Housing First Works
A Housing First Strategy was Successful in Nearly Eliminating Homelessness in Medicine Hat
Many reading this will say, this is a County responisbility, why are we
putting it on Council. Well our current mayor gained
notoriety by responding to a question on homelessness by saying something
to the effect: "not my problem".Ask yourself, How has that been
working for us? All members of our council need to actively raise the problems by speaking at County meetings until the problem is solved.
It's time to break the mould
Improving the Downtown Environment
The city is neither a charity nor a benevolent supporter of charities. Council has no right to donate any of our tax dollars to support charitable causes no matter how great the need may be. However Council does have a responsibly to ensure that we have a safe downtown core where people feel safe. It is not as simple as rounding up the vagrants and destroying illegal homeless encampments. As many cities have found such actions just move the problem around. Medicine Hat Solved their Homeless Problem - Housing First| Medicine Hat Solved their Homeless Problem - Housing First |
Addressing the Homeless Problem A Community Survey identified Homelessness as one of the top issues facing residents. People just don't feel safe downtown anymore and are fearful when approached by a panhandler or homeless person downtown. It is not sufficient for Council to tell us that they 've uploaded this problem to the County. The city has the sole responsibility of keeping its residents safe by proactively dealing with the homeless problem; not the County. It 's apparent that there are many reasons for homeless encampments on city property including addiction to drugs and alcohol. Traditional addiction counseling in homeless encampments has not been successful. What has worked in many cities is a “Housing First” approach.
I found it interesting that during the debate on the whether or not we should spend $30,000 on a feasibly study for a new Art Gallery building that one councilor had the courage to suggest that we could address the Gallery 's space issues by selling some of the collection. In an attempt to snuff out that radical idea, one councilor immediately responded by saying: “it's not that easy” and then quickly asked the Art Gallery Director for confirmation.
Well, there are many things in life that are not easy. For example, it 's not that easy just to survive when you find yourself addicted to pain pills after a car accident that nearly took your life and you find yourself on the street. Addiction knows no Social or economic barriers. It affects all Social classes equally. The only difference is that the wealthy can afford expensive private clinics. The rest of us can quickly end up homeless on the street.
| View Five Short YouTube Videos on the Five Principles of Housing First ... created by Gwen Haworth |
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