Shelter Forced is Not the Answer

The BC Liberals have pulled another band aid out of their triage kit and applied it to cover up the scab of homelessness, causing it to fester more.

The Assistance to Shelter Act recently passed third reading in the legislature. If it gets final approval, the legislation would give police the authority to take people at risk of harm off the streets and into emergency shelters during extreme weather conditions and to use “reasonable force” if necessary.

The Extreme Weather Response program in B.C. allows communities to temporarily increase the number of emergency shelter beds during extreme weather conditions that threaten the safety and health of homeless individuals and families when the existing emergency shelter beds within the community are overwhelmed, which, in most communities in B.C., is all of the time.

In Campbell River, the definition of Extreme Weather is temperatures below zero with rainfall , sleet, freezing rain, snow accumulation, and/or sustained high winds or just temperatures below -2 Celsius. The Extreme Weather Shelter is open for up to 12 people from 9 pm to 7 am when activated. Each community creates their own protocol. Up to now, admission has been voluntary.

They say this legislation will help to prevent tragedies such as the one that occurred last winter when a woman died trying to keep warm in a makeshift shelter after her candle tipped and caused a fire.

While “shelter forced” might have saved her that night, "housing first" would have probably ensured she was alive, well and thriving today.

“Shelter forced” also has the potential to push the more vulnerable into hiding, with their pets and shopping carts (both not allowed in shelters) or from fearing the police, and fearing shelters which can be a scary or aggravating place for some homeless people, especially for those with mental illnesses. If they hide, no one will see if they are freezing to death or burning from a candle fire. They will die alone and not be easily found.

While Rich Coleman says once at the shelter, homeless have the right to decide whether or not they want to stay at the shelter, they can also be forced into a jail cell too, for their own good.

The Liberals have had eight years and a lot of extreme weather during that time to be concerned about the problem of homelessness. Implementing this street sweep a mere three months before the Winter Olympics is suspect.

In asking the police to clean up their mess, the Liberals fail to acknowledge that they have created more homelessness through their misguided and arrogantly applied legislation, regulations and policies around poverty issues in BC. They are now pushing through legislation that is a gross violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but by the time anyone files a complaint and has it heard, the Olympics will be over. (do I hear a collective sigh of relief from the Government?)

It has been conclusively shown in more forward thinking jurisdictions who have implemented “Housing First” strategies,, that vulnerable and at-risk homeless people are more responsive to interventions and social services support after they are in their own housing, rather than while living in homeless shelters or transitional housing. With permanent housing, people begin to regain control over their lives they lost when they became homeless. Housing First costs less through reduced hospital stays, police interventions, and shelter use. "Shelter Forced" costs more all round, in dollars, in dignity, in deaths for those hiding from the police to avoid being (reasonably) forced into a place they do not want to be and after having done nothing wrong.

There is just cause to consider how much better we would be if we found a long-term solution for people who live on the streets, rather than just moving them out of sight.