undermythumb911's blog

The Canadian Mental Health Association is spearheading a program to provide "...five individuals" with "...transitional housing as part of a pilot project to stop the cycle of homelessness." Statistics say "...80 per cent of those suffering from mental illness are unemployed and 60 per cent have some form of substance abuse." "While in program, they (the five individuals) will be provided with mental health case managers, an after-hours emergency on-call case manager, 24-hour safe bed access, trusteeship program access, concurrent disorder specialist consultation and referral to services."

The Mayor of Victoria is wary of the recent court battles concerning the right of homeless people to set up camp in city parks at night. "In the city's 2008 budget, $114,000 was earmarked specifically to deal with homeless campers and the debris they leave behind." Personally, that does not sound like a huge and lamentable financial sacrifice to me, and the obvious and smart thing to do would be to invest that money into building more shelters, hence people would not be required to camp in parks and this would not even be an issue.

An article from Friday, March 7th quoted "Jane Weldon, director general of the federal Homelessness Partnering Secretariat." In the article, "She said homelessness falls under territorial and provincial jurisdiction, and that although the federal government is attempting to assist, the problem is growing." Typical playing politics.

"The provincial government this week lost its bid in the British Columbia Supreme Court to quash a constitutional challenge to Victoria's anti-camping bylaws, but not before it became clear much of the case will revolve around whether the choices homeless people make are voluntary or involuntary." The case concerned an "October 2005 City of Victoria injunction against people who were camping in Cridge Park, a city-owned property a block away from the provincial legislature." The camper's lawyers argued that the injunction was unconstitutional, because "...people had no choice but to camp wh

"There's a solution to homelessness: Get them homes. And don't make it dependent on: 'If you get clean, we'll give you a home. Or if you get Christ, we'll give you a home. Or if you get treatment, we'll give you a home.' Just give them homes!" That's a quote from Nijole Kuzmickas.

In my home town of Ottawa, the "Ottawa Citizen" posted a story about how this winter, despite how cold it has felt this winter, "this has been a warmer winter than usual." Reporter Graham Hughes goes on to remark "That said, homeless shelters in the area have experienced a surge in the number of people seeking a warm place to hang out during the day." It is the derisiveness of the term "hang out" that left a bad taste in my mouth. We are talking about homeless people here--they have no jobs or homes--so is it a matter of hanging out??