All I want for Christmas is...food
All I want for Christmas is… food
A while ago, I took a walk down East Hastings Street, and honestly I was quite scared. I heard a lot about what goes on here and was alert all the time...but after a while, I observed some people, and saw that it wasn’t so bad. I saw people in sleeping bags on the sidewalk, people pushing around shopping carts with various possessions, and people standing with scruffy looking clothes and a piece of cardboard with writing on it. My question after seeing this -How did they end up like this? After I did some research, I was shocked by the numbers. Of the 28 million people in Canada, over 200,000 people are currently homeless, and 702,600 people are at risk of homelessness.
Studies have shown homelessness is a result of 12 reasons: Substance abuse, mental illness (mental health services are unavailable, and patients are improperly deinstitutionalized), poverty (unemployment/underemployment), lack of affordable housing, domestic issues/ violence, prison release and reentry into society, natural disaster, forced eviction, mortgage foreclosures, and finally property taxes.
Many are socially isolated, have a poor diet, and are constantly exposed to the elements, thus are why the average age of a homeless person in Canada is 41 years. Currently, there are 65,000+ shelters in Canada, but many of them are nighttime only. This means in the morning, you get a limited time to gather your belongings, and then turned back onto the streets, whether hail, rain, or snow. You may not return until the set time in the night, and if you’re late, you may miss your spot for the night.
A number of projects are currently being run to help the homeless of BC, and Canada. The At Home/Chez Soi Project involves 2,285 homeless people from 5 major cities-Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Moncton, and Winnipeg. 1,325 people will be given a long term place to live, and the remaining will be given medical care and other services. Another project is Blanket BC, a father-son project whose goal was to warm the needy. Started in 2006, the project now has 16,000 blankets. Other projects are under way, and as 2010 approaches, I hope that more will be helped.
