Ontario’s Big City Mayors group got together recently, as thy do, and no surprise, homelessness and the impact that it has on their communities was top-of-mountain when it came to topics under discussion.
When these discussions were completed, the mayors delivered a statement, as they do, but one that was more of a direct public appeal to the provincial government to do something, anything, to lift the onerous pressures homeless persons have on Ontario’s cities.
The folks in Pembroke would be able to appreciate that better than most, I’d say. Far better than places like Renfrew, I’d warrant.
The BIg City Mayors had plenty to say about homelessness, some of it good, much of it the same old tired ideas that have led to nothing but have only shifted the problem onto some other area of society or provincial government responsibility.
One thing brought up, and it’s all the rage now across the country, is the idea of involuntary treatment for people addicted to drugs and who are homeless. There are always segments of every population that are more difficult to manage or service for a myriad number of reasons, and with the topic of homelessness, these are the types that create the most onerous burden in terms of dealing with them from a police, public health, and social services point of view. Throw in mental health and you’ve got one of the primary reasons, aside from bank greed, that there’s a homeless crisis to begin with.
Sciotiabank has a slogan of “You’re richer than you think” backed up with millions of dollars of advertising and general media support. But for many, and this is a sad indictment on a lot of people in charge, the slogan should be “You’re poorer than you thought.”
First, if mental health is to be a driving issue, let’s not forget that it was the provincial government (not this one) that shuttered the province’s psychiatric hospitals many years ago. As a resident of North Bay, I had a front-row seat as to what effect that decision had on both the former patients and the municipalities that had them “dumped” on their streets. There can be no argument made suggesting that this didn’t have an immediate and lasting effect on the issue of homelessness. Fix a problem in one area, create a problem in another by “fixing” the first.
Hamsters on a wheel.
If we could remove diagnosed mental health issues from the equation, it would make homelessness significantly easier to tackle. I say “diagnosed” as you have to have some way to differentiate those with pre-existing mental health issues from those who experience mental health crises as a direct result of their homeless predicament. I would suggest that if you were to sleep outside and scrounge for food and shelter for a couple of months, you’d probably develop some mental health issues just from enduring that experience.
But there’s ways to do this and we seem to rush to the wrong ones every time we get a chance. And by doing so, we often ignore easy solutions that are, by far, the most cost-effective. People are always bitching about how they perceive their governments to be spending, or even wasting, their tax dollars. Yet smart, effective, and more cost efficient solutions exist, and we are blind to them, oftentimes willfully so. And that’s nothing short of an absolute shame.
Sweeping people up off the streets and forcing them into hospital stays is NOT the way to proceed. For one, it is the most expensive approach we can take, yet the mayors may be falling into the “out of sight – out of mind” trap, under pressure as they are from constituents demanding that they “clean up the streets.” Folks, the sight of bodies on our streets bothers me too. Panhandlers everywhere you look is bothersome as well. Just like many of you, I don’t want to see it in my town either.
The public health system is already, and has been for some time, overwhelmed with the mandate they currently have, and that was before the pandemic. So sure, let’’s just add to that by dumping an unwilling population into their care. As if nurses aren’t busy and stretched enough, let’s totally burn them out and send them running by adding this additional and overwhelming burden to their already overworked lives. I had a heart attack in 2018 and saw first-hand what these heroes do for the rest of us, and again, that was before the pandemic. I’m not about to forget that experience just because some might think forcing people into hospital words is a really cool idea if it cleans up the streets.
Take a look at The Grind, in Pembroke, a place that feeds a lot of people every day who wouldn’t otherwise be fed. I suspect that there are a few struggling seniors, not homeless themselves, but who struggle to keep food on their own tables, eating there as well. Yet, aside from all that, I’ll bet there’s a segment of the Pembroke population that resents the presence of The Grind, and blame it for the increase in homelessness as it “attracts” this type of person with the prospect of a free meal. My God. I wonder how many of these folks with those opinions attend church every Sunday, nodding their heads at whatever’s coming down from the altar, seeing and being seen, then exiting the place to go back to their real selves. You know, the selves that are to a degree totally inconsistent with what they just heard from their pastor, and even more importantly, from their lord and saviour. Friends, any of you who claim to know Jesus would know where he would be found if he walked the streets today in human form. He’d be right there among the marginalized population, setting an example of heroism that many of his so-called followers would have difficulty emulating. And Jesus is no hero, not looking for any glory in his good works. He’s there because these are his people, and he’s there because they need him. You’d know this if you actually read the Bible. And if you have read it, and behave otherwise, then I have to question why you wasted your time reading it in the first place. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I have read it. Entirely. More than once.
I’ve offered ideas that are not my own, but good ones offered by people who truly want to make the best possible difference in both the lives of this group of people and for those who resent having their downtowns “occupied” by these losers, as they are often referred to.
The answers ARE out there. And yes, they cost money. But not nearly as much money as we throw at the problem right now to little or no effect.
If only we could find a local politician who had the courage to articulate this to voters.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 