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OPINION: Contrast shocking in approaches to homelessness

Columnist, travelling abroad, compares homelessness in Nanaimo to homelessness in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto
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Columnist hasn’t come across much homelessness in his travels around some of Japan’s largest cities. (Stock photo)

Imagine walking downtown without seeing people experiencing homelessness. Imagine not seeing shopping carts filled with possessions.

Yet, in Kyoto (1.5 million), Osaka (2.7 million) and Tokyo (14 million), the contrasts between a society that has decided to build supports and mechanisms to manage homelessness, and Canada and British Columbia that have not been able to address the root causes of homelessness is obvious and disheartening.

Walking the streets of Japan’s largest cities over two weeks, I saw two homeless people. There was not one instance of an unruly street scene. There was one shopping cart filled with ‘stuff.’ Unlike home, where I live in Nanaimo’s downtown, street life here in Japan is much like it was 20 years ago in Nanaimo before housing and its costs escalated beyond the reach of many of our fellow citizens.

Japan is a much more homogenous society than Canada and one with broad social cohesion. So, it is likely that issues such as homelessness can be more easily addressed. Yet, the significant lower number of people visibly experiencing homelessness suggests that Japan is doing something right and that there is more at work here than the structure of its society and mores.

While am I told there are some people experiencing homelessness in Japan (apparently 0.002 per cent of the population are visibly homeless compared to one per cent in Nanaimo), there appear to be a few reasons why Japan has less homelessness: first, they have a ‘special act supporting the autonomy of the homeless population’ and they have a very low tolerance for drug use. In addition, society stigmatizes homelessness and supports government and NGO involvement in reducing homelessness through a ‘housing first’ strategy. The Japanese do not want to see homelessness and therefore discourage it. But that discouragement has led to assisting people with livelihood protection to acquire housing, shelters for mothers and families escaping violence and support for youths.

Japan and other countries have made a decision to see housing as a fundamental right, as a key societal building block, and as an important part of ensuring that its citizens are prioritized through ‘housing first,’ particularly for families and youths.

As a result, the contrast between homelessness in Canadian cities and those of Japan is shocking.

Will we decide to learn from others such as Japan (and Switzerland and Finland) and address our homeless crisis or will we continue to flounder and ignore the fundamental changes required to address homelessness?

It’s time Canadians demanded a rethink of our housing policies and programs. It’s time to recognize that our past 30 years of a failed housing policy must end. It is time we revisited our federal and provincial government approaches to housing, recognizing that cities are unable to do the heavy lifting without significant senior government support.

There are viable alternatives that other countries have developed to ensure that there are few people experiencing homelessness, that housing can be provided for all and that quality of life for all can be enhanced through a deliberate, thoughtful approach to the delivery of appropriate housing and associated wraparound supports.

As I continue to explore Japan, I continue to see there is another way.

David Witty is senior fellow urban design in the master of community planning department at Vancouver Island University.

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