We want to begin this episode by asking a big question. With all the suffering, all the helplessness and fear felt, as expressed by Dene and others living on our streets, why have we not ended homelessness? Beyond what the solution needs to be, whatever combination of more housing, more mental health, more drug rehab, more job training, and whatever else ‘more’ is needed, why haven’t we made it happen? Could it be that we are only seeing the forest, and because of it genuinely missing the trees? Are we so overwhelmed by the larger issue of homelessness, we are truly missing the person going through.
When folks living inside discuss homelessness, among each other, the conversation often ends up being about how (quote, unquote) “the issue” affects them or their neighborhood. To put it directly, what impacts the lives of the housed is what gets talked about when discussing the unhoused. That list includes…. the piling up of garbage, drug-use, loss of park use, taxes, panhandling, right down to how the homeless smell and look on public transit. And because many people living inside are frankly tired of it, or overwhelmed by it, or even angry over it, often the knee-jerk reaction is to want, all of it, the whole issue, to just go-away.
As community, we then support, or quietly consent, while the city erects chain link fencing around areas that were providing cover from the rain for those without shelter. We are okay with hostile architecture installed that prevents people from being able to sleep on benches, where they can be off the ground. We are put-off when we see folks hiding in the bushes or back alleys publicly going to the bathroom but we don’t demand public bathrooms and garbage pickup for those without a place to live. We turn away when sweeps are conducted, not seeing the lives being uprooted.
Despite these types of actions, as well as the efforts to provide programs and services, the issue not only persists, it is getting worse. We have to ask ourselves, really, “Why is that?” “What are we missing here?” Is only seeing the issue of homelessness and its effect on us, the housed, part of the problem? Would our programs and services change if we changed how we see the issue, meaning seeing the person actually suffering through homelessness? join in on the conversation
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