Reports from British Columbia today speak of a decision where a judge ruled the homeless have a right to camp in local parks. Some call this a landmark victory for the poor in Canada.
Ignoring the legals merits of the decision -- and those are questionable -- the underlying thinking is wooly headed patronizing claptrap that hurts the homeless and society as a whole.
There is a real homeless problem in Canada. But the problem is invisible.
How so? Well, there are untold people without a home cadging a foldaway bed from friends or family. They are not "homeless" in the sense they have no address, but they are without a home, a place to call their own. These folks often, usually in fact, have jobs but they don't have the money to get a place for themselves. These are people who need help to get shelter; proper government incentives to build lower price housing, to improve the quality of jobs available and to increase rental accomodation will solve this problem.
The street people we see are usually not there because of low wages but rather because of mental health or addiction issues. To allow them to camp in public parks does not address their real issues. These are people who need to be taken into care, treated and, G-d willing, sent back into the wider world able to care for themselves. Saying they can sleep in a park merely condemns them to a brutal, and likely short, life while making what is a needed place for public recreation unusable. We need residential mental health beds and a park bench is no subsititute.
Caring for street people is not the same as enabling them and saying "fine, like on the street". It means taking them into care, feeding and treating them.
Look to Matthew 25:
'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.'
See story below:
B.C. court says homeless can camp in parks
Jim Gibson , Canwest News Service
VICTORIA - The city's homeless can now set up camp in Victoria parks, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision Tuesday.
"Yesterday it was illegal to set up my tent. Today it isn't," said David Johnston, one of the homeless activists who argued they have a right to sleep outdoors on public property.
Lawyer Catherine Boies Parker, who acted on behalf of the homeless campers in their court challenge of the city's anti-camping bylaw, confirmed the 108-page judgment upheld their argument that a City of Victoria bylaw that prohibits using "temporary abodes" like tents and large tarpaulins for shelter in parks and public spaces violates the rights of the homeless.
She said the judgment noted that in the absence of sufficient safe and secure beds for the homeless, it was unconstitutional for the city to prevent them from erecting some form of shelter to protect themselves from the elements.
The decision came three years after a group was arrested in October 2005 for setting up a "tent city" in a Victoria park. The eviction sparked the court challenge.
"We don't have to search every morning and night for a place to sleep," Johnston said.
He predicted that tent cities will spring up in other municipalities once the decision becomes widely known.
Such encampments "might be the thing which saves us from the economic crush," he said.
At a city hall news conference, Mayor Alan Lowe predicted the impact of the decision will be felt throughout Canada.
"This judgment demonstrates what years of cuts to social programming and housing programs has done. Municipal governments were never in the business of providing housing and social support services to individuals in need," Lowe said, calling on higher levels of government to respond to the court decision.
The judgment does not bode well for city parks, Lowe warned. "Our city parks are not equipped to support camping of any kind.
"We've seen first hand the ill effects of tent cities. In 2005 . . . we saw a tent city that had become a hub of illegal activity, health concerns and vandalism," he said.
"These are not acceptable conditions for our parks and green spaces, but even more importantly these conditions are not acceptable for the homeless."
Ignoring the legals merits of the decision -- and those are questionable -- the underlying thinking is wooly headed patronizing claptrap that hurts the homeless and society as a whole.
There is a real homeless problem in Canada. But the problem is invisible.
How so? Well, there are untold people without a home cadging a foldaway bed from friends or family. They are not "homeless" in the sense they have no address, but they are without a home, a place to call their own. These folks often, usually in fact, have jobs but they don't have the money to get a place for themselves. These are people who need help to get shelter; proper government incentives to build lower price housing, to improve the quality of jobs available and to increase rental accomodation will solve this problem.
The street people we see are usually not there because of low wages but rather because of mental health or addiction issues. To allow them to camp in public parks does not address their real issues. These are people who need to be taken into care, treated and, G-d willing, sent back into the wider world able to care for themselves. Saying they can sleep in a park merely condemns them to a brutal, and likely short, life while making what is a needed place for public recreation unusable. We need residential mental health beds and a park bench is no subsititute.
Caring for street people is not the same as enabling them and saying "fine, like on the street". It means taking them into care, feeding and treating them.
Look to Matthew 25:
'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.'
See story below:
B.C. court says homeless can camp in parks
Jim Gibson , Canwest News Service
VICTORIA - The city's homeless can now set up camp in Victoria parks, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision Tuesday.
"Yesterday it was illegal to set up my tent. Today it isn't," said David Johnston, one of the homeless activists who argued they have a right to sleep outdoors on public property.
Lawyer Catherine Boies Parker, who acted on behalf of the homeless campers in their court challenge of the city's anti-camping bylaw, confirmed the 108-page judgment upheld their argument that a City of Victoria bylaw that prohibits using "temporary abodes" like tents and large tarpaulins for shelter in parks and public spaces violates the rights of the homeless.
She said the judgment noted that in the absence of sufficient safe and secure beds for the homeless, it was unconstitutional for the city to prevent them from erecting some form of shelter to protect themselves from the elements.
The decision came three years after a group was arrested in October 2005 for setting up a "tent city" in a Victoria park. The eviction sparked the court challenge.
"We don't have to search every morning and night for a place to sleep," Johnston said.
He predicted that tent cities will spring up in other municipalities once the decision becomes widely known.
Such encampments "might be the thing which saves us from the economic crush," he said.
At a city hall news conference, Mayor Alan Lowe predicted the impact of the decision will be felt throughout Canada.
"This judgment demonstrates what years of cuts to social programming and housing programs has done. Municipal governments were never in the business of providing housing and social support services to individuals in need," Lowe said, calling on higher levels of government to respond to the court decision.
The judgment does not bode well for city parks, Lowe warned. "Our city parks are not equipped to support camping of any kind.
"We've seen first hand the ill effects of tent cities. In 2005 . . . we saw a tent city that had become a hub of illegal activity, health concerns and vandalism," he said.
"These are not acceptable conditions for our parks and green spaces, but even more importantly these conditions are not acceptable for the homeless."
3 comments:
interesting perspective on a complex issue.
True, but simply banning tents in parks doesn't do anything either. Maybe when the problem is more visible, when the homeless are putting up tents in the parks, the politicians will finally be shamed into taking meaningful action.
Mark,
Point well taken -- I hadn't thought of that.
james
Post a Comment