homeless people

[Ninja_Sage]

This is an eye-opener article:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2006/12/20/Homelessness/

The Greater Vancouver Regional District figures it will cost $250 million a year to solve the region's homeless crisis.
It's a tricky number to calculate. As experts point out, people don't even agree on how many homeless people there are in Greater Vancouver.
Almost everyone agrees we need a lot more social housing, but how much that will cost will depend on where it's built.
David Eby of the Pivot Legal Society says he's heard estimates of $200 million to solve homelessness in the Lower Mainland and $2 billion to solve homelessness across Canada.
"It's a lot of money," he says, "but you know what? It's the provincial surplus in British Columbia to solve homelessness across Canada."

[Ninja_Sage]

http://thetyee.ca/News/2006/12/20/Homelessness/
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
- Auden 'September 1, 1939.'
<b>Housing shelters are also coming under strain.

"There were 26,525 incidents of people being turned away during the 2004/2005 cold/wet weather season (October to April)," says the report, "and 92 per cent of those turn-aways were a result of the shelter being full.
"It is estimated that 1,100 people across this region are without shelter any night of the year."

The homeless count classified 2,100 persons in the region as homeless; in addition to the 1,100 living on the street, about 1,000 spent their nights in shelters, safe houses or transition houses.

Homeless people have an array of medical problems: half of those surveyed in the homeless count reported being addicted; a third had conditions such as diabetes or Hepatitis C. A quarter suffered mental illness.

The report describes the immediate need for affordable housing that supports people with mental and physical health problems.

"At least 675 supportive housing units are required to meet the immediate need to house unsheltered people in the region," it says. "To make substantial progress towards eliminating chronic homelessness, the region needs an estimated 5,000 units of supportive housing."</b>

<sarcasm>
I feel that Ottawa is doing us a favor by not coughing up $250 million to solve the homeless problem.

For, out of that money, only $50 million will actually go towards affordable housing, detox clinics and psychiatric wards. The rest may go towards paying for the help, especially to those people higher up the economic chain.

It's far better to perpetuate the problem, because if the homelessness situation is taken care of, then the unenlightened middle class will lose another scapegoat.
</sarcasm>

Our homeless people are our grandparents, our parents, our brothers and sisters.

Because Ottawa may not see any benefits from helping the homeless, they let them be scapegoated by the media, by the police and even by us.

Yet if one homeless family produces doctors, lawyers, nurses, and productive members of society, then it would be worth it.

Does Ottawa have hope for the best for all of its citizens? Or, just the upper crust?

[bhodiie]

I think homeless people are awesome. They decorate the streets just like lamposts and benches. Ive met a lot of cool homeless people when I was living in Edmonton. The only thing that I dont like about them is that they smell really bad.