We let way too much slide when it comes to the homeless in our city. To preface, I spend more time than most people around some of the worst of it. I’m at city hall about an hour a day waiting for transfers, and my workplace occasionally handles short term transitional housing; I’ve seen and heard a lot more than most people.
We have a ton of wonderful resources for people in distress who need help getting back on their feet; I have seen a handful of success stories, and I have close friends who’ve ended up on the street. Within a year to a year and a half, they’ve been able to turn their lives around considerably with the help of social supports; while there is a wait time, all of them have a roof over their heads and are doing better.
The sad truth is, the people responsible for a large majority of the issues don’t want help. I’ve overheard more conversations than I can count on one hand where they boast about being kicked out of shelters, skirting parole, and how they’d rather stay homeless and unemployed because it’s more fun to waste their cheques on drugs and booze than have to work like the rest of us. Many of them are well aware the police won’t bother for petty crimes- our system is a revolving door. I’ve seen what they do to get kicked out, too- I’m the one cleaning the mess when they completely destroy a place after someone else paid to put a roof over their head. I’ve seen trash cans filled with human waste for fun, spaces covered in drug residue needles and pipes, and seen blood sprayed across rooms from fights during benders. It can take hours to days to undo the damage they cause, typically within 48 hours of settling in. I don’t think most people realize how they act even when they’re given a place to stay, or help getting clean- if they did, they’d be a lot more frustrated.
Our police services are just as much of an issue; I’ve seen drug deals go down feet away from occupied, parked cruisers at city hall on more than one occasion. According to city hall security, they often take their time responding to calls about the area, or they don’t arrive at all. Even when someone is put away, they’re allowed out within weeks to months; frequent offenders included.
Homelessness isn’t easy, and I do still have sympathy for the people who’ve just been down on their luck. Most of us are one bad day away from it ourselves. I know that some people struggle to access resources still, and that the issue isn’t everyone; it just happens that the minority causing it happens to be loud. Still, we need to crack down on the issues; it isn’t fair to everyone else, especially those in areas where the problem is only worsening. We need to stop with the revolving door prison system, and stop giving repeat offenders second (moreso third, fourth, ect) chances.
Sorry for the tangent, I’m just sick of it.