Contributing to the Conversation ...

It is simply preposterous, that in a nation as wealthy as Canada, that poverty, and homelessness exists at all ...


With the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor, those who have too much and those who do not have even the basics - it is important - NO, it is vital that we step back and start to really consider what we (that's YOU AND I) can do about this ...


In a place like Brandon, where the housing market is so tight that no one, including myself can find reasonable and affordable accomodation without a great deal of difficulty, there is something wrong ... The current housing market is great for those who own rental property, or who are trying to sell their property - but for the rest of us the housing crunch creates a desperate situation, that is perhaps best summarized by the experience of a young mom with five children who happened into my office yesterday. She has recently graduated from University, started a new job and because the house she's renting is being sold, she will be homeless ...


"Next week my kids and I will be sleeping in the park unless I find something in the next four days ... " she said, "and I've been looking for 7 months ..."


If she ends up in the park sleeping in a tent, the one certainty she has is that her kids will quickly be looked after through CFS and other social agencies, who WILL do something THEN ... but none of us, myself included can do ANYTHING right now ... Six people will be homeless, not because they are "welching off the system", but because there is a willful blindness to the reality in which we live ...


Something is wrong here ... and there are no easy fixes ... and there are no easy solutions ... and for me personally, I find it ironic that in the next few weeks when our house in Minnedosa sells and M & I finally pull out of a marriage that is irrevocably broken, I, as the homelessness coordinator, may find myself homeless as well ... My one solace is that there is only one of me that I need to look after, and I know all the good sleeping places around downtown Brandon ...


But the prospect of not having a roof over my head looms very large, and while it doesn't fill me with too much apprehension, I give thanks that there is ONLY ME and not the kids to worry about ...


In the meantime, I would like to offer some of the bits and pieces I've found over the last few weeks that talk about the challenge of homelessness and poverty in a society brimming with wealth ... most of them come from The Tyee, the Vancouver Online News "paper" I mentioned yesterday ... and all of them remind us that there are some simple solutions to this national crisis - it starts with the basic lesson we teach our children - SHARE !!!!


Monte Paulsen - Seven Solutions to Homelessness (a MUST READ)


Monte Paulsen - Homeless in Suburbia


Marc Lee - We Can Afford to House the Homeless


Monte Paulsen - Evicted and Shuffled into SROs


Monte Paulsen - Vancouver's SROs: Zero Vacancy

Ten Things you Should Know about Housing and Homelessness - Wellesley Institute
(click through to find the FULL report as a .pdf file - it is worth reading)

Perhaps sadly, most of these articles could be applied to EVERY city in Canada from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver through to the little cities like Brandon, Kamloops and Fredricton ... we have a national crisis ... and it has for many, very personal repercussions ...


Housing is not a luxury, nor is food - but for too many in today's affluent society, both are becoming increasingly difficult to access in an affordable and secure way ...