp lies in the lessons to be learned, several of value which can be learned from continuing with Christina’s tale.

For it was in that patch of woods that Christina had sought shelter. At the time that the “Camp” was birthed, Christina was among the longest residents of that particular patch of woods. For her, Mayor Ferguson’s time-out was the equivalent of a stay of execution as at that time she was once again being threatened and/or forced to move along. Although no-one would or could say exactly where it was she should move to. At any rate, just before the axe was due to fall the residents received a reprieve. During this period the Salvation Army received funding to experiment with “outreach workers”. When old ways of dealing or NOT-dealing with a problem have no useful outcomes it is time to seek new ideas and be willing to experiment in seeking positive outcomes. Understand that it was not that Christina had not been seeking a place to live, rather that it is much harder than most people appreciate for the homeless to find a place to rent even if they can overcome the barrier of the $325.00 shelter allowance. I also want to take the opportunity to make note of the fact that in an effort to help herself, Christina had taken and completed the Triangle Resources woman’s W.R.I.T.E. program to help her regain independence through employment.

It was a struggle against time for Christina to find a place to live within the six week window of opportunity she had. Her success was due to Z, an outreach worker with whom she formed a bond and whose help in finding a place, access to a phone, making the needed calls, getting to the building to view it and meet with those responsible for the building, getting references together for the rental application and many other small but needed tasks. Without Z Christina would be among those she now hears speaking of the police once again chasing the homeless from spot to spot. Importantly Z’s involvement with Christina was to continue. The ladies of Z’s church would help Christina with moving in a acquiring all the many things (dishes, pots, pans, toiletries, a bed etc) one requires to live inside. Christina had a friend to help her through the difficult transition from the outside to the inside. Believe me, that transition is far tougher than someone who has never had to make it (be extremely grateful for that grace) could understand. All the times you need to say NO in order that you do not slip back into bad habits and back out onto the streets. Having someone or somewhere to turn inn order to get through these weeks (or months) is imperative. Then it was time for Z to help Christina with employment. Christina is currently at “Above the Underground” an opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in the retail store sector. Z is there to help her get to work, provide positive feedback and support through the difficult times. Someone who is in for the long haul, who appreciates this process is not fast or easy, but is there to help you overcome the barriers. This need for a long term commitment, to constantly following up, to maintaining contact and support, for flexibility in the support services provided, the need for many varied types of help, the need for a case worker approach and the importance of this constant, continuing follow-up are some of the lessons to be learned. Perhaps one of the most important things to be learned is that we can help the homeless. It may need to be one at a time; it may well require individual programs; it may need to be one-on-one; it may require a large investment of time; we need to be proactive; it will require the support of the community. But we can do it what we need is the Will.

Christina is a work in progress, but them so are we all. With the help and support of people around her Christina is moving forward and getting on with life. Which is a success story by any measuring stick you chose to use.

Water and Shade


You know it has been hot, bleeping hot, when you look up into the sky and are glad to see clouds, beautiful clouds. Last night on the news they were saying we had had 17 days of sunny weather and would get a few more before any clouds would provide any RELIEF. When I got up this morning we had CLOUDS1 and the day was nice and cool, a little respite from the searing sun. I was actually disappointed to see the sun come back out by noon.

I want to remind people that one of the dangers the homeless face is trouble in finding adequate amounts of drinking water. In the heat this can pose a threat to health, even to life. Think about it. When you want water it is as near as a tap. But for the homeless there is no convenient tap and very few places where it is possible to find safe drinking water. If the opportunity should present itself, please be thoughtful and share the gift of water.

The news has also been full of warnings about the fact that with changes to the ozone and atmosphere the sun(light) burns our skin faster and deeper than ever before. They advise staying out of the sun and when you must be in sunlight, using a sun screening product. I was reminded of the potency of the sun these days when cash flow and car insurance timing resulted in my walking everywhere last week – under that blazing, merciless sun. It served as a hot, sweaty reminder of just how exposed to the elements, whether the rain deluge of the past winter or this stretch of hot, burning sunlight; homeless =NO shelter = no place to seek refuge from the scorching rays of the sun = sunburn, perhaps sunstroke. The homeless I know and meet have, over this sunny period, been burned deep tan or lobster red.

Police recidivism, in a return to their police state tactics in their treatment of the homeless, has meant that when the homeless stop somewhere in the shade, to get away from the torrid heat of the sun, they are quickly driven back under the burning rays of our sun. A homeless woman I know and ran into last night was red as a lobster. She was also … shall we say, “extremely displeased” with the fact her sunburn was a result of the police constantly chasing her out of whatever shade she could find and back into the fiery light. To make this waste of time, chasing the homeless around in the unforgiving heat, even more intolerable is the fact that they are sitting on their posteriors in an air-conditioned car supplied by the taxpayers. This senseless pursuit of the homeless is undoubtedly cooler and far easier than getting off their Asses and out of their air-conditioned vehicle in seeking out gang activity or to solve property crimes. Earn the wages by the sweat of their brow? You must be kidding, how much easier to chase the helpless who lack a home in air-conditioned comfort, when the city appears perfectly content to let them wile away their shifts harassing the homeless and driving them back under the incandescent, broiling rays of our sun.

Homeless Press Report

On Thursday June 29th 2006 “A Dialogue on Homelessness and Affordable Housing in the Fraser Valley” was held by the Fraser Valley Regional District in Chilliwaqck. It was a day with presentations from the communities involved, the provincial ministries that are needed as major supporters/partners in taking effective actions and a presentation from Canada Housing and Mortgage as another potential funding partner.

So much ground was covered that in order to get a real handle on, or an appreciation of, all the materials will require a review, once the materials are posted to the FVRD website. This has the bonus of making the material available to the public whose support, ideas and involvement are required in order to maximize the results of any needed actions, since it is clear that only a community response will prove effective. I urge readers to take the time to access the materials once they are posted in order to gain familiarity with at least some of the many facets of the issues.

It was encouraging to see all the mayors of the FVRD in attendance and to witness their engagement with these issues. Not only is their support and help needed if their communities are to take effective actions, but their collective resolve on these issues can provide political leverage in getting provincial and federal responsible action on these issues. At the same time the failure of the local MLAs’ and MPs’ to attend or acknowledge the importance of the Forum was a disturbing disappointment and suggests they are out of touch with regard to this pressing issue. With the notable exception of Harry Lali – MLA Yale-Lillooet.

While his attendance and recognition of these issues was good, it was not what caused me to take the opportunity to shake his hand and applaud his refreshing comment on policies and policy formation in these areas. Mr. Lali opined that perhaps the best approach for the provincial government to take in setting or adjusting policy is not to have the bureaucracy in Victoria draft what they think should be the policies/actions based on their limited, often non-existence understanding of the issues. Rather he suggested the novel approach of consulting not only those who have front line experience but the unthinkable (for politicians and bureaucrats) idea of asking those who have actually experienced the conditions/issues for input, suggestions and ideas. Perhaps his early departure was a result of the need to go into hiding for this heretical suggestion.

The attendance of and presentations from the representatives of the provincial ministries involved in these issues provided not only information, but the opportunity to meet and network with those who we need to work with and receive support from in order to make real, effective progress.

It was positive to see growing awareness of the complexity of the problems; the need for multiple approaches; the wide variety of issues and needs lumped under the one label of homeless; the need for political will to be brought to bear on the issues; that it will take a sustained effort to have any positive effect; the importance of support and follow through with the individuals we are aiding; the need to educate the public and provincial politicians as to the true face of homelessness and the need for affordable housing; that this is a community issue and that only a community wide response will prove effective in addressing these varied needs.
All in all this Forum is the most hopeful development this writer has witnessed since fate decreed that I obtain first hand experience and knowledge on/with the issues and needed actions on Homelessness and Affordable Housing.