Homeless in Abbotsford, BC
I DO NOT, HAVE NOT, WOULD NOT ever suggest throwing money at a problem. I am a REALIST, believing in examining a problem to understand what the situation IS. I am not an Ideologue who, wearing the blinders of ideology, looks at a situation and sees what they want to see, not what really is. There is NO perfect solution. A system dealing with people demands flexibility and denies neat, easy answers. Rigidly applying Ideology guarantees failure. How I came to homelessness: click Backstory below.
Commentary: Joey Thompson's drug court column
Fate put a copy of the June 23, 2008 Province, containing Joey Thompson’s column on drug court into my hands. Reading that column and the prior June 20 column she wrote on Vancouver police chief Chu’s comments on sentencing says much about why we have such an a abysmal record when it comes to helping addicts into successful recovery behaviour.
From the June 20 column: “…to ensure the crap doesn't kill them in the short term, even though we all know it still will in the long term.”
I would predict that any program born under or from this kind of attitude will fail to provide effective help in helping addicts into recovery, but will succeed in proving those with this attitude correct by letting their addiction “kill them”.
Let us move forward to the June 23 column.
“After about a year of court appearances and treatment by a specialized recovery team, offenders are expected to have conquered their addiction and found stable housing and a job, or relative training.”
I do not know exactly what the specialized team specialized in, but having known several people who were involved in drug court I can say that whatever it was the team specialized in, it was not recovery. In fact, based on what I saw and learned of the program and feedback from participants in the program, you would be hard pressed to deliberately design a program more guaranteed to ensure the failure and relapse of participants. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to refer to them as victims rather than participants.
Given the program associated with the drug court it is not surprising that few choose to join the program, that so few complete the program and that among those who complete the program so many relapse.
“Send them off to jail, and make sure facilities offer them plenty of treatment and recovery options.”
The important unasked and unaddressed point is what these treatment and recovery options will look like. Should they be designed by the same “experts” who designed the drug court program or the majority of our current crop of treatment programs we will get our usual abysmal failure rates.
No rational, semi-intelligent person with experience with addicts and addiction would ever entertain the idea that “After about a year … offenders are expected to have conquered their addiction”.
If that is the basis of your program you are going to fail those in the program, leaving them in or sending them back to their addiction. And “Program enthusiasts (who) said they were pleased with the results, given the tough demands placed on addicts to clean up, find a job and a place to live” are badly in need of a reality check. Working with a bad or unrealistic program is self defeating since the outcomes are not going to improve in any significant manner.
You might just as well put them on probation requiring participants to go to treatment and complete the treatment program. You will end up with about the same number of positive outcomes and you can invest the funds you do not waste on an ineffective program in developing effective programs and community based support systems.
Current research and knowledge, best practices and successful recovery programs all exist. We can, if we choose to, design community based programs and support systems that achieve high success rates.
But we have to set success as our goal, design the systems to achieve that goal based on knowledge not “that’s how it is done” and to refuse to be pleased with results that do not achieve our goals.
It will not be easy or neat and tidy, but it is achievable.
Fate put a copy of the June 23, 2008 Province, containing Joey Thompson’s column on drug court into my hands. Reading that column and the prior June 20 column she wrote on Vancouver police chief Chu’s comments on sentencing says much about why we have such an a abysmal record when it comes to helping addicts into successful recovery behaviour.
From the June 20 column: “…to ensure the crap doesn't kill them in the short term, even though we all know it still will in the long term.”
I would predict that any program born under or from this kind of attitude will fail to provide effective help in helping addicts into recovery, but will succeed in proving those with this attitude correct by letting their addiction “kill them”.
Let us move forward to the June 23 column.
“After about a year of court appearances and treatment by a specialized recovery team, offenders are expected to have conquered their addiction and found stable housing and a job, or relative training.”
I do not know exactly what the specialized team specialized in, but having known several people who were involved in drug court I can say that whatever it was the team specialized in, it was not recovery. In fact, based on what I saw and learned of the program and feedback from participants in the program, you would be hard pressed to deliberately design a program more guaranteed to ensure the failure and relapse of participants. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to refer to them as victims rather than participants.
Given the program associated with the drug court it is not surprising that few choose to join the program, that so few complete the program and that among those who complete the program so many relapse.
“Send them off to jail, and make sure facilities offer them plenty of treatment and recovery options.”
The important unasked and unaddressed point is what these treatment and recovery options will look like. Should they be designed by the same “experts” who designed the drug court program or the majority of our current crop of treatment programs we will get our usual abysmal failure rates.
No rational, semi-intelligent person with experience with addicts and addiction would ever entertain the idea that “After about a year … offenders are expected to have conquered their addiction”.
If that is the basis of your program you are going to fail those in the program, leaving them in or sending them back to their addiction. And “Program enthusiasts (who) said they were pleased with the results, given the tough demands placed on addicts to clean up, find a job and a place to live” are badly in need of a reality check. Working with a bad or unrealistic program is self defeating since the outcomes are not going to improve in any significant manner.
You might just as well put them on probation requiring participants to go to treatment and complete the treatment program. You will end up with about the same number of positive outcomes and you can invest the funds you do not waste on an ineffective program in developing effective programs and community based support systems.
Current research and knowledge, best practices and successful recovery programs all exist. We can, if we choose to, design community based programs and support systems that achieve high success rates.
But we have to set success as our goal, design the systems to achieve that goal based on knowledge not “that’s how it is done” and to refuse to be pleased with results that do not achieve our goals.
It will not be easy or neat and tidy, but it is achievable.
Lamentation for The Post of Abbotsford/Mission BC
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for public debate, discussion and an informed electorate in Abbotsford.
For the year of its independent existence The Post was, as stated by one reader, “A newspaper that takes a stand on behalf of a community; a newspaper that articulates its position through editorials; a newspaper that is not afraid to speak out!"
Readers were treated to political columns penned by three local columnists; an editorial page that was wide open to any subject of interest and importance to the community; an editorial page that granted letter writers words enough to develop arguments and ideas; stories and editorial comment on important community issues such as Plan A.
Readers wrote to express their gratitude for a newspaper that was “… and being ‘different!’ We need another voice for the public…” and the fact that all in all the Post was a “…must read publication."
Catastrophe, as is so often the case, struck without any warning several weeks ago when CanwestGlobal’s purchased The Post making it part of the Abbotsford Times.
Quietly and without fanfare THE VOICE of public debate, discussion and an informed electorate in Abbotsford was silenced. Bound by the banal, spiritless and don’t rock boat editorial polices of the Times, Post readers have lost political commentary by local columnists and the only free, wide ranging editorial page in Abbotsford.
The timing for the citizens of Abbotsford could scarcely have been worse with this November’s municipal election looming and of such importance to the direction and future of Abbotsford.
When I was growing up community newspapers were a vital part of the community. Were, past tense. Today newspapers are part of chains, often chains with cross-media ownership, no longer rooted in the community but bound to head office and far away ownership.
Ideally Canwest Global would be required to divest itself of either its Vancouver television station, Vancouver Sun, The Province or Abbotsford Times. This does not seem any more of a realistic expectation than hoping for a return to the days of independent owned, community based newspapers.
The problem with CanwestGlobal’s purchase of The Post is that management of the Abbotsford Times quickly proceeded to remove the independent and wide open editorial content from the Post, without changing its (the Times) own editorial policies to be more open and reflective of the entire community not just “the old boys club/network”.
I am not sure how one goes about ensuring wide ranging and open editorial independence that responses to and reflects the needs of the community in which a newspaper resides.
I do know that individual communities and Canada as a whole have lost something vital in losing these independent voices to conglomeration. Given a world and issues of ever increasing complexity, we need to promote and develop independent voices in order to provide citizens with the information required to make the informed decisions needed in order to prosper.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for public debate, discussion and an informed electorate in Abbotsford.For the year of its independent existence The Post was, as stated by one reader, “A newspaper that takes a stand on behalf of a community; a newspaper that articulates its position through editorials; a newspaper that is not afraid to speak out!"
Readers were treated to political columns penned by three local columnists; an editorial page that was wide open to any subject of interest and importance to the community; an editorial page that granted letter writers words enough to develop arguments and ideas; stories and editorial comment on important community issues such as Plan A.
Readers wrote to express their gratitude for a newspaper that was “… and being ‘different!’ We need another voice for the public…” and the fact that all in all the Post was a “…must read publication."
Catastrophe, as is so often the case, struck without any warning several weeks ago when CanwestGlobal’s purchased The Post making it part of the Abbotsford Times.
Quietly and without fanfare THE VOICE of public debate, discussion and an informed electorate in Abbotsford was silenced. Bound by the banal, spiritless and don’t rock boat editorial polices of the Times, Post readers have lost political commentary by local columnists and the only free, wide ranging editorial page in Abbotsford.
The timing for the citizens of Abbotsford could scarcely have been worse with this November’s municipal election looming and of such importance to the direction and future of Abbotsford.
When I was growing up community newspapers were a vital part of the community. Were, past tense. Today newspapers are part of chains, often chains with cross-media ownership, no longer rooted in the community but bound to head office and far away ownership.
Ideally Canwest Global would be required to divest itself of either its Vancouver television station, Vancouver Sun, The Province or Abbotsford Times. This does not seem any more of a realistic expectation than hoping for a return to the days of independent owned, community based newspapers.
The problem with CanwestGlobal’s purchase of The Post is that management of the Abbotsford Times quickly proceeded to remove the independent and wide open editorial content from the Post, without changing its (the Times) own editorial policies to be more open and reflective of the entire community not just “the old boys club/network”.
I am not sure how one goes about ensuring wide ranging and open editorial independence that responses to and reflects the needs of the community in which a newspaper resides.
I do know that individual communities and Canada as a whole have lost something vital in losing these independent voices to conglomeration. Given a world and issues of ever increasing complexity, we need to promote and develop independent voices in order to provide citizens with the information required to make the informed decisions needed in order to prosper.
Handicapped Access - a lot to think about.
The Access Abbotsford community forum left me considering whether awareness is a necessary and important part of the foundation on which you build a community. Leaving me mulling over the idea that part of being a good citizen is becoming aware, truly aware – not just thinking one is aware.
I used to see a curb cut at an intersection and assume that makes it accessible to wheelchairs etc. It turns out that is not necessarily true. Is the cut wide enough, positioned in the right place, flush with the street?
It was pointed out that that it does not matter how accessible the city is if you cannot get out of your home. The gentleman making this point lives on a bus route but unfortunately it is a bus route that not all the buses used for that route are wheelchair usable.
Thinking about this it occurs to me that partial accessibility is not really a viable or acceptable concept in making a community accessible to the disabled. The business or location destination being accessible and living on a bus route with wheelchair access does no good if it is not possible to get from the bus stop to you destination.
The City of Abbotsford needs to make accessibility a priority, in fact the priority in any situation that affects accessibility.
An example or three: Any development or redevelopment should be evaluated with respect to accessibility and be approved only when accessibility is maximized. Work such as that currently along South Fraser Way between Bourquin and Gladwin (a major area) needs to be evaluated and designed so that improving accessibility is part of the work to be performed. With something as simple as road repaving, what standards do we need to set for the work to ensure accessibility is maintained and enhanced?
A small difference between the new road surface and the concrete curb cut-out is a small step for me but a major barrier to a wheelchair. I heard today that John Van Dongen found out that these types of little discrepancies can dump you out of a wheelchair.
The City of Abbotsford needs to make accessibility and inclusion a priority not just in words but in deeds.
I believe that a major part of this requires consulting the disabled, seeking their advice and judgment, and then acting on that input. It is clear our focus and evaluation cannot be based upon what the standards or current practices are but upon what actually works. It was made obvious to me today that to achieve accessibility we cannot use standards set by people who do not have the expertise you only get by living with and experiencing the challenges the disabled face every day.
As citizens we need to increase our awareness (www.accessabbotsford.ca) and to instruct our Council and City Staff that accessibility takes precedence in their planning and decisions on any matter that will have, or if properly thought out can have, an effect on accessibility. That their actions must increase accessibility.
The Access Abbotsford community forum left me considering whether awareness is a necessary and important part of the foundation on which you build a community. Leaving me mulling over the idea that part of being a good citizen is becoming aware, truly aware – not just thinking one is aware.
I used to see a curb cut at an intersection and assume that makes it accessible to wheelchairs etc. It turns out that is not necessarily true. Is the cut wide enough, positioned in the right place, flush with the street?
It was pointed out that that it does not matter how accessible the city is if you cannot get out of your home. The gentleman making this point lives on a bus route but unfortunately it is a bus route that not all the buses used for that route are wheelchair usable.
Thinking about this it occurs to me that partial accessibility is not really a viable or acceptable concept in making a community accessible to the disabled. The business or location destination being accessible and living on a bus route with wheelchair access does no good if it is not possible to get from the bus stop to you destination.
The City of Abbotsford needs to make accessibility a priority, in fact the priority in any situation that affects accessibility.
An example or three: Any development or redevelopment should be evaluated with respect to accessibility and be approved only when accessibility is maximized. Work such as that currently along South Fraser Way between Bourquin and Gladwin (a major area) needs to be evaluated and designed so that improving accessibility is part of the work to be performed. With something as simple as road repaving, what standards do we need to set for the work to ensure accessibility is maintained and enhanced?
A small difference between the new road surface and the concrete curb cut-out is a small step for me but a major barrier to a wheelchair. I heard today that John Van Dongen found out that these types of little discrepancies can dump you out of a wheelchair.
The City of Abbotsford needs to make accessibility and inclusion a priority not just in words but in deeds.
I believe that a major part of this requires consulting the disabled, seeking their advice and judgment, and then acting on that input. It is clear our focus and evaluation cannot be based upon what the standards or current practices are but upon what actually works. It was made obvious to me today that to achieve accessibility we cannot use standards set by people who do not have the expertise you only get by living with and experiencing the challenges the disabled face every day.
As citizens we need to increase our awareness (www.accessabbotsford.ca) and to instruct our Council and City Staff that accessibility takes precedence in their planning and decisions on any matter that will have, or if properly thought out can have, an effect on accessibility. That their actions must increase accessibility.
The number of hungry increasing.
Driving back from Mission on Saturday I caught the $13 dollar BMW radio ad. For kids $13 is babysitting or allowance, for an adult - pocket money … or for $13 per day you can drive a BMW.
They missed an important $13 fact. For many people $13 is their weekly food budget; for some $13 is their entire monthly food budget.
These thoughts arose Saturday because I had swung by a dinner served for the homeless and hungry in Mission. The woman who is the driving force behind the dinner was surprised and a little distressed because all the food was gone so quickly and so early.
This was the biggest turnout she has ever had at one of her dinners. There are more and more people coming to eat who have housing but with the increases in housing and other components of the cost of living they have no money to feed themselves hamburger or even hotdogs, much less fresh vegetables or fresh fruit.
All the food for these meals is by donation (Tara 604-855-5839) and the preparation, cooking, serving and cleanup is by volunteers.
I swung by to talk because I wanted to ask if they were seeing the same increase in numbers and demand for food to feed the hungry as we are experiencing in Abbotsford. As I said – they are.
Increasing numbers of people are well past recommended guidelines for what percentage of your income should go to cover housing costs, with more and more spending 90% and over to pay for a place to live.
Our streets overflow with homeless and increasing numbers of people are just hanging on to housing. All these people are hungry and in need of food.
Please keep this in mind and contribute when you can to our local food banks and/or those people and groups who prepare and serve meals for the hungry. Take time to ask politicians at all levels of government why in a great country like Canada so many are going to bed hungry.
Driving back from Mission on Saturday I caught the $13 dollar BMW radio ad. For kids $13 is babysitting or allowance, for an adult - pocket money … or for $13 per day you can drive a BMW.
They missed an important $13 fact. For many people $13 is their weekly food budget; for some $13 is their entire monthly food budget.
These thoughts arose Saturday because I had swung by a dinner served for the homeless and hungry in Mission. The woman who is the driving force behind the dinner was surprised and a little distressed because all the food was gone so quickly and so early.
This was the biggest turnout she has ever had at one of her dinners. There are more and more people coming to eat who have housing but with the increases in housing and other components of the cost of living they have no money to feed themselves hamburger or even hotdogs, much less fresh vegetables or fresh fruit.
All the food for these meals is by donation (Tara 604-855-5839) and the preparation, cooking, serving and cleanup is by volunteers.
I swung by to talk because I wanted to ask if they were seeing the same increase in numbers and demand for food to feed the hungry as we are experiencing in Abbotsford. As I said – they are.
Increasing numbers of people are well past recommended guidelines for what percentage of your income should go to cover housing costs, with more and more spending 90% and over to pay for a place to live.
Our streets overflow with homeless and increasing numbers of people are just hanging on to housing. All these people are hungry and in need of food.
Please keep this in mind and contribute when you can to our local food banks and/or those people and groups who prepare and serve meals for the hungry. Take time to ask politicians at all levels of government why in a great country like Canada so many are going to bed hungry.
For your consideration:
The only Zen you will find on a mountain top is the Zen you bring with you.
Search from the highest mountain top to the lowest point at the bottom of the sea and the world in between, you will find nothing more that that which you brought with you. Reinforcing the idea that what you are searching for lies within, not without since Zen is about enlightenment being attained through meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition – an inner journey.
I would be happy if … I had a few million dollars or a better job or … or … or. Others seek happiness in clubs or drugs or partying or alcohol or … or … or.
Reality check: The only happiness you will find on a mountaintop is the happiness you bring with you. You want to find happiness - you take the arduous journey within yourself to find it within yourself. Serenity, Wellness, Love - whatever one is searching for is to be found within oneself.
It begins with me. It begins within me.
Reality being only a Rorschach ink-blot, the Quality of my life flows from within me.
The only Zen you will find on a mountain top is the Zen you bring with you.
Search from the highest mountain top to the lowest point at the bottom of the sea and the world in between, you will find nothing more that that which you brought with you. Reinforcing the idea that what you are searching for lies within, not without since Zen is about enlightenment being attained through meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition – an inner journey.
I would be happy if … I had a few million dollars or a better job or … or … or. Others seek happiness in clubs or drugs or partying or alcohol or … or … or.
Reality check: The only happiness you will find on a mountaintop is the happiness you bring with you. You want to find happiness - you take the arduous journey within yourself to find it within yourself. Serenity, Wellness, Love - whatever one is searching for is to be found within oneself.
It begins with me. It begins within me.
Reality being only a Rorschach ink-blot, the Quality of my life flows from within me.
She should not be homeless
There is a woman who volunteers on Wednesday evenings to help prepare, serve and clean up after the meal for the homeless and other hungry citizens of Abbotsford.
Last week she was not at her best because she had just lost her home to fire. But this week she was back helping with dinner although she is now living in her car.
She is living in her car because, like far to many others, she has a very limited budget which sets severe limits on what she has to spend for rent and has been unable to find any place within her budget.
Governments can come up with whatever plans they want to help people find housing, people can utter whatever platitudes they want about “they’re homeless because they want to be” but the reality of homelessness for many is that there simply is no places available at a price they can afford.
And while that is a reality that politicians and the public need to recognize it is not the reason I sat down to share this story.
I am writing it because the homeless have expressed to me their belief, their concern that it is not healthy (in a variety of ways) for this woman to be living in her car and their anger that nobody in the Christian community of which she is a part is stepping forward to find or offer her a place to stay, even temporarily.
I leave it to you to ponder what it says about Abbotsford as a community that it is the homeless who are upset about the fact this disabled, not young woman is forced to live in her car while the rest of the community seemingly ignores her plight.
There is a woman who volunteers on Wednesday evenings to help prepare, serve and clean up after the meal for the homeless and other hungry citizens of Abbotsford.
Last week she was not at her best because she had just lost her home to fire. But this week she was back helping with dinner although she is now living in her car.
She is living in her car because, like far to many others, she has a very limited budget which sets severe limits on what she has to spend for rent and has been unable to find any place within her budget.
Governments can come up with whatever plans they want to help people find housing, people can utter whatever platitudes they want about “they’re homeless because they want to be” but the reality of homelessness for many is that there simply is no places available at a price they can afford.
And while that is a reality that politicians and the public need to recognize it is not the reason I sat down to share this story.
I am writing it because the homeless have expressed to me their belief, their concern that it is not healthy (in a variety of ways) for this woman to be living in her car and their anger that nobody in the Christian community of which she is a part is stepping forward to find or offer her a place to stay, even temporarily.
I leave it to you to ponder what it says about Abbotsford as a community that it is the homeless who are upset about the fact this disabled, not young woman is forced to live in her car while the rest of the community seemingly ignores her plight.
Appalled
It is a sad comment about the state of our society has that I was not surprised by the news report I was watching, although I was disgusted.
When you advocate for the homeless, the addicted and the mentally ill you learn just how uncaring and wilfully ignorant society can be.
But listening to the comments of motorists and the mayor of North Vancouver left me appalled.
To deal with a suicidal woman police closed the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to traffic, causing gridlock and inconveniencing thousands of drivers. Leading to calls for “new protocols” so the motoring public will not be inconvenienced by the actions needed to save a human life from suicide.
When and how did we as a society become so narcissistic, self-centered and “it is all about me” that a human life is not worth a few hours of inconvenience for motorists, even several thousand motorists?
And just how frightening for the future of society is it that the news report treated this as just a story, never asking the question of whether a human life is not worth a little, or even a lot of, inconvenience?
It is a sad comment about the state of our society has that I was not surprised by the news report I was watching, although I was disgusted.
When you advocate for the homeless, the addicted and the mentally ill you learn just how uncaring and wilfully ignorant society can be.
But listening to the comments of motorists and the mayor of North Vancouver left me appalled.
To deal with a suicidal woman police closed the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to traffic, causing gridlock and inconveniencing thousands of drivers. Leading to calls for “new protocols” so the motoring public will not be inconvenienced by the actions needed to save a human life from suicide.
When and how did we as a society become so narcissistic, self-centered and “it is all about me” that a human life is not worth a few hours of inconvenience for motorists, even several thousand motorists?
And just how frightening for the future of society is it that the news report treated this as just a story, never asking the question of whether a human life is not worth a little, or even a lot of, inconvenience?
Another reply.
Trust me, I have no illusions about life and the homeless. In fact I just posted a piece on thanklessness on www.homelessinabbotsford.com
But the harsh reality, the unpalatable truth for many, is that it is far cheaper and ultimately more productive to house and deal with the homeless.
If you know any smokers and have watched people struggle trying to quit you have watched addiction in action. Do you think smokers started out thinking I want to be addicted to nicotine? No, they smoked to be cool, to control weight, to bug their parents etc….. They gave no thought to becoming an addict. They are just luck that the substance they are addicted to is legal and causes only limited physical and mental impairment.
Addiction is not the question here. Well, except to the extent that it is a “button pushing” issue for many and the cold hard facts of dealing with addiction and the cost of addiction get lost under peoples reaction to their buttons being pushed on addiction. People get stuck in the “I won’t help them bums!” and fail to see, or perhaps that is accept, that helping is cheaper than not helping,
It is just both cheaper and more effective in helping the addict to provide housing (of a sort, I am not speaking of luxurious accommodations) and support. As I say it is one of the great ironies that it would save money to house and help the homeless as opposed to having them on the streets and as I noted if you jail them your cost triples or more.
The other point is that this approach has a much higher success rate in helping addicts get into long term recovery so that not only do you get the huge cost savings when (most) get back to work but you get them contributing their taxes to help pay for the next bunch of idiots to slide into addiction.
But for me the real advantage is that as part of this housing and support we would put in place the housing and support systems for those who are not capable of helping them selves. Some of those you see sitting around the park looking stoned are no such thing, they are just not all there or capable of looking out for themselves and “normal people” avoid them so who else can they hang out with who will not judge them.
I volunteer with the Special Olympics and there are disturbing number of homeless who the only difference between them and people in Special O is that someone was/is there to help the people in Special O while those on the street had/have no one to fight for them.
Trust me, I have no illusions about life and the homeless. In fact I just posted a piece on thanklessness on www.homelessinabbotsford.com
But the harsh reality, the unpalatable truth for many, is that it is far cheaper and ultimately more productive to house and deal with the homeless.
If you know any smokers and have watched people struggle trying to quit you have watched addiction in action. Do you think smokers started out thinking I want to be addicted to nicotine? No, they smoked to be cool, to control weight, to bug their parents etc….. They gave no thought to becoming an addict. They are just luck that the substance they are addicted to is legal and causes only limited physical and mental impairment.
Addiction is not the question here. Well, except to the extent that it is a “button pushing” issue for many and the cold hard facts of dealing with addiction and the cost of addiction get lost under peoples reaction to their buttons being pushed on addiction. People get stuck in the “I won’t help them bums!” and fail to see, or perhaps that is accept, that helping is cheaper than not helping,
It is just both cheaper and more effective in helping the addict to provide housing (of a sort, I am not speaking of luxurious accommodations) and support. As I say it is one of the great ironies that it would save money to house and help the homeless as opposed to having them on the streets and as I noted if you jail them your cost triples or more.
The other point is that this approach has a much higher success rate in helping addicts get into long term recovery so that not only do you get the huge cost savings when (most) get back to work but you get them contributing their taxes to help pay for the next bunch of idiots to slide into addiction.
But for me the real advantage is that as part of this housing and support we would put in place the housing and support systems for those who are not capable of helping them selves. Some of those you see sitting around the park looking stoned are no such thing, they are just not all there or capable of looking out for themselves and “normal people” avoid them so who else can they hang out with who will not judge them.
I volunteer with the Special Olympics and there are disturbing number of homeless who the only difference between them and people in Special O is that someone was/is there to help the people in Special O while those on the street had/have no one to fight for them.
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