END HOMELESSNESS; for once, and for ALL!

Introduction and Impression

I was able to attend this year’s 2016 National Conference on Ending Homelessness in London, thanks to the Lived Experience Scholarship that I received from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH); and I’m greatly appreciative of their assistance to attend & participate in this highly anticipated event.

It was a true privilege and honour to have had the opportunity to represent my county, and my community, alongside my fellow colleagues from SCATEH in this nation-wide movement.

For me, this experience had somewhat of an adventurous feel to it. Having lived in precarious housing, episodic homelessness, and extreme poverty for the last decade; my entire world, at least for the last 5 years, hasn’t spanned much further than a ¼ mile radius of downtown Barrie.

It’s been a long haul, no less; but, now I was going on a real road trip, and getting way the heck out of downtown! More importantly though, I was going to one of the largest gatherings of dedicated individuals from across Canada in the collective effort to end one of our modern day society’s most solvable human shames… homelessness.

The first photo that I took was of the 900+ people sitting together in the same room having lunch. When I walked into that massive room, I was absolutely stunned by the visual impact of so many people in one place, all committed to the same goal of ending homelessness; and, at the same time, I was greatly encouraged in knowing that this was just a small fraction of how many people that are actually involved in resolving this national crisis.

It was incredibly empowering. The atmosphere was so alight, and so positive, there was an undeniable buzz in the air- what an amazing natural high I got just from being there in that room!

Participation and Presentations

I attended both of SCATEH’s presentations, in support. And I want to briefly turn the spotlight on Sara Peddle, Gail Michalenko, Emily McIntosh, and Irena Pozgaj-jones, who delivered the presentations; as well as Craig Stevenson, who contributed from the audience.

I know I only have 5 minutes, but I want to literally give you a minute of my time, to say: You represented our county and our alliance with an exemplary display of professionalism, knowledge & insight, and clear understanding of the issue of homelessness. You really did us all proud!

It’s so often thankless work that we do, and we don’t do this work for the accolades or awards, of course; but, I do want to thank you on behalf of all of the people that you went there to represent, and fight for- myself included. And I applaud you, as I’m sure everyone else will too, for the valuable contribution that you made to the national conference objective. Thank you all!

I also sat in on some presentations that were of special interest to me, like the ‘Defining Homelessness’ presentation given by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. I took this opportunity to pose my contention that the Observatory, as well as all of the other groups & agencies involved in this issue, should consider a 4th ‘Definition of Homelessness’.

We currently use the terms Chronic, Episodic, and Transitional to define ‘3 key types’; the 4th type is what I call ‘Habitual Homelessness’. (We can talk more about it later, if you like, I just don’t have the luxury of time at the moment to elaborate further!)

But I did get a brief answer from Steven Gaetz, one of the presenters, and Director of the Observatory. It seems I’ll need to reiterate my point again another time, perhaps when he has more time to continue the dialog?

However, I was approached afterwards by a few agency reps from Edmonton/Medicine Hat, and they completely agreed with my reasoning. In fact, they even stated that they were already accounting for this 4th type of homelessness in their own agencies. So, that was encouraging, nonetheless.

Seeing The Visibly Unseen

At night, after all of the ‘hustle & bustle’ of the day, I went out to roam around the streets alone. I ventured several blocks from my hotel in all directions to ‘take-in’ some of the streets of London.

I was in my element now, and I absorbed the sights of Visibly Unseen in their city. I engaged a few people, but mostly just observed. Their city isn’t any different from ours; not at street level, not at the human level. Amidst the pockets of people that I saw on the streets, the same familiar contrasts were ever-present; I could tell who was waiting for a bus, and who was waiting for hope; Who was waiting for the light to change, and, who was waiting for their life to change… Homelessness is truly a national crisis.

Regardless of how any city or region may ‘rank’ in statistical measures, or demographical differences, there is NO difference when it relates to the dignity & decency that every single one of our vulnerable & disadvantaged members in our society rightfully deserve, and are entitled to, as a basic human right.

NOW, Is The Time For ACTION

What I took away from my trip to the CAEH16 National Conference in London was a deep sense of national unity, and preparedness, to end homelessness. And, a reaffirmation that it is time for change, and far too long overdue.

Our governments, on all levels, will have to work hard and diligently now to undo the damage done from decades of previous administrations that turned a blind eye to the socioeconomic imbalance in our country, and abandoned Affordable Housing construction over 30 years ago.

It is a moral obligation that we permanently bring people in off the streets, and a human right that we provide decent affordable housing for people in need to live in.

We’ve done all of the research, we’ve done all of the surveys; we’ve prepared the Plan to end this societal shame. What we need now is for our federal government to implement, and uphold, an aggressive National Housing Strategy.

Let’s stop the talk, and start the walk! There is a lot of distance to make up!

NOW, is the time for ACTION- right now!

We’re ready to move on this! But just like the 100’s & 100’s of thousands of Canadian citizens in desperate need, we have nowhere to move to!!

We need housing! And fast!

We can do this; but, we need a solid and substantial financial commitment from our federal government.

It is time for them to stand up, take out their cheque book, and ‘Pay The Way’ towards a NEAR future where no man, woman, or child- regardless of what their age, gender, race, orientation, physical, or psychological status may be, and... PUT AN END TO HOMELESSNESS, for once, and for ALL !

Thank you.

*Please, copy & paste the link below to your browser, and send a clear message to your MP that homelessness is NOT acceptable in one of the wealthiest industrialized nations in the world. Send the Message at: http://ow.ly/u6qc306r1em Let’s #AddressHomelessness!