Admittedly, I have been out-of-the-loop lately what with the ongoing issue of seeking a permanent residence in a city with a .05 percent and less vacancy rate; getting jacked around by numerous landlords who promise then don’t deliver. Courtesy of a bank (which shall remain nameless despite my strong desire to expose it for what it, and its various managers and executives, have put my partner and I through these last several months) – tying up our funds so that even if we found a place we are unable to come up with damage deposit and rent. My usual attention to GLBTQ rights has taken a down turn.
I have had to withdraw from virtually everything I was involved with. I resigned my position as Prairies/NWT/Nunavut Regional Co-director for Egale Canada in March 2007. I have taken an extended leave of absence from the Sexuality and Gender Diversity Committee (aka the Police Liaison Committee), which I co-founded with Richard Gregory eleven years ago. I have put Speak Sebastian, the radio show I produced and hosted on CJSW for 14 years after being involved with it for two years prior to that, on hiatus. It appears I won’t be returning to the radio waves any time soon. The only thing I have kept doing is writing for this magazine (my one source of income) and even at that, I was forced to “skip” last month because I simply was not able to focus, due to my personal situation, on doing any interviews or even this column.
When my partner and I first lost our apartment in March 2006 I assumed we would be inconvenienced for, maybe, two or three months. A year and a half and ten households later we still do not have a place to call our own, we are still relying on – quite literally – the charity of friends. The situation, far from getting slowly better, is gradually getting worse. We even had to give up our beloved dog, Joey, to ensure he at least was safe and being well looked after. I’ve cried more often in the last eighteen months than I ever have in my life.
However, struggling with homelessness and all the attendant issues of panic, depression, anxiety, worry, self-blame, stress, even hopelessness, this past eighteen months has altered my perspective on a variety of issues.
Homelessness is a personal issue. Not just for my partner and I, although obviously it is that as well, but for all who care about living in a civil society. That a city, and a province, as wealthy as ours even have a “homeless problem” is unacceptable. That City Council quibbles over the minutiae of allowing secondary suites, or that various community associations attempt to block such suites, is unacceptable. That what were affordable rental units are being routinely converted to expensive condominiums, at the expense of tenants with little-to-no choice as to where to go, is unacceptable. That no new rental units have been built in recent years to replace those lost to demolition or condo conversion is unacceptable.
That landlords and development companies can get away with charging exorbitant rents and it all is simply ascribed to the vagaries of the marketplace is unacceptable. That the provincial government took so long to even acknowledge there was a housing problem then rejected virtually every recommendation brought before it by those working in the field is unacceptable. That we, as a society, continue to build large single family dwellings rather than homes with a smaller environmental footprint, and which could accommodate more than one household, is unacceptable. That highly profitable companies are not expected to build or otherwise supply safe, decent, affordable housing for their employees is unacceptable.
That warehousing ‘the homeless’ is even seen as any sort of solution is unacceptable. That citizens have little choice as to where they will live and are forced instead to seek housing in some far-flung suburb because it is cheaper, regardless of their needs or desires, is unacceptable.
That the concept of “affordable housing” translates into some sort of cheaply produced out-of-the-way and often ugly and inaccessible structures that too easily slide into cruddy looking slum-like boxes is unacceptable. Affordable housing need not be something that ends up looking like the notorious “Projects” that blight so much of America’s inner cities, but I fear that is exactly where we are headed.
The total lack of innovation and imagination exhibited by city council and the provincial government is unacceptable. Social services that are supposed to be about providing citizens a safety net and assistance but are inaccessible (voice mail hell), understaffed, and under funded, are unacceptable. Requiring individuals, already stressed with the daily realities of not having a home, to jump through bureaucratic hoops and submit to being placed on months-long waiting lists is unacceptable.
Programs that favour one demographic over another - as important as helping a single mother and her kids off the streets is - are unacceptable. A landlord placing intrusive rules on renters (no pets, no children, no smoking) is unacceptable (and, yes, I know it’s their property…).
The erroneous assumption, too often perpetuated by media, that “the homeless” are drug-addicted dysfunctional mental cases is unacceptable. The all too-common assumption that those struggling with homelessness are somehow to blame for their predicament is unacceptable. That those working in the areas dealing with homelessness – the social and intake workers, shelter staff, activists, and counselors – are underpaid and over worked is unacceptable.
Solutions are out there. All we need is the political and social will to initiate them. One need only look to cities like San Francisco, for instance, or long-standing policies in place in many European urban centres, for creative, intelligent, comfortable solutions that work.
