05-28-2022, 12:59 PM
(05-28-2022, 09:41 AM)ac3r Wrote: Homes first are a great idea, but the problem is street recidivism. It's easy enough to take homeless people and put them in homes, but unless you tackle the things that put them on the streets in the first place - drug addiction, mental health, trauma etc - it's hard to keep them from falling back to where they came from. You can stick them in houses but if they still have an addiction to drugs or unchecked trauma, they quickly go back to their coping mechanisms. Not to mention, many street people are just so used to the streets that it's hard for them to participate in something that requires paying bill, finding employment, following social rules and so on.
As for ABTC I don't think they have a permanent location yet. The plans to move to Breslau fell through because of NIMBY opposition. I remember some people were claiming that there would be pedophiles preying on school children and other BS. I believe they are currently next to the WRDSB office complex on Ardelt Avenue but I don't remember hearing about that being permanent.
Funny, nowhere did I suggest that they needed to find a job or pay a bill to get a home. Just. Give. Them. Homes.
It isn't that complicated. And more to the point, for many on the street, it is being on the street which is traumatizing. Giving them a home makes it much easier for them to overcome those problems.
I'm not saying that it's a magic bullet which will make every single unhoused person a well functioning member of society, but for many it will. And for the rest...again...they won't be unhoused.
I am very strong in my opinion that housing is a human right. Food, water, and shelter. No person in our society should ever have to go without. I don't care how undeserving anyone feels they are. We feed, house, and hydrate the very worst criminals among us, certainly we can do the same for those whose first crime is poverty.
Honestly, I get very frustrated by the idea that we cannot do this. We are wealthy...we can do this. We choose not too.
Yes, I remember the Breslau hate. It's a shameful dark mark on that particular community. I didn't know they were on Ardelt, I thought that was the original location. Fundamentally, not providing them with a permanent location is fundamentally depriving them of a home. A large part of something being "home" is stability. You must be able to rely on it, for a long term.
And frankly, I know this very well. During my move I have been living with family, and in temporary housing for 5 months now. It isn't at all the same as being homeless--I am always comfortable and usually confident in my ability to house my family in the coming month--but I still feel the discomfort of being in unstable temporary accommodations. I just signed a 3 year lease and I cannot tell you how much of a relief it is to have some certainty about where I will be living in the coming years.