Ending Chronic Homelessness

[Momo26]

https://www.therecord.com/opinion/column...0d3e6.html

[creative]

So how do we deal with the fringe segment of our homeless population that are dealing with mental issues. The region secured two hotels to temporarily house people during the pandemic and they caused major damage to these buildings. Two better tent cities were built and they both have problems. Better security doesn’t appear to help when you pay them minimum wage. Not having social workers on site or lack of sufficient workers likely contributed to these issues. My neighbours grandson works in social work to help people find housing. He has told me stories of coworkers getting beat up by homeless because they don’t like the housing that was found for them. How is the former hotel on Weber Street converted to social housing working out?

[nms]

So how do we deal with the fringe segment of our homeless population that are dealing with mental issues. The region secured two hotels to temporarily house people during the pandemic and they caused major damage to these buildings. Two better tent cities were built and they both have problems. Better security doesn’t appear to help when you pay them minimum wage. Not having social workers on site or lack of sufficient workers likely contributed to these issues. My neighbours grandson works in social work to help people find housing. He has told me stories of coworkers getting beat up by homeless because they don’t like the housing that was found for them. How is the former hotel on Weber Street converted to social housing working out?

With my only experience with the Weber St property being driving by, nothing outward appears to be amiss. Nor has it caught fire.

[Kodra24]

So how do we deal with the fringe segment of our homeless population that are dealing with mental issues. The region secured two hotels to temporarily house people during the pandemic and they caused major damage to these buildings. Two better tent cities were built and they both have problems. Better security doesn’t appear to help when you pay them minimum wage. Not having social workers on site or lack of sufficient workers likely contributed to these issues. My neighbours grandson works in social work to help people find housing. He has told me stories of coworkers getting beat up by homeless because they don’t like the housing that was found for them. How is the former hotel on Weber Street converted to social housing working out?

Sorry to hear that, but that is insane - reminds me when I advertised a Free flatscreen TV (works fine but older model) on the classifieds and I got a bunch of responses like how many USB ports does it have and what is the resolution, times have changed!

[tomh009]

So how do we deal with the fringe segment of our homeless population that are dealing with mental issues.

There is no denying that some of the homeless have mental health issues and/or dependencies on illicit drugs.

And yet, here I am, visiting Finland, and there is nary a homeless person on the streets of the country's largest cities. Could it be that "Housing First" really works?

[KevinL]

Court rules in favour of Kitchener encampment, eviction pressure to be paused

[Kodra24]

Can't they just relocate the encampment to a different city or region-owned site?

Critical infrastructure that needs to be built for the benefit of the community should take priority in this case

[bravado]

That’s basically what the courts are interpreting on these cases… you can evict people as long as you have somewhere half-decent to send them to. But we refuse to build anything like that and then get angry when easy cases get lost in court.

It seems like local leadership would rather wait for the constitution to be changed before just biting the bullet and setting up suitable sites. (Or waiting for Ford to accept prison cells as suitable housing)

[creative]

And where does the money come from to acquire the land, build the suitable housing and staff it with sufficient social assistance workers and security. You can’t just provide housing and place people in it without the proper support. As previously discussed, they will most likely destroy the building. Without funding from the feds or the province, nothing will get built.

[bravado]

And where does the money come from to acquire the land, build the suitable housing and staff it with sufficient social assistance workers and security. You can’t just provide housing and place people in it without the proper support. As previously discussed, they will most likely destroy the building. Without funding from the feds or the province, nothing will get built.

Since this is a public service, the money would come from the public via taxes... but multiple levels of government have refused to do it - and yet the Charter still exists as a bit of an issue.

[panamaniac]

And where does the money come from to acquire the land, build the suitable housing and staff it with sufficient social assistance workers and security. You can’t just provide housing and place people in it without the proper support. As previously discussed, they will most likely destroy the building. Without funding from the feds or the province, nothing will get built.

Since this is a public service, the money would come from the public via taxes... but multiple levels of government have refused to do it - and yet the Charter still exists as a bit of an issue.

I don't know what you mean.

[bravado]

Since this is a public service, the money would come from the public via taxes... but multiple levels of government have refused to do it - and yet the Charter still exists as a bit of an issue.

I don't know what you mean.

The courts seem to be agreeing that the Charter of Rights is pretty clear... you can't evict someone who has nothing without providing an alternative space for them to go.

It seems like cities and the province would rather spend money paying lawyers to fight this pretty obvious interpretation of the right to security than just accepting that the charter exists and adding the cost of compliance to their budgets.

[Kodra24]

Does the CoK and/or the Region need to provide housing or just another plot of land they can set-up tents, as that is what they have now @ Vic/Weber - essentially a relocation so that work can get underway

[bravado]

Does the CoK and/or the Region need to provide housing or just another plot of land they can set-up tents, as that is what they have now @ Vic/Weber - essentially a relocation so that work can get underway

I think that's basically the nuts and bolts of these lawsuits. The city + region are saying what they are doing is enough to satisfy the charter, the homeless and advocates don't agree. It's a very messy question. Is an empty field enough? A tent? A shed? A full apartment?

[Kodra24]

Yea I can see how that can get tricky, ideally it would be some sort of housing - actually, how is the Big Tent City (I'm not sure that's the proper name) on Ardelt doing? Can the city do something like that?