Homeless, Municipal

Dear Gordon Campbell:

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I have spent the last several years working on recovering my mental health after mental illness literally consumed my life. With hard work my recovery has progressed to the point that I enjoy the best mental health and balance of my life.

Imagine then my dismay and alarm at your government’s assault on my mental health. Words are inadequate to express fully my feelings concerning this assault on common sense and thought – but I will strive to convey to some understanding.

Having been forced to deal with the mind numbing, irrational bureaucracy, the immense waste of taxpayer dollars and the insanity of repeating over and over actions and programs that clearly fail to help people in need, rather than adopting best practices demonstrated to reduce homelessness and other social ills during my recovery – I was able to cope with the stupidity and waste by sharing the insanity through my written words.

But your government’s new and increasing offensive against good governance, fiscal responsibility and plain common sense poses a severe threat to my hard won mental health.

The government’s desire to prevent the international story of the Vancouver Winter Olympics from being the contrast of the shinny new facilities for rich citizens games and entertainment with the squalor of the increasing numbers of the poor (many with jobs providing service to the rich), mentally ill and addicted homeless living on the winter streets of the lower mainland is OK.

It matters not that it is fear of bad press and disturbing images flowing around the world as the world focuses on the Winter Olympics that causes desperately needed funds to flow, rather than caring.

What matters is that there are funds available to begin to end homelessness and associated social ills.

What is unacceptable is that it appears that the government intends to spend these funds in the same ineffective, wasteful and pointless manner of current programs and behaviours whose only accomplishment is to have increased homelessness and poverty and.

What rational sane person could possibly imagine that if a program is doing nothing to decrease homelessness, that running that program more hours a day, even all day long, is going to do anything but spend more money to accomplish the same failure? Only a government bureaucrat or politician could believe thus.

If a program or behaviour does nothing, then doing more of the same behaviour will accomplish nothing but to waste money better spent on practices that have demonstrated their effectiveness elsewhere. We need to embrace change, to accept the risks that come with making changes and act with deliberation and rational thought.

What next? Reach back into history for other failed government responses to problems with a specific class or group of people? Plans for the internment camps for the Japanese people still exist. The government could build camps out in the Fraser valley and ship the homeless et al out to interment for the period leading up to and during the 2010 Winter Games.

If we want to avoid the story and images of BC and the Winter Olympics that people around the world get from being the poor, mentally ill and addicted suffering and wandering winter streets of Vancouver, Whistler, Abbotsford and throughout the province the rational approach is to end homelessness, not to attempt paper over or hide the problem.

We need to champion an end to homelessness. We need to provide leadership to bring about the changes in policies and behaviours necessary to end homelessness.

I want to close by sharing the story that caused me to sit down and write this plea for my sanity, the end to the insane behaviour of our government and a change to rational behaviour on homelessness.

There was a call placed from an agency Vancouver inquiring if there were emergency shelter beds available for a woman client – in Abbotsford. They were going to ship her out of Vancouver to a city where she had no support and would in a matter of days be back out on the streets.

We have a problem of homelessness. Rather than continuing to ignore it, to hide it or dump it on someone else we could try a very novel approach – ending homelessness.

Homeless, Municipal

Recovery House Policy

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First let me make it clear we do need a recovery house policy that makes sure any place called a “recovery house” provides an environment that helps, not hinders or endangers, the recovery of its residents – in the same manner that homes for mental health provide an mentally healthy environment for residents mental health recovery. I have seen the damage that going to a bad recovery house can cause someone seeking actual recovery, putting them right back into their addiction.

Second remember that recovery houses as they exist now are as much about the market response to the demand for affordable (within welfare housing allowances) housing as they are to the demand for “recovery” spaces. Thus it is that you have many houses that are full of people still in their addictions – the “bad” recovery houses.

Finally understand that based on conversation, observation and experience I believe that if we really want to be effective in “recovery” from addiction we need to view addiction recovery much more along the lines of recovery from mental illness – a much longer term (years) process requiring more support and programs. Economics means that recovery houses do not have the cash flow to provide these supports and services. Psalm 23 is along those lines but it survives only through fund raising and if you had all the recovery houses fund raising ….. We need to seriously overhaul the system we currently use to deliver “recovery” in the addiction field.

So I do think we need a policy so a “recovery house” is just that, it also needs to be formulated on sound economics and reality.

In fact the type of system I envision would need “recovery houses” as part of the delivery system of recovery.

However from the beginning I have stated that we need to face reality – many if not most recovery beds are flop house beds. Clean up those beds/houses and shut them down and you put the people on the streets – do it quickly and you flood the streets.

Currently we have new faces hitting the streets every day, and old faces are not disappearing fast enough – in fact many old faces keep returning again and again even through/after treatment. So it looks like it is going to be a miserable winter with demand far exceeding resources or available spaces. Dump all those in closed recovery houses on the street and you go from very bad to ?? – I do not know what you would call it chaos, disaster?

So ever since this question was first addressed I have stated fine close them down – but be sensible/face reality and figure out where you will put them once you close them or all you are really doing is making a very bad situation worse.

I would say the first thing council needs to do is take its head out of the sand (or where ever they have stuck it) and see/face reality. Mr. Smith and council have been told from the first that they need to have in place a plan AND A PLACE for handling/putting those they displace from the closed houses. I remember writing this same comment about the closure of the Fraser Inn, to the same deaf ears – and many if not most of the residents of the Inn are still on the streets – in Abbotsford. The streets of Abbotsford are much more crowded these days and Mr Smith and council seem happy just to toss more people onto the streets.

Council has to accept that this is not a nice neat situation (after all it is a people problem and involves people) with no fast, neat, easy solutions. There is no easy, nobody screaming at you magic solution for them to use. The Provincial and Federal government need to get real about this as well. Or you end up with “hide the problem and pretend to be doing something” polices such as the recent shelter open 24 hour policy announcement. All that does is have man homeless stay inside all day, out of sight out of mind – until the growing ranks of homeless numbers increase so that even if everyone with a bed stays in – you cannot tell because so many homeless are on the streets.

We have to reduce the numbers which means new ideas, new approaches, using the knowledge out there – and we have the know how to do a much better/successful job of getting people off the street, into recovery and back onto their feet, it means accepting that it is not going to be nice neat and tidy or painless.

The biggest lack at any level of government on homelessness is leadership. But no politician wants to deal with such a complex messy problem – could cause re-election problems and re-election is what it is all about – not solving anything. If you just do the same you can always blame the party in power before you – if you take the needed new actions and approaches, you take ownership of the situation – and what politician wants to do that, no badly how needed. Talk is far cheaper and easier and you do not have to have any faith in your ability to handle complex, chaotic situations.

The city profligate spending has left them little money for even such a pressing problem. Unfortunately they seem as lacking in leadership as they are in funds.

The city needs to show leadership. Take the lead. Say to the province and federal governments “this is what we need, this is what we are going to do – show us the money. And go after politicians at the higher levels to put in place and develop the needed programs and resources. And it needs to make some unpopular decisions such as where and what building (school? old hospital?) to use for sheltering the homeless and those still their addiction. That way you have the recovery houses for those seeking/in recovery

I have a lot of experience with programs/resources in Abbotsford and I think with leadership and innovation we have great and solid base to begin to address this/these issues. Triangle resources, Communitas, Fraser Mental Health, church and charity programs, people. We can accomplish a lot – we just have to start. And government has to get out of denial, out of the way, become part of the solution instead of worsening the situation and senior levels need to provide funding, resources and the political will to put a ten year plan to end homelessness into action. Ten years form now we can have a solution (very little homelessness) or a bigger problem.

Consider

Some understand, some just mouth the words

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The way I perceive the Universe, our reality, together with an analytical and inquisitive mind have always made spirituality a very interesting journey and struggle for me. My mind is constantly mulling over reservations, questions and uncertainties. Which is one of the reasons I expect to never join any specific church or faith.

Churches and Faiths require a degree of certainty I will never, by my nature, attain. This does not prevent me from being highly spiritual, indeed this constant struggle with questions seems to have made me more deeply spiritual in my essence and actions and my interactions with my higher power, it just denies me any degree of certainty.

For the most part I am accepting of this path, although with my focus on spirituality I do tend to find the fact so many “Christians” are so in name only and not in action highly annoying – to say the least. But every once in a while I regret my inquiring nature.

I had to move out of where I was living at the end of September, a task I was not in any way looking forward to.

The week before while serving lunch to the homeless the Pastor of the Open Door Church stated he would be by with a pickup truck to help and that he had a place I could store my things until I found another place to call home. He arrived the following Sunday to tell me “We cannot move in my truck”. It was pouring rain and he felt that it would ruin many of my belongings to be moved in the pickup so he promptly phoned and borrowed an enclosed cube truck.

When he returned with the new truck he brought with him some parishioners to help out. My belongings vanished into the truck and into storage. Pastor Bill was even going to swing by the next morning to help me move my balky VW, but another friend help me solve that problem. I may lack the monetary resources for housing but I have embarrassing riches of friends.

While I may feel a twinge of regret that my nature, and perhaps my path, denies me the certainty needed to feel comfortable in even this church, my spirit rejoices at this evidence of a church that understands the meaning of being Christian and living ones faith. Besides, nothing in my nature denies me enjoying their company and friendship.