Counting The Homeless

Straight from The Press:
Homeless population swells in Calgary
Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008

CALGARY - Calgary's homeless population has reached more than 4,000 - an increase of 18.2 per cent since 2006, according to this year's homeless count.
As of May 14, there were 4,060 homeless people in Calgary.
Officials cannot explain it but the rate of homeless families jumped dramatically to 197 from 145 in 2006 - an increase of 36 per cent.
Calgary in many ways has been a victim of its own success. As thousands of migrants poured into the city over the past number of years, housing costs spiralled out of the range for many of those at the lower end of the income spectrum.
Alberta does not have any traditional rent controls. The average rent for a two-bedroom unit in Calgary is now $1,100.
Many of Calgary's homeless are employed - as many as 60 per cent staying at the downtown Mustard Seed Street Ministry, said operations manager Floyd Perras.
Mike Nault, 40, who hails from Winnipeg, said he has been living on Calgary's streets with his girlfriend, Debbie Reid, for eight months.
"The stress level of being on the street is just phenomenal," said Nault, who regularly works temporary construction jobs.
Reid said she drinks up to two dozen beers a day because it is "depressing" being homeless. "You turn to self-medication."
Civic and business leaders have come up with a 10-year plan to end homelessness. The province has followed up with tens of millions of dollars more for affordable housing and the creation of a Secretariat for Action on Homelessness.

Hmmm...Calgary city officials cannot explain the drastic increase of homelessness. I think this is as about close to the truth as they have come because once again they are not looking for the truth. They are not looking at the faces of the homeless for fear that they might recognize the face as their father/ mother/grand parent/ or child.

I think cities like Calgary, Victoria, Vancouver etc...need to stop reexamining the homeless as a expense and start in looking at then as a human being first and investing in social services ( not income assistance) and start working on the preventative side. So that we can get the homeless population under control.

In this article it was stated that the growing number of homeless people are working at a paid job not collecting public assistance and that they are contributing to mainstream society. This is the identical stories of several cities all throughout turtle island.

Solutions hmm...maybe we should organize a day of action. More tent cities in Vic., Van., Toronto, Edmonton hmm...Or how about one at the border on the strip of international territory that runs between the US and Canada.