Just wish it was over?
Call Reaper-O-Matic.
“why suffer, when you can be supper”
CALL NOW! 1-800-MrDeath
or email us at homelessinabbotsford@hotmail.com
Sometimes I wish I had the robot from the old TV series “Lost in Space” so that I could send him, waving his arms and proclaiming “Warning! Warning!, to get the attention of the movers and shakers of this City. Some weeks this wish is stronger than others. This week it is very strong as a result of reading my Email. On the one hand I read about the ground breaking for “Our Place” a 45 bed shelter and drop-in centre in Victoria with day, residential and outreach programs (a facility of the type that Abbotsford so desparately needs) on the other hand was a communication concerning the possibility of having a meeting at the end of June to begin to consider cold/wet weather shelter plans – with the arrival of October and the winter rains looming ever closer. Remember, not only do we need to devise a stratedgy, we need to make all the arrangements and to implement it.
Having been on the streets through last winters deluges, I know just how important shelter is. I ran into a fellow, 112 days sober, who wanted me to pass along his thanks to Street Hope for his survival and sobriety. He believes firmly that it was only because of the presence of Street Hope, providing dry clothing, food and a place/chance to warm up, that he lived through last winter. Further he feels that not only did Street Hope keep hime alive, but that it was the quiet, non-judgmental support and the chance to talk things out that helped him make the choice to seek treatment for his addiction. Unfortunately, Street Hope was evicted, forced to close its doors. Worse, nothing is currently being done to fill this critical need.
It is easy, and to a certain extent understandable, not to feel a sense of urgency when you have a nice warm place to shelter from the elements and no experience at being at the mercy of the elements. We need a drop-in centre, more stable shelter availability and to maintain human contact/caring. We really need to make haste less slowly.
To quote Mr. Guthrie: “I think the real story is that this ended successfully and many of these people have been successful in finding accommodation. They are working with various agencies and hopefully we can get them back into a regular lifestyle.” And later “ …getting them into the system.”
“ … getting them into the system.” The question I have about this is, what good does getting anyone into a system with the serious flaws the current welfare system has do them? Anyone with recent experience with the current system can tell you that the system itself is a major barrier to finding work and getting back onto your feet. Abandoning people to “the system” is something you reserve for your worst enemies – and even then only if you are particularly vengeful. If the city chooses to abandon people to “the system” it owes those people its best efforts to reform and/or advocate for the needed reform/changes to “the system”. This in order that the system become about lending a helping hand to those in need, as opposed to the current practice of only paying lip service to the concept of helping. But then all levels of government seem much better at paying lip service to this problem and in applying Band-Aids, than in providing the leadership and vision to begin to address the needs and long-term commitment required to make a successful start in addressing homelessness and poverty in our society.
“…many of these people have been successful in finding accommodation.” Technically yes, but I do not consider that a temporary bed at the Salvation Army as being a true success in finding accommodation. “… these people”? I have serious reservations about just what this means about the city’s attitude towards, the way in which it thinks about the homeless and the prejudicial mindset the term suggests.
I had intended to revile Mr. Guthrie about his use of the word successful in the city’s actions vis-à-vis Compassion Park. However, in looking into the definition of successful (some of us like to keep in touch with the reality of a situation) I found I could not do that. Successful: Having a favorable outcome; having obtained something desired or intended: was successful in avoiding responsibility and bad press. So I must concede that from the city’s viewpoint this was undoubtedly a successful outcome. They got to use some very nice sounding sound bites such as “ended successfully”, shift responsibility for taking any real or positive actions onto “various agencies” while avoiding accepting any responsibility to take action themselves, obscuring actual outcomes behind platitudes and fancy verbal footwork and above all avoid the need to show any initiative, vision or real leadership on this pressing social issue.
I can only conclude by admitting that I was a little surprised and disappointed when I looked up the definition of successful. Even the definition of success, the achievement of something, is somewhat of a disappointment. I always thought of being successful or of achieving success as having a more positive and beneficial outcome. “I think that the real story is that” unfortunately the City does not seem to share this positive action oriented, providing leadership and vision view of what constitutes success.