Crisis? What Crisis?

I recently had the pleasure and privilege of attending the Community Symposium on Housing and Homelessness in Nogojiwanong - Peterborough. It was heavy.

In my work I have attended many housing / homelessness conferences over the last 3 years, but none were as meaningful as this one. It's taken me a few days to let it all sink in. Typically at these types of events, there is some sort of opening plenary where politicians or others with no lived experience of homelessness or addiction, or mental health issues address the crowd and talks about all the good works the government is doing. This was different. This was real. No bullshit, no trying to gloss over the issues and trying to be politically correct. These attendees were "in it", many having experienced homelessness, and were working in the system, which is clearly broken, trying their best to stay above water both financially, and emotionally. Many had lost friends to overdose or violence. I wish you all could have been there to see this group of smart, dedicated, professionals working together to come up with community driven strategies to solve some of the most basic issues.

You could feel the grief in the room. Not just for lost family and friends, but loss of funding, loss of programs, loss of successful pilot projects. The human toll for those that work in the housing sector is not discussed much, but these wonderful people are working, sometimes at the poverty line, in non-profits with very little support. The burn out is real and without them we are lost.

I attended this symposium because I wanted to learn more about the Peterborough Wolfe Street Bridge Project that got quite a lot of press in the fall. Fifty individual shelter units ( not much bigger than garden sheds) inside a secure compound. Initially, I was not in favour of this project. I felt strongly that we need to be building permanent supportive housing with wrap around services similar to what my employer has been building for the City of Toronto. I felt it was not appropriate to put people in metal boxes and not have a long term strategy.

I still feel that way, but my brain made a major shift in the two days in Peterborough. I get it. I understand the words "housing crisis" in a whole new way. This isn't a housing crisis. It's a social fabric crisis. We have lost our humanity and we need to fight to get it back.

When I was younger, I went to the USA quite a bit and would sometimes end up in heated discussions about our healthcare system vs. medicare. I was always proud of how most Canadians fundamentally understood that when it comes to basic human rights, we are all equal. Well, newsflash, we are not all equal. Why? Because we don't have equal access. How does someone even apply for services without a computer or a phone? "No fixed address" means that those trying to support the unhoused have a hard time tracking people down to provide services. And unfortunately when no services are available, they provide a human touchstone, to remind people they are not forgotten.

STABILITY is a word we don't use enough. We use phrases like, "is it sustainable?". In a world where very little seems to be getting done, we are implementing a lot of change. Rules are changing, bylaws are changing, programs are changing, who is responsible for programs, who is eligible for programs, how you apply for programs / funding, what requirements that need to be met to get the programs / funding..... it goes on and on. Meanwhile bureaucrats seek to "improve" the system, while people within the system and working in the system can not keep up. They are drowning, and we need to support them or the whole system will collapse. We need stability.

Many of the brave souls working with the homeless are not on Linkedin. They don't have the time or even the inclination to be part of this network. Their desperate, sometimes angry, frustrated voices are not always heard. I wanted to say out loud, " I hear you."

And for those that worked tirelessly for the Wolfe Street Bridge Project, I applaud your dedication and your "fight". I see the value in a "fixed address" and I am only sorry that we are so far behind to finding a real long term solution for communities across this country.

The views shared in this article are my own.