Nanaimo’s homelessness numbers appear to be overwhelming. People pushing shopping carts full of their possessions can be found in many parts of the city.
Homelessness is a societal problem. It requires a societal response. It is a problem that will not go away unless we collectively decide to address the root causes of homelessness. Many (43 per cent in Nanaimo) are homeless because they could not afford their increasing housing costs. Others have mental health challenges and others are drug dependent (about 24 per cent in both cases). Blaming those experiencing homelessness for their situation will not solve the problem. At the same time, not enforcing the law and holding individuals accountable for illegal activity will not solve the problem either.
Homelessness in the 21st century is more complicated. It requires considered and co-ordinated responses. A key issue relates to substance abuse and its detrimental effects on those who are homeless, many of whom become drug dependent because of their chaotic life on the street which seems to have no future.
Switzerland had an unmanageable heroin crisis in the 1990s. Public life in several cities was chaotic. Action was needed, but there were no known or proven answers so the Swiss identified a new model: the ‘four pillars’ approach. That approach has been used successfully since then across much of Europe and in parts of North America to address substance abuse. It treats each homeless person with dignity as a ‘client,’ recognizing that each one has individual needs and particular life circumstances. Those four pillars consist of health promotion, prevention and early detection; treatment through therapy and counselling; harm reduction and risk management; and regulation and enforcement. All four pillars are important to ensure that the assistance and intervention is successful.
In addition, and equally important, there needs to be fulsome effort related to the following:
How do we slow the flow of those being forced out on the street due to high housing costs? The federal government needs to take back ownership of the country’s public housing agenda and be the developer/builder of housing for low-income households. It needs to move from simply putting money on the table for others to build public units to managing public/social housing through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (just as it did after the Second World War). Such work needs to be done in co-operation with provinces and cities. The federal government also needs to more actively fund rent subsidies.
How do we provide a variety of housing types to address the varied needs of people who are homeless? The provincial and federal governments need to work together to identify their roles and provide the variety of housing needed to address the broad spectrum of needs (emergency shelters, low-barrier shelters, accessible housing, youth in transition housing, supportive housing, seniors housing, and affordable family housing).
How do we provide wraparound supports tailored to clients’ needs? The province needs to recognize that homelessness is as much an emergency health issue as it is a homelessness issue.
Addressing homelessness will require a scale of response that seems overwhelming. But, in the absence of such a response, the numbers of homeless will continue to grow and associated social disruption with it.
David Witty is senior fellow urban design in the master of community planning department at Vancouver Island University.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
