DarrenBarefoot.com

This reminds me of something that happened to me yesterday… waiting in the left hand turn lane on Terminal Ave. to go onto Main St., an apparently homeless woman was wandering down the street beside my row of cars, asking each driver for change. Before she got to my window, but right in front of my vehicle, she whipped down her pants and fully mooned all the cars in front of me. It was REALLY hard not to laugh in front of her.

Anyhow, if you’re interested in the homeless issue, check out some of the debates in City Council lately. They’re dealing with a new bylaw regarding single-room occupancies, which are usually the last stop before total homelessness for people on welfare. Based on some of the stats I’ve seen, the homelessness problem will only be increasing as long as welfare payments continue to be frozen or decreased, because landlords of SROs won’t be decreasing or freezing the rent. This forces more and more people into the streets (or parks, recently).

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Part of why we have such a high homeless population here is the climate. That doesn’t explain the comparison to Europe, but I know that many homeless people from across Canada (especially in the winter) come here because they aren’t likely to freeze to death. Can’t say the same for, say, Toronto or Winnepeg.

Victoria, too, has an extremely high homeless population for the same reason.

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I am a foot messanger in the downtown core of Vancouver. I have been walking amongst the homeless citizens of Van. for almost three years. I have come to know many individuals who are asking for change, squeeging windows of cars…and yes I have seen that woman on Terminal who walks between cars to beg for change.

Not all our homeless are people who are strung out on drugs, looking for their next fix. Many of them are our elderly and ill citizens. If you take a close look, you will see many people in wheelchairs. Ever stop and talk to any of them? I have personal relationships with some of these people. Many of them are clean and free of illegal drugs. I know of a man who is having numberous surgeries with neurological problems. I know of another man with Colits, one with Cerebral Palsy, and others with missing limbs, for whatever reason. They are on the street because we haven’t looked after our sick and elderly. Our hospitals are closing and the budget is being slashed. Where are these sick individuals going to go for help? Health care is not in a good state. We don’t have enough resources to treat our ill. Our gov’t is making it more difficult to be on the welfare system, limiting it to two years. Who is going to help them? They are just happy IF they can get enough money to pay for an $8.00 - $12.00 bed in a hostile for the night.

Vancouver also has many individuals from our First Nations population whom we have treated disrespectfully since the beginning. They are the result of our govt’ interfering and keeping the natives in turmoil by forcing them to integrate and assimulate into our society. Giving up their rights and land.

We have people on the street for many reasons, so many I can’t get into them all. However way they became homeless we need to regard them as people and come to viable solution, for if we push them out of one area, they will only move on to the next. That is no solution. They need help, bottom line.

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amaziing…..>

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I have only been in Vancouver for a month and a half now and well within an hour of arriving in this great city (oh it is great by the way) I found myself asking the question how can Canada, Vancouver more specifically, a place continually ranked in the top ten for places to live have an issue like this on its doorstep.

It saddens me deeply to know that I am going home to a warm bed and hearty meal at the end of the day. I have no qualms at giving to these people, however all I am told is don’t give money to them they are all addicts….what even the old woman I see every week on the corner of robson street or the 70 year old man who tries his best to look smart and respectful yet has no choice but to as for change…from someone half his age…

Having recently been in India I thought I had seen it all I really did, unfortunately my time so far in Vancouver leaves me thinking that maybe it too is tending towards teh third world, as in such a great country with all these natural resources you could wipe out an issue like this overnight. Yes I know the UK has its problems but we get immigrants by the thousands that fly and catch the ferry in every day….so it is inevitable that this is going to be an issue for us too, however if I am not mistaken the homeless people in Canada are most likley citizens of this country…so much for society huh….the solution? I wonder what will happen in the year before the Olympics…it will be very embarressing and I am sure eye opening for the rest of the world if things haven’t changes…then again you could do like the Texans and put everyone in jail, at least they would be warm.

Ste

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Homelessness is a huge issue and I believe it goes hand in hand with mental illness and other sicknesses. That is why I am absolutely appalled at the notion that the Provinvial government is considering turing Riverview in coquitlam into joint condos (for sale) and rehab facilities. for those of you who aren’t familiar, Riverview is a large property that was once devoted to mentally ill patients. It has been cut down, and most of those people are probably on the streets. So… I just can’t understand why the government won’t reno it and make it full capacity for those who need it. We already have condos coming out the ying yang in the lower mainland.

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I am touring the cafes on main street. One of the problems for these cafes are the homeless people that come into the cafe and ask people for change. One day on two seperate occasions there was a scene with yelling and aggression. Since I have come back from travelling I have also noticed a rise in numbers and with this comes a higher level of desperation and search for resources (for these people).
I find it dispicable that we can actually write something like, this is a problem and we need to clean it up for the Olympics (which seems to arise in all my conversations when this topic comes up). Shame on us if we only feel the need to clean up this problem because of the Olympics… that should have nothing to do with it.

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I am 20 and have lived in Vancouver all of my life. It seems that everyday there are more homeless people living on East Hastings and other streets, and this is truly saddening.

I take this issue to heart because this is my city, and I hate to have its named tarnished by this fixable problem. But I don’t care just about how Vancouver looks to a worldwide audience, as some people have taken to doing. I feel more strongly that we (the people and the governemnt) have failed these people and
we owe it to them to do something about it. Don’t get me wrong, the homeless people themselves have an equal part in a solution, but we must give them somewhere to help themselves.

I am an Interactive Design (read: Web Design) student at Cap College, and I have decided to create a webpage to illustrate and educate people about the problem of homelessness.

I would love any suggestions anyone has for a direction… please email me at matt@blindsitedesigns.com

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This is for the bank culture made that is established by the bankers in North America. Get a loan to buy a big house, get a loan to buy an unneeded big car, become a slave to us, the bankers and we will put misandrist laws to control your straight men and to break every family and to double their loans! You want to become independent then:
1- Never get a bank loan.
2- Enforce 0% interest rates in banks.
3- Replace the paper money with gold money.
4- Don’t get involved (both you and America) in wars that are engineered to get your governments in more debt, thus more taxes that serves those lazy bloodsuckers.
5- Deport thopse bloodsuckers.

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There are many reasons why homelessness is a rampant problem in Vancouver. Why don’t we begin be looking at the outrageous prices of living costs. Even those with a roof over the heads are barely making ends meet because of such expenses. Yet minimum wage is only eight dollars an hour. First Call: BC Child and Youth Coalition study reports that “a person working 49 hours a week for 52 weeks would have to earn $9.60/hour to reach the poverty line for a single person living in Vancouver”.
These are statistics from a few years back but I cannot imagine much has changed. What really bothers me is that everyone is more concerned that all this poverty will look bad for Canada when the Olympics come around. Rather then being concerned with the poverty itself it seems some are more concerned with how it will look to the rest of the world. We are now pumping so much money into building huge stadiums and other developments that are only to be used for the Olympics. That money could all be redirected to where it should be going to stop Canada’s poverty problem. I heard of some program to build more affordable housing downtown and now all development has stopped. Why? Let us not blame these unfortunate individuals who are suffering even if they are drug addicts (not all of them are by the way). Those who are addicts need medical help. Everyone deserves equal support.

Love Cherri

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It’s now 5 years later since the first posting of this subject and not much has been changed.
I have traveled quite a lot around the world, especially in Europe, and I have never seen so many people living on the streets as in Vancouver. When I meet people from Europe visiting Vancouver, the first thing they mention is how shocking it is to see so many people living in the back alleys. Watching people suffering on the street, in your own town, is unethical and this problem needs to be solved immediately. What can we do in my opinion ?
1. Closing the mental institutes like Riverview is absolutely wrong. Many people living on the streets have mental illnesses like schizophrenia and can’t take care of themselves or make decisions. They should have a place where they can go for treatment, and not return back until they are able to live independently. As one of the world’s richest countries, the government of Canada should make sure to provide enough money and support for these people.
2. Because we are living in a very independent society where family control doesn’t seem to play a very important role, the government should be responsible of taking care of the poor and ill ( isn’t that something our parents learned from Bible school ? ).
A law that came in place about “homeless people have the human right not to get forced in treatment” should immediately be changed. People who are mental ill can’t decide if they want treatment, and where to go. The government should obligate mental ill people in treatment until they can live independent. And living on the streets should simply not be allowed.
3. There should be more money for resources, especially local, including assisting people re-integrating in society.
4. The same is for drug and alcohol addicts. These people should be obligated in treatment and not be allowed to live on the street.
How will the government and society profit from this ? There will be clean streets during Olympics. They can show international press that they do care about the lives of their citizens. Many people living on the streets have great potential in society, there are even doctors and lawyers who got depressed, started drinking and ended up on the streets.
And what about the patients ? They get the chance to recover and return in society. And at least getting some respect and humanity.
I welcome everybody’s feedback to the solution of this problem. My email is onomimono@hotmail.com.

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