Gary died last night. He was twenty-eight. Does it matter why? Would it make a difference if he died from weather exposure, diabetic shock, or drugs? Does it change perception to know if he was homeless or from a wealthy family? Would it help to know if Gary was alone or under medical observation? Gary is dead.
Here’s my rant.
Gary’s death is needless, pointless, meaningless, useless, and unnecessary. We live, we’re told, in a civilized country; “the best place in the world to live.” But we treat our poor and drug afflicted like aliens from a Third World Country – only worse. There are answers, there are solutions, there are better ways of doing things than we are doing in BC and Canada – but it takes a resolve to act and shift the current system structures.
Almost ten years ago SFU identified the costs of poverty and homelessness upon our system; $100,000 per homeless person with additional health care, policing, and property damage compared to the cost of incarceration of $70,000/person or the cost of supportive housing at $30,000 a person. Solely from a cost perspective something needs to be done.
There are civilized countries who are making a difference and offering solutions. Switzerland and Portugal are but two examples. We know the advantage of “Housing First” – an initiative that first seeks to house someone in a safe environment before accompanying an individual toward transformative action through counselling, therapy, rehabilitation, or training.
Here’s my four step blueprint for system structure change toward a successful solution for homelessness, poverty, and the drug afflicted.
1. Realize we have the money and people available to make a difference – it may require a reallotment of funds and adjusting the “success matrix” so that services and funds prompt self-sustainability and independence.
2. BC Housing supervise suitable clients to “Board” within appropriate private homes – to rent rooms or basement suites with oversight so as to reduce housing wait lists for Seniors or physically handicapped and those released from correction facilities – freeing up space in the current rental market and thus placing pressure on current corporate landowners to lower rental costs.
3. Adoption of “Housing First” approach and the immediate inclusion into recovery programs upon individual request rather than the necessity for a two week waiting period that is currently practiced.
4. An invitation to the table of policy makers and policy enablers so as to encourage experimenting for success – baseball players who hit homeruns less than 30% of the time are wildly successful; hockey players who score less than 25% of their shoots on net are declared elite; basketball players who average less than 20 points a game are considered stars – we applaud athletes every time they try – why do we fear failure for trying approaches that may save lives like Gary’s?
