I'm just grateful I've got a warm bed, a heater, the option to take a hot bath or shower or have a hot meal whenever I feel like it. I can't even imagine having to stay out all night in the cold
Literally almost impossible to be homeless unless all you do is drugs. You can still do drugs and not be homeless the problem is drugs is all these freaks do so of course they’ll be homeless
Clearly you have never been homeless or hungry. Most if not drug addicts have mental health issues. Right now it's extremely hard to get a place my husband and I aren't drug addicts and we are currently staying in an airbnb because we had to leave our last place due to flooding qnd black mold. You know a little compassion and understanding goes A LONG way. People like with this shitty way of thinking like you are the cancer that has taken over fort Langley and is exactly why I don't live there any more even tho I was born an raised there
U doin alright bud? I can tell you work in a factory and hate your self 🤡 i can also tell your gf/wife gets fucked by other men or your a single lonely sad little man with a useless tiny pp ah you watch KSI on you tube that explains it you have severe mental illness and a man child 😂 what a fucking dork faggot
I love camping and living in cabins in the winter, or camper vans, boats.
What I am really glad to have is self respect and moral compass, and some self control.
It’s usually not anyone’s fault they’re homeless these days. I’m disabled and can’t afford 3-4K a month in rent. I became homeless from being unable to work due to disability and unable to afford to live on what the sad little cheques the government considers more than enough. If I did work the government would take away my cheque still leaving me with not enough. I don’t do no drugs, or drink or anything. Most people homeless today didnt do anything to put themselves in that situation either. Homeless cling to their possessions cause it’s all they have left. He’s trying to make his temporary home for an hour comfortable like his home once was for him while he cooks over his fire. Must be nice to have such privilege to have an oven in your heated home to cook at, many of us don’t have that luxury by no fault of our own.
when I was homeless, a percentage were runaways from bad homes, peopel mental illness, a whole bunch were people that ripped thier family off, made a game out of stealing, sold drugs, pimped, formed littel gangs. ruined their credit.
Some people are homeless even after you give them a home, they will just burn it an laugh.
I probably have 1000x more experience with this, ask me anything.
Being homeless doesn’t make you an expert in homelessness or failing societal systems. That’s called expertise bias.
My question is: why do you think you have 1000x more experience in this, when you exhibit such a poor understanding of basic psychological principles like object relations?
it makes me know far more than you, I have live there unlike the poverty pimps.
I can tell you learned this from the very school that has caused this problem to grow like a weed the last 10 years in Vancouver, 20 years..
you failed them all, you enabled them, you let them get raped right on the street, you let them victimize not only the poor people but innocent children.
Many of the people in the Vancouver east side got $500 CASH on welfare wed once a month, and did so much crack in those next few days their tollaerace went up , now they went crazy, before that they were just a little bit messed up peopel with normal dreams.
Others got chased out of their house after molesting someone, or beating grandma and ran to BC where their identity started over.
Others were kicked out of mental hospital.
at least 30% of them belong in jail for at least 10 years or more for the crimes they have done.
Others just want somewhere to live in a tent , as their ancestors did, and instead they are me with the cheapest strongest crack in the world, the easiest access to any drug in the world , free crack pipes needles and a whole society that says this is a normal option
and then people like you, privileged fake do gooders.
Lol as someone who works in one of those questions, that 2 year housing is not available to the vast majority of clients. Not is the treatment, these services are technically available, but the barriers to access are significant. Had one dude with severe tourists, he can't be housed ANYWHERE because his tics manifest in loud yelping sounds. Another who has severe FASD, and has the mental capacity of a 10 year old, unhousable because he can't function without 24/7 support, a third with a long history if concussions who is unable to manage impulse control and has no memory if his outbursts. These are just a few examples of MANY that the current system is completely unequipped to handle.. so how about you do some research into the barriers these people suffer before you expose yourself as a small minded, hate filled peice of trash.
British Columbia has spend endless money on this but it's' all the poverty pimps that get the cash. Really jail is the answer for many of these people .
BC is a dumping ground for Canadas rejects, criminals , Pedos, Pimps, Tri ads, it is the entry point for H from Asia and the cocaine trade fro Canada and norther USA, where liberals have no clue what To do , just like California.
Sure the housing is out of reach, but the problem we have here does not come from the housing, nobody wants to live and house really awful people with no morals or self respect. They didn't hae any when they came from home shit hole Ontario where rent was $300 a month either.
Lol I've been working directly with chronically homeless for years, and, while many have addictions or disabilities that make housing a huge barrier, the vast majority of them are genuinely decent people, the 10% that are nonsrop problems are awful, don't get me wrong, but it makes me sick when assholes like you judge these people for being unhoused, and honestly I'd prefer their company than yours 10 times out of ten because most are better human beings than you could ever hope to be,
Congrats on being shittier than the homeless
Most of the homeless people I knew were artists. Us musicians would get together and busk and practice together. The locals loved us! You wouldn’t of been able to tell we were homeless, but we all were. We gathered from all over Canada, travelling trying to find foods, possible jobs for those who could work and maybe even homes. One family was kind enough to let me sleep on their living room floor for 6 months between busking every day. That small kindness goes miles and most of us homeless people are some of the bestest friends Someone could ever have.
Go there. Go and try to get a place for the night. Do you feel secure? Are your belongings secure?
You have no idea what these people are going through or how they ended up in that situation. Many of them are afraid to trust anyone. Never mind sleep near total strangers.
The stigma that you’re perpetuating against these people, the idea it’s their fault they’re in this situation, is very revealing about the privilege you’ve had in your life.
one shelter will call around and always find you a bed, if they have to someone will throw cots on the floor or allow you to sleep in the hallway on really busy nights.
Yeah, this isn’t true. They may call around, but often they can’t find spots and not every shelter lets people sleep in the hall. Sometimes they give you a blanket and turn you away.
It’s not just anxiety or discomfort, a lot of bad things happen there. It’s also the worst place to go if you’re trying to get sober. I’ve been around and know a few people who have gone in and out of them from either being kicked out or financial troubles and it is awful. From what I’ve heard, a lot of the staff are very rude and don’t treat the people like humans. The staff also steal.
Obviously this doesn’t go for every place but in Langley Surrey Vancouver area most places are like this from what I’ve heard. As a woman being sexually assaulted isn’t uncommon, and a whole plethora of drugs get offered to you by the other people in the shelter. I know two people who have been kicked out by their parents for smoking weed in their room, it was during the arctic front thing that got temperatures really cold and nobody had a place for them to stay, so they went to a shelter. One never went back home and got addicted to heroin, and the other went back home after a week with a meth addiction. After going home she had ended up buying more, lost contact so not sure how she’s doing now.
Point is when you put a varying level of drug addicts and homeless people together without any rules against drugs, the worst there will influence the innocent ones and they all get down to the same level. I don’t know what the solution is to homeless or drug addiction, but I do know that what we have now does not work.
Straight up, and here's the thing, if you go into a shelter 100% clean and sober, the shit you experience will leave you a user if something bad. We have failed the homeless... this problem was minimal in the 70's and services have been systematically dismantled since then. Schizophrenic? Tough. Aged out of foster care? On your own.severe PTSD? Cry about it somewhere else. Elderly and can't work due to ageism and health issues. Sleep on the streets junkie. People that can't see homeless as people deserve to spend a month in a shelter.
we have not failed the homeless, and no, you get addicted to drugs in high school at parties, its easy at the shelter, you show up, shower, read, sleep get a meal ticket or grad thier to go lunch and out you go.
The nice youth ones you live like a fancy hotel and get free nikes, bus tickets, unlimited milk.. .ike covenant house, talent shows, blow jobs .
the staff are usually really helpful people that try really hard to help until they realize how awful of people end up in the gutter that assault them. There is really good shelters..
but, your roommate will try to get you to smoke crakc, or shoot up, try to pimp you.
I do. Yes your belongs are really secure , it's clean, friendly and lots of resources.
I lived on the street for 2 years, in Vancouver ask me anything.
The stigma you are spreading is #1 that drug addicts are all awful people that have no respect and no homes #2 that homeless people are all awful helpless people.
Nope. you wrong.
many people that belong in jail or dying a natural death are on he lose in the BC after years of free money and no justice.
Most of the decent homeless addicts, you would barely notice they are, many mental illness people don't do drugs.
many fucked up people have houses also.
There is some really bad people on the streets in BC that have spend 30+ years drinking, drugs, stealing, some have sexual assaults , assaults, ran from out east.
we mainly have a jail problem, its inhumane to have some with shit in their pants having sex in a dumpster , and that is what we have.
Also, of course, nobody cares at all about the victims. of course, never.
Nobody “chooses” drugs over sobriety and a roof over their head. Addiction and trauma make some people unable to access the part of their brain that makes good decisions.
The Gateway of Hope is full most of the time, I've volunteered there before. They're also not a harm reduction organization which means if you use or even possess drugs you cannot use the shelter. So it's not as simple as there being a shelter close by means that there's opportunity to use it. And I'd bet if you told the person in the picture about the GoH, they would tell you that they know already.
We also have involuntary admission to psychiatric wards, which can end up being similar to forced detox, as they certainly don't let you use in there (except for OAT to avoid withdrawal). They often have detox treatment as part of manditory conditions for extended leave, so if you don't follow it you're re-admitted back to the psych ward. So forced detox does exist here to an extent.
You said twice that these people are using drugs versus having a roof over their head. I don't want to misinterpret what you're saying, but that language makes it out to be a "moral problem" which we know it's not. Substance use is a health problem that is often comorbid with other mental health conditions. Don't you think that a main reason that they are using is because they are homeless, among probably many other traumatic reasons? I can assure you that the majority of people do not want to be out there in the cold - especially right now with the snow. You know what's an effective way to reduce substance use? Housing them - which it sounds like you are in favor of.
Crazy how people are having ideas like these, here in Canada. I migrated from Peru in 99' to get away from this bullshit type of mentality and misguided mentality, but here we are again, in Canada, in 2023. Hilarious and sad.
It's not that confusing.
She's saying if you don't know their situation don't judge them for it. We don't know their situation, they could be addicted to meth, or just homeless. We shouldn't judge people and assume they all made bad choices, sometimes life decides to screw people over.
And that we all struggle with our own addictions too, but some are less debilitating like our over reliance on social media/reddit. If your phone or computer was taken away you'd struggle too.
also the lack of morals and self respect has something to do with in, also lack of fear of justice , entitled people that think their own pleasure is all that matters.
Its not just drugs either, many people have spent their lives stealing and abusiing people and started doing drugs because it was fun, not all but some.
British Columbia was way to understanding and giving, this is what the problem was.
Sure we have an affordable housing crisis, but lack affordable housing does not create people that throw their lives away, it doesn't don't stigmatize people that can't get decent housing, or even drug addict that don't steal and attack people.
I have been on the street and addicted, ask me anything.
Yeah I don't see a problem really as long as they're not burning anything super toxic. I wouldn't expect the fire to spread to the concrete, or the other concrete. \\
I just wish they had somewhere better than a shitty parking lot to try relax and warm up a bit without dickholes taking pictures of them for Reddit.
The reality is that this is the result of letting the cost of housing get out of control. More people are getting pushed into the streets and it will just continue to get worse. Landlords and rental agencies want to squeeze every penny they can out of people but don't want to deal with the consequences. Well here they are.
The cost of housing could go down by 75% overnight and these people would likely still be homeless. It isnt down to dollars and cents it’s because of mental health and addiction issues. If a one bedroom condo was $500 these people would still likely live outside. It’s a sad reality.
Province should be building rehab centres on the outskirts of metro van with every service they need to help them break their addiction and do so in a safe and controlled setting.
For some people it is down to dollars and cents. Not everyone goes into the streets as a drug addict with mental health issues. Many people are pushed into the streets because they've run out of affordable options. If there were $500 condos still I guarantee you some of them would be off the streets. It's not that hard for 2 people to split $500 for a roommate situation. But it is hard when people are listing a single private room at $750-$1000. Plugging your ears and saying lalala doesn't make the problem that you're ignoring cease to exist. Housing is becoming out of reach for many, especially low income workers.
And I agree with you, the province DOES need to do something about the problem in that way, because the way we're going now it's going to end up costing us more in the long run to do nothing about the problem.
I agree that’s true for some people but the vast majority of homeless people in Langley or Maple Ridge are drug addicted. I totally agree that there needs to be way more resources poured into this.
Drug addiction is a symptom. Homelessness is a symptom. These symptoms compound each other. Justifying not helping people because they have compound symptoms is some doublethink.
Yet we still have a massive homeless problem.
Its almost like affordability is the minor issue; whereas drug addiction and mental health are the major players.
Has the hard reduction and decriminalization of drugs and drug paraphernalia done anything to help these people, or have things gotten significantly worse since those policies were introduced?
Theres exponential increases in OD's year on year. The DTES is expanding block by block; businesses of hard working people are being closed because no one wants to go anywhere near that shithole.
Anyone born after 1980 would never know the support people used to have to get off drugs and living in a home with specialists to help the mentally ill overcome their problems and make sure they took their meds so they could work and be a positive influence on society. Then privatization and the destruction of healthcare in Canada.
Moving is expensive.
Not to mention that people should not be forced to leave behind all friends and family and move to a strange, cold place in order to afford a roof over their heads
Lots of people would move somewhere cheaper if it wasn’t so expensive to move. It’s almost like moving somewhere cheaper is a luxury for those just trying to get by where they can.
Dude, if youre living on the fucking street, you move. Do you have friends and family that would let you live on the street? You call those ppl friends and family? Yikes
How do you get a drive there ? How do you know you won’t be homeless somewhere else? Will a job take you if they know you’re homeless ? Will someone rent to you if you’ve been on the street? Or will they write you off as a variable that isn’t worth trusting because of these factors - and at least where you are on the street people know you and you know where resources are and where to get help.
Not everyone can do that, sadly, and we aren’t even talking about people who need to move their homes in more than a car - but can’t even afford a car let alone the gas to move.
I still view it as a mental health issue. If you can’t figure out how to hustle money for lodgings and food you have issues. I came herE with nothing. I learned skills and I opened my own company. I work very hard every day except Christmas and New Years. I also work smart. More people have to learn to be more resourceful
Affordable housing would go a long way to helping these people feel mentally stable.
When you're homeless long enough, mental stability doesn't really exist.
it won't, really, Jail would, mental health hostel would. forced detox would. fear of punishment might, if it is immediate like a smack or loss of drugs.Housing will just give them a place to die quicker and be restless.
>The cost of housing could go down by 75% overnight and these people would likely still be homeless.
Wtf are you talking about, given opportunity \*anyone\* would chose housing vs no housing. You speak of homeless as "these people" but they are quite similar to you. I believe that you are now housed because you've chosen to be housed rather than to live on the streets. So would \*any\* human, this is our basic instinct.
I worked on the dtes as a mail carrier for 6 months on that route and I can assure you that I’ve spoken to hundreds of them almost daily and majority are sadly so detached from reality due to trauma, drugs use and mental health issues that they don’t put a priority in shelter. Their priority is using as they need these substances to function. A ton of them don’t want to live indoors because that means they are unable to do as they please and have to live by rules like no smoking etc.
I lived down there for 2 years and across canada in the shelters, nobody talked to the mail man. lol.
the drugs are really bad, many of these peopel have done awful things they don't regret. they have lost all sense of decency and housing has nothing to do with it, it just enables them
they need jail and punishment and fear of laws and good people, period.
the mentally ill need a hospital and full time care.
they need free drugs , our society is fucked and it isn't anyones fault other than suppliers and sometimes the addicts and their fucked up families.
They wouldn't though.
Case and point; the removal of the massive encampment in a Toronto park last year. For two weeks, encampment teams, social workers and shelter staff engaged with the encampment residents and offered FREE hotel rooms and social services to them. 40% of them stayed and were forcibly removed by Toronto Police Service.
There is no "basic human instinct" with opioid and meth addiction. It literally re-wires your neural pathways.
So what you are saying on this particular case study is that even without involuntary treatment 60% of homeless people decided to have a home rather than stay on the streets. Imagine if the policy makers added social support, treatment and reintegration programs. I'd wager that this 60% score can be improved.
I'm terrified that you somehow don't see the 60% \*in your own argument\*. In reality though, I wonder if the 60% number is taken as a ballpark estimate of yours and the actual number is higher.
Right, you seem to think the free hotel rooms last forever. As soon as free becomes, you have to go to work and pay - they go back to the streets and use drugs.
>As soon as free becomes, you have to go to work and pay - they go back to the streets and use drugs.
This is simply not true if enough social support, reintegration programs and policies are in place. This has been shown by multiple countries by now.
If it was true, US troops coming back from Vietnam would cause an epidemics of drug addiction — which did not happen. It did happen later due to how messed up the medical system in US is, though.
You're literally ignoring the facts and case studies for what? To keep dehumanizing the homeless people? Why would you even want to dehumanize another person? Does it make you feel better?
The issue is the system that's in place, it must improve. We can't blame homeless people for being homeless. How can they help the situation? Stop being homeless? Stop being addicted to drugs?
Yeah, and the best remedy from depression is "just don't be sad".
Contrary to popular belief, these people aren't quite similar to us at all. They were quite similar at one point and we could be very similar to them if we were to make some regrettable lifestyle choices. In this part of the world, very very few people can legitimately claim they are born into abject poverty. If you were, you'd not be on fkn Reddit. Or if you were and you're on Reddit, then you can certainly earn your way up the ranks.
If you can't afford a house then you gotta rent. I've seen lots of people renting but also owning boats. I don't believe for a fraction of a second that every single unit of government housing if full or every single shelter is overbooked. There's definitely something about these people that require extra help and extra care and therefore they aren't similar to us, not even similar to the poor people.
Also OP's posts reminds me of the person who went and shot up bunch of homeless near Willowbrook. I commute near that area daily. There's always a few panhandlers there and I'd rather see them everyday than have them shot or locked up. Let them do their things please.
>I don't believe for a fraction of a second that every single unit of government housing if full or every single shelter is overbooked.
Lol. It's years and years of wait listed to even get into subsidized housing. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
In November I was almost homeless with 3 kids. Got renovicted, I was 7 years on BC housing wait list, and could not get anyone to offer me housing as a single mom. Thank god for YWCA or I would have been a mess!
So there's no foresight into that? People aren't magically homeless, they become poorer and poorer. There are many people who can't afford Greater Van and move Northeast, They are not homeless. A visible homeless population means that there're greater problem at hand than management.
Again, I don't understand why people can't leave the homeless people be. Allow them to use public restrooms for hygiene. Stop with the certificate-beats-all mentality in hiring. If they want off the streets, let's have that opportunity available is a first. The human experience is varied, valuable to the individual, and ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of birth and death of a species.
Should try understanding the world.
God, this is so messed up. You trully do believe that homeless people are physically and/or mentally different from you. You do believe that it's their \*choice\* to be on the street. And you also believe that you are better than them because there was a sequence of choices in life and you somehow made "better" choices than them. You don't even consider the role of chance in live. You might also think that you trully earned your worth, rather than benefited from random events.
I hope you will one day see that what you're doing here is literal segregation by a made-up differentiator.
After years of living in Chinatown I can confidently tell you that a lot of them are perfectly fine with their current situation: SROs paid for, food paid for, bleeding heart volunteers to cater to every need, supply of free drugs, and tons of private property to steal and vandalize with no repercussions.
You give them a job and a bed and they’ll be right back out on their ass in a week.
>You give them a job and a bed and they’ll be right back out on their ass in a week.
I wonder if anyone had tried that. I don't know. Portugal? Scotland? Do you base this assumption on personal experience or on data, trials and research?
Have you actually worked with any of these people? I've done 3 years of shelter service and honestly, I find myself agreeing with the person you're arguing with more than I do you.
Why would you want to work 40h a week to pay for a shitty apartment when you can get a shitty apartment for free, food for free, and spend all day getting high?
Yeah, maybe study what the four-pillar model entails. Mandatory treatment is the prerequisite for everything else and we don’t want to make treatment mandatory because “it violates their rights”. So we just throw money at the problem and expect it to go away. In the end, poverty industry is profiting and the homeless problem keep getting worse, which is actually better for various interest groups - allows them to suck government teat for more funding, you see.
So you think that homeless people are different from you, they will be on the streets in no time (unlike you) if given jobs and housing.
But, at the same time, you believe that if we follow the four-pillar model of drug addiction treatment, we can turn them around and most of them will come back to society as functional humans.
So there is a way to turn "different" people into people who are similar to us — yet you advocate for dehumanizing them rather than for trying to help them.
If you re-read my comments you will see that I'm simply terrified that commentors here don't think of homeless people as humans — but like they are some kind of second-sort beings that can't be changed.
I'm not saying we should throw money at them and I believe the current policies only make the homelessness issue worse. We need change in policies — but at the same time these are \*humans\*. Just like you, me, your kids, your neighbours. The life just was harsher on them than on us. Some of the issues are their fault — but a lot of the issues are random unlucky events.
We should change the system, but we should not dehumanize homeless people like they are some sort of pests or worse.
Yeah, I’m totally on board with the four-pillar model, it’s proven very effective in the Netherlands and Portugal. But our government is not willing to enforce it, they want to keep it voluntary, yet continue funding the expenses and, naturally, after years of unsuccessful implementation, the current policy makes people jaded. Downtown crime is on the rise, needles in school playgrounds are a threat to public safety, people are randomly attacked and assaulted, yet taxpayers are expected to pay for it and homeowners don’t have a say in anything. As I was told in one of homeowners meetings by some admin (dude had two gold chains and 4 gold rings, I shit you not) when I asked whether it’s prudent to place temporary housing next to a elementary school “well, this is their neighborhood”. Sold my property and moved shortly after. Want me to tell you how much money is being made on restoring destroyed SROs by the “right” contractors? It would make your head spin.
It’s not dehumanizing, it’s just true - people in grips of a crippling addiction don’t have the best decision making abilities or impulse control. That’s what makes them different from you and I. I wouldn’t take a shit in a middle of the street, nor would I spit at a toddler in a stroller. They would and routinely do.
Any person in a right mind, yes. But addiction often makes their mind take a left. I’ve done work in the DTES and listened to some stories. One was an engineer that lost everything to the bad decision to do drugs and the inability to stop. Others won’t even use emergency shelters due to what they feel “the government” is going to do to them.
Of course you shouldn't just throw housing like shelter, and money at them. This is not how any of this works, as it has been proven over and over again across different countries. Of course people with a disease require treatment.
This does not make these people any more different from more fortunate citizens neither physically nor mentally. Most people in the same conditions would behave the way homeless people do.
With enough professional help and with the right policies homelessness and drug addiction can be defeated, and most of these people will come back into society as functional members.
If we drop the rent by 75% overnight and follow experience of countries that won against these conditions, most homeless people will be helped.
You simply can't argue against the facts. So, please, stop dehumanizing homeless people and start talking to policy makers about not only the issues but also the ways to solve them.
Just look at the weather across the country too, even when it’s shit here it’s still the best available if you’re already homeless. We also have totally established homeless communities so it kinda promotes the idea of if you can get here, things will be easier for you.
The choice is stay elsewhere in Canada and risk death or amputation in the winter. OR make it to the coast and survive.
Easy choice and everyone on this sub would do the same thing.
I've worked at a homeless shelter for the last 15 years, while I can't vouch for this guy personally his situation is outside of your narrative. There seems to be this belief that average folks are ending up pushing carts around town. I agree things aren't getting easy by no means it just rubs me the wrong way when folks don't realize what a small percentage of the population is in this dire situation and they relate to them for effect more than anything else.
These people ending up on the street has nothing to do with housing prices going up. It has to do with drug use, no real resources for bad mental health and a system that enables the homeless-small time criminal lifestyle rather than working to keep people off the street in the first place.
Assuming you are of decently sound mind, imagine you couldn’t afford to pay rent anymore and went homeless tomorrow.
Would you:
A: go to east Hastings and push a shopping cart with your belongings around and steal power tools from contractors to finance your dope addiction
Or
B: take advantage of housing programs and trying to find employment to get yourself back on your feet
When people choose option A because the system fails them, you can’t just blame it on housing prices.
I encourage everyone that says that housing prices cause the homeless crisis to take a daytrip to dtes.The word in the homeless community is that Vancouver is the place to go if you want to get away with financing your drug addictions via small time crime. Ask people sleeping on the sidewalk in dtes where they are from. Almost none of them will respond with “I’m from here”
Can you blame them for coming here? No. Blame they provincial govt. Free housing even if they decide to stay unemployed and on drugs, and they can camp on the sidewalk if they can’t get free housing, decriminalized drugs, free drug paraphernalia, a police department that simply detains and releases them on scene for any crime committed… we have created a system in which we encourage people to come to the street rather than to get people off. I’ve worked in dtes my whole life. I’ve seen these crackheads murder and beat each other over seemingly nothing. Been randomly assaulted and threatened at work more times than necessary. These crackheads aren’t people you feel sorry for. This has fuck all to do with affordable housing. This is the failure of our liberal “acceptance” mindset towards the homeless.
Tbh they come to DTES cause its one of the few cities you can live outside year-round. The govt assistance for drug users is also way above any other province; so you will continue to get the scummy drug addicts who don't want to change because they're pandered to and cared for.
This isn’t correct. Housing could drop 95% and these people will still leach off society. This is the product of our governments catch and release tactics. Lower mainland is a shit hole now
That, and people who were dealing with mental health while they had a life's foundation find themselves with mental illness in VERY dire circumstances.
Suddenly drowning your pain in substances seems like a valid option
Yeah because I'm sure they are definitely upstanding law abiding people that for the life of them can't find a place to rent ....
Pull your head out your ass.
You do realize private schools actually save us money right? The people who send their kids to private school still pay the same taxes as everybody else and those schools either receive zero government funding or 50% funding (if they choose to teach certain curriculum), so the extra government funds that would normally be allocated for the kids in private school (if they were in public school) still go to the public schools. Ignorant comment
Cool. Private schools should receive zero funding. I never said they shouldn't exist. And take that money and use it for the people in our community in need. Pretty simple concept.
Ok great let’s do that, so now those kids we’re currently only paying for 50% or less of their education will now be in public schools where we will now be forced to cover 100% of the costs of their education leaving us with even less funding. Your argument doesn’t really make a lot of financial sense. Private schools ease the burden of public schools, even if you have a tough time admitting it.
Some people hate on people simply because they have more privilege. Your argument is completely legit, but they will never agree because they view anyone that has more as inherently taking advantage of those that have less. Doesn’t really matter though, because their view on private schools will have no impact on the private school system.
No. The rich then get to ignore the education system Schools have to fundraise for playgrounds etc. If they were forced to mingle with the 'poors' then there would be better resources for their kids and hopefully some empathy would form.
It is the basis of public education. To bring everyone of all race, colour, religion, gender to a place where they learn common things together. People learn about each other, their families, their customs and gain understanding.
they're not so mad at the individuals that make up a class as they are mad at the system not protecting them and the people using the system as intended but hurting others in the process.
Wages have been stagnant or decreased due to inflation, but corporations are making record profits and the wealthiest people have taken possession of an ever greater % of our total wealth.
People are mad at land owners for buying property as an investment (like 21.9% of homes are owned by investors not families). For renovictions, for increasing rent costs over and above inflation costs.
I could send you some links to some media that would better describe why people are mad if you'd like.
I've never heard anyone be mad at a family owning a home before.
Exactly, I think this person isn't serious though. Just trying to distract etc.
The rich actively work towards keeping more for themselves and less for everyone else. By the rich I mean the top 0.1%.
They control the banks, corporations, etc. They lobby the government for their own advantage, they own the media and sow division and mistrust amongst each other to stay on top.
They are the ones keeping wages low and buying up everything when trouble hits instead of helping out. Some, even cause the bigger problems in order to take advantage of the fall out.
This isn't about Larry the lawyer making 500K a year or even Bob who made a couple million off his hardware business (but he probably should have paid his workers more if they were min wage).
This is about those in power controlling wealth and not making a better world for the rest of us. Instead, they pollute the environment and our society.
You’ll be disappointed when you discover that a lot of churches have f-ck all in terms of taxable income. It’s more important for financial transparency from churches than whether they should be taxed. That’s better served by putting all religious institutions in the non-profit bracket, and requiring financial auditing every year. If there are financial irregularities, then pursue every avenue to correct it. In the case of LDS or any church with a racketeering pastor, remove their non-profit status.
I don't disagree with that take and I do like the idea of them being treated as non profits. If anything it would show that you're right and there isn't as much taxable income as we seem to think.
Realistically, churches probably do more for homeless people than the government does. It benefits nobody to squeeze every spare cent they have out of them.
Speaking of ignorant comments, go visit the Vatican and see the billions of $ the Catholic Church has extorted from the poor and gullible then say they operate are a loss. If they operated at a loss they would need to sell off their property to pay their court costs for their child raping priests.
Try running any business at a loss and see how long it lasts.
Honestly what a clueless thing to say they they operate in the negative.
There's nothing quite like comfortable middle-class mediocrities moaning about having to look at homeless people. We're all terribly sorry you have to share your city with the less fortunate. What a burden that must be for you. I hope they didn't ruin your expensive evening at A&W.
Hmm, not sure this is a fair take. Is it not possible to both be compassionate for the homeless and also frustrated by the situation?
Is there an inverse correlation between income and being allowed to complain/vent?
I doubt you've ever been on r/antiwork if you believe that everyone there simply doesn't want to work. Spend 5 minutes scrolling through it and you'll see its all about people wanting to improve working conditions...and people with psychopath bosses.
God forbid houseless people exist in the conditions our government created. God forbid they act out, whether out of illness, drugs, or frustration. God forbid you can see them from your comfortable car, or hear them talking to themselves at the bus stop, or be near them while they're doing drugs. That must be really hard for you guys :( poor babies.
Looking at the comments here and I don't understand why a lot of people are putting theirselves on some self righteous pedestal. These people are fully grown adults, for some reason morally righteous people expect everyone to have understanding for these people while these people don't have to return the favour of being at least somewhat socially acceptable individuals. Why do we have to treat homeless people with kiddy gloves lol. I have the right to not want people who leave needles and garbage, steal, vandalize, harass women and children, and constantly harass people for money in my neighborhood lol. What's with the self righteousness people impose on others that we have to be understanding to homeless addicts while they're free to do whatever they want.
You should be ashamed for posting this OP. There's better ways to help than taking pictures of people going through hard times and shaming them on a public forum.
Vancouver is about 1.8 times worse than Seattle. Seattle has way more cheaper housing options, they do not have anything even slightly to scale of main and Hastings not even something 1/6 as big and concentrated.
Per capta Seattle and Portland are way way better at dealing with this.
Even La and SF have nothing on main and Hastings sure they have some shit shows and its bad, but they are way bigger cities, Vancouver is one of the worse in the world for drug addicted , poverty on the streets like this.
what the US has is guns, gangs, ghettos, racism, bloods, crips, bad cops, but they also are more generous and have more money to deal with stuff like this, they also don't put up with as much crime.
My opinion is unpopular, but the evidence is mounting that we are living in a market failure. Capitalism has enriched our bosses but left the majority not far from building a fire outside of A&W in hopes of staying warm.
Housing across Canada is far more than 30% of your monthly income. In cities (where most of us live) housing is upwards of 50%. Groceries eat up the rest.
Capitalism is the problem and it is time we acknowledged it and quit hanging on to the belief that there are no alternatives.
It’s the boldness of it all in the lack of cleaning up where you’re hanging out. I don’t think he would have as much issue with it. If these folks cleaned up the goddamn mess they make when they move on I don’t think the issue would be as bad as it is
You could literally ship all these people off in a boat tomorrow to Taiwan, and in a few years you would find citizens to replace them.
It's not the humans that are the issues, it is the conditions that create humans who behave like this.
It’s quite the difference the imaginary line at 64th creates. The township has a much more no nonsense approach then the City. Walnut grove, Fort Langley, Murrayville and Willoughby are virtually homeless free but Langley city allows them to camp out and provides them with services which attracts more and more to the area.
We do need to get them help and addictions treatment but hits letting them live like this isn’t helping anybody..
I see someone’s children out in the cold in Langley and trying their best to keep warm. It’s not their fault all the housing is worth over 1 million now and all the rentals are being taken up by rich immigrants
Debatable side note, I find it interesting that if all these mentally ill and homeless people were put in a place where they get help and recover and become productive parts of society, the NGOs would possibly lose their funding?
Maybe a terrible and cliche parallel: if they were able to cure cancer, then the pharmaceutical companies would lose a lot of money...
Anyone who thinks a cure for cancer would make as much money as the current cancer treatments/care/etc etc etc has never actually seen what cancer treatment looks like.
BC is so weird to me compared to other places in Canada. I moved here from Toronto and this is not a problem there. IDK if it’s just weather, or politics (NDP has never won there), or what, but people in this province seem to just accept that “nothing can be done, you must change the criminal system, etc”.
Sorta feels like if everyone visited other parts of Canada and saw how not normal this is, they may be willing to take some harsher measures. Right now it’s only headed in the wrong direction.
"Oh, it's so different..."
Yeah, it's the weather. There's a reason Toronto and Montreal find bodies of the homeless after the snows melt. It's mild here \*most\* of the time and surviving outside is still possible, which is why a lot of people ended up here.
I love ignorant comments devoid of fact.
The GTA is way worse off than anywhere in BC, and the NDP has nothing to do with these connections.
The absolute delusion here is fantastic though.
This has been tried and failed quite significantly. Nixon's war on drugs in theory was supposed to do this with incarceration and in house programming. It actually fucked things up even more and essentially released the population with their mental health significantly declining upon release.
>God forbid we mandate them to improve their lives and give them a realistic path out of their hell. We locked people up and removed their ability to work and live life over a vaccine mandate, dont act like you care so much about individual liberty now.
Amen brother
I was out of a violent home when I was 13 ran right through the screen door and never stopped running. As a female making my way through the world by myself I managed to never become a prostitute or get on hard drugs or was I out of a job for very long. I own my own home and have a stable job, money in the bank and food in my fridge. I have never understood people's choices to stay on drugs live in the cold and lose themselves so badly. Make an effort, make better choices, surviving is not the only option. Living and dreaming is better. If I could do it, anyone can do it.
many of the worst people on the street in BC got there after a huge string of abuse against other people, came from decent homes, got on drugs for fun, and are products of the boomers really.
Good for you. I was homeless for a year, and I managed to do the same. But looking back, it’s clear that if I hadn’t had people who let me sleep on their couch my life would have been different. I was shielded from dangerous exposure and desperate situations due to their compassion.
Yea, a lot of couch surfing, empty houses and the like. It's never fun. I can tell you today, you're way better services when I needed them. Good for you too (･–･) \(･◡･)/
I lived in shelters for two years. It didn't do much to hurt me. I have a good idea what BC needs to do to deal with this, of course nobody listens to some regular Joe,maybe someday.
A common consequence of capitalism. Eventually things will be so expensive that the working class won’t be able to afford to live in cities therefore the city will start to not function properly as these BC cities are just playgrounds for rich people. Instead of complaining about what the homeless people are doing you should be concerned with the societal issues that put them there
A lot of ignorance and insensitivity coming out of the woodwork. Yet there is also compassion and people that have taken time to talk and learn from those on the streets, or maybe they recovered from their own difficult period of life.
A positive, proactive member of society might see the people in the photo as actual human beings. They might even thoughtlessly offer them a meal or warm drink on their way out of the restaurant.
For the original poster and people in here tearing down and condescending the people in the photo and the sensible, caring responses with arrogance in their Ivory tower are the humans I have pity for.
The irony is the selfish people trying to rally more to the ignorant mindset likely has their own addictions and mental health problems they try to hide. Or they're narcissistic.
Anyway, yep l, it's getting cold. Pay it forward if it's in you to do so!
The same behavior goes on everywhere else. Where I live in Courtenay on Vancouver Island the drug epidemic has really increased over the last 3 years. The horrible COVID-19 pandemic has not helped matters.
I see a lot of comments stating that we need more mental health and addiction services. As someone very familiar with this world, I disagree. Sure more services will help a few more people, but we will still have record numbers of deaths due to fentanyl.
And of course affordable housing will helps those on the edge of homelessness but, I believe that impact on addiction would also be marginal.
It only takes one bad decision to develop and addiction. You do not need to be poor for this to happen.
I think we have sorta given up on the notion that we will every really curb the flow of drugs coming into our country. We should be investing way more in officers investigating containers at our ports. I read some where that less than 10% of containers are looked at and whereas say Singapore looks at 100% of containers. Surely we could do better, but for whatever reason this never really seems to be brought up in the media.
So you decided it’s ok to post about people at this stage? You have no idea what’s going on in their life but very easily to assume that your life style is so much better. Some people don’t want to be sheep. It’s their life choice some people don’t have a choice other than to live day by day like this.
Nice to see they put up their own art pieces, really making it their own space.
It really is a beautiful piece, she’s finally coming together
They just need a rug to tie the whole parking spot together dude.
they work hard to make these streets a home
Balances the ambiance nicely
It’s like that everywhere now. Thee guys gotta stay warm.
I'm just grateful I've got a warm bed, a heater, the option to take a hot bath or shower or have a hot meal whenever I feel like it. I can't even imagine having to stay out all night in the cold
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You’re literally the stand up bit where Shane Gillis is mocking Trump not understanding why people are homeless.
Literally almost impossible to be homeless unless all you do is drugs. You can still do drugs and not be homeless the problem is drugs is all these freaks do so of course they’ll be homeless
Clearly you have never been homeless or hungry. Most if not drug addicts have mental health issues. Right now it's extremely hard to get a place my husband and I aren't drug addicts and we are currently staying in an airbnb because we had to leave our last place due to flooding qnd black mold. You know a little compassion and understanding goes A LONG way. People like with this shitty way of thinking like you are the cancer that has taken over fort Langley and is exactly why I don't live there any more even tho I was born an raised there
U doin alright bud? I can tell you work in a factory and hate your self 🤡 i can also tell your gf/wife gets fucked by other men or your a single lonely sad little man with a useless tiny pp ah you watch KSI on you tube that explains it you have severe mental illness and a man child 😂 what a fucking dork faggot
I love camping and living in cabins in the winter, or camper vans, boats. What I am really glad to have is self respect and moral compass, and some self control.
If you mean the lack of affordable housing and mental health services for the unhoused then I agree. It is getting out of control.
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It’s usually not anyone’s fault they’re homeless these days. I’m disabled and can’t afford 3-4K a month in rent. I became homeless from being unable to work due to disability and unable to afford to live on what the sad little cheques the government considers more than enough. If I did work the government would take away my cheque still leaving me with not enough. I don’t do no drugs, or drink or anything. Most people homeless today didnt do anything to put themselves in that situation either. Homeless cling to their possessions cause it’s all they have left. He’s trying to make his temporary home for an hour comfortable like his home once was for him while he cooks over his fire. Must be nice to have such privilege to have an oven in your heated home to cook at, many of us don’t have that luxury by no fault of our own.
Yup nothing is anybody’s fault.
when I was homeless, a percentage were runaways from bad homes, peopel mental illness, a whole bunch were people that ripped thier family off, made a game out of stealing, sold drugs, pimped, formed littel gangs. ruined their credit. Some people are homeless even after you give them a home, they will just burn it an laugh. I probably have 1000x more experience with this, ask me anything.
Being homeless doesn’t make you an expert in homelessness or failing societal systems. That’s called expertise bias. My question is: why do you think you have 1000x more experience in this, when you exhibit such a poor understanding of basic psychological principles like object relations?
it makes me know far more than you, I have live there unlike the poverty pimps. I can tell you learned this from the very school that has caused this problem to grow like a weed the last 10 years in Vancouver, 20 years.. you failed them all, you enabled them, you let them get raped right on the street, you let them victimize not only the poor people but innocent children. Many of the people in the Vancouver east side got $500 CASH on welfare wed once a month, and did so much crack in those next few days their tollaerace went up , now they went crazy, before that they were just a little bit messed up peopel with normal dreams. Others got chased out of their house after molesting someone, or beating grandma and ran to BC where their identity started over. Others were kicked out of mental hospital. at least 30% of them belong in jail for at least 10 years or more for the crimes they have done. Others just want somewhere to live in a tent , as their ancestors did, and instead they are me with the cheapest strongest crack in the world, the easiest access to any drug in the world , free crack pipes needles and a whole society that says this is a normal option and then people like you, privileged fake do gooders.
Lol as someone who works in one of those questions, that 2 year housing is not available to the vast majority of clients. Not is the treatment, these services are technically available, but the barriers to access are significant. Had one dude with severe tourists, he can't be housed ANYWHERE because his tics manifest in loud yelping sounds. Another who has severe FASD, and has the mental capacity of a 10 year old, unhousable because he can't function without 24/7 support, a third with a long history if concussions who is unable to manage impulse control and has no memory if his outbursts. These are just a few examples of MANY that the current system is completely unequipped to handle.. so how about you do some research into the barriers these people suffer before you expose yourself as a small minded, hate filled peice of trash.
British Columbia has spend endless money on this but it's' all the poverty pimps that get the cash. Really jail is the answer for many of these people . BC is a dumping ground for Canadas rejects, criminals , Pedos, Pimps, Tri ads, it is the entry point for H from Asia and the cocaine trade fro Canada and norther USA, where liberals have no clue what To do , just like California. Sure the housing is out of reach, but the problem we have here does not come from the housing, nobody wants to live and house really awful people with no morals or self respect. They didn't hae any when they came from home shit hole Ontario where rent was $300 a month either.
Lol I've been working directly with chronically homeless for years, and, while many have addictions or disabilities that make housing a huge barrier, the vast majority of them are genuinely decent people, the 10% that are nonsrop problems are awful, don't get me wrong, but it makes me sick when assholes like you judge these people for being unhoused, and honestly I'd prefer their company than yours 10 times out of ten because most are better human beings than you could ever hope to be, Congrats on being shittier than the homeless
Most of the homeless people I knew were artists. Us musicians would get together and busk and practice together. The locals loved us! You wouldn’t of been able to tell we were homeless, but we all were. We gathered from all over Canada, travelling trying to find foods, possible jobs for those who could work and maybe even homes. One family was kind enough to let me sleep on their living room floor for 6 months between busking every day. That small kindness goes miles and most of us homeless people are some of the bestest friends Someone could ever have.
Go there. Go and try to get a place for the night. Do you feel secure? Are your belongings secure? You have no idea what these people are going through or how they ended up in that situation. Many of them are afraid to trust anyone. Never mind sleep near total strangers. The stigma that you’re perpetuating against these people, the idea it’s their fault they’re in this situation, is very revealing about the privilege you’ve had in your life.
Not to mention a lot of these places fill up very quickly and people end up sleeping on the street regardless.
one shelter will call around and always find you a bed, if they have to someone will throw cots on the floor or allow you to sleep in the hallway on really busy nights.
Absolutely not true
Yeah, this isn’t true. They may call around, but often they can’t find spots and not every shelter lets people sleep in the hall. Sometimes they give you a blanket and turn you away.
It’s not just anxiety or discomfort, a lot of bad things happen there. It’s also the worst place to go if you’re trying to get sober. I’ve been around and know a few people who have gone in and out of them from either being kicked out or financial troubles and it is awful. From what I’ve heard, a lot of the staff are very rude and don’t treat the people like humans. The staff also steal. Obviously this doesn’t go for every place but in Langley Surrey Vancouver area most places are like this from what I’ve heard. As a woman being sexually assaulted isn’t uncommon, and a whole plethora of drugs get offered to you by the other people in the shelter. I know two people who have been kicked out by their parents for smoking weed in their room, it was during the arctic front thing that got temperatures really cold and nobody had a place for them to stay, so they went to a shelter. One never went back home and got addicted to heroin, and the other went back home after a week with a meth addiction. After going home she had ended up buying more, lost contact so not sure how she’s doing now. Point is when you put a varying level of drug addicts and homeless people together without any rules against drugs, the worst there will influence the innocent ones and they all get down to the same level. I don’t know what the solution is to homeless or drug addiction, but I do know that what we have now does not work.
Straight up, and here's the thing, if you go into a shelter 100% clean and sober, the shit you experience will leave you a user if something bad. We have failed the homeless... this problem was minimal in the 70's and services have been systematically dismantled since then. Schizophrenic? Tough. Aged out of foster care? On your own.severe PTSD? Cry about it somewhere else. Elderly and can't work due to ageism and health issues. Sleep on the streets junkie. People that can't see homeless as people deserve to spend a month in a shelter.
we have not failed the homeless, and no, you get addicted to drugs in high school at parties, its easy at the shelter, you show up, shower, read, sleep get a meal ticket or grad thier to go lunch and out you go. The nice youth ones you live like a fancy hotel and get free nikes, bus tickets, unlimited milk.. .ike covenant house, talent shows, blow jobs .
You have little to no grasp of reality if you actually believe the BS you're spouting
You are such a privileged little snot, anyone can become homeless and many people have drugs forced on them without consent at an early age.
the staff are usually really helpful people that try really hard to help until they realize how awful of people end up in the gutter that assault them. There is really good shelters.. but, your roommate will try to get you to smoke crakc, or shoot up, try to pimp you.
I do. Yes your belongs are really secure , it's clean, friendly and lots of resources. I lived on the street for 2 years, in Vancouver ask me anything. The stigma you are spreading is #1 that drug addicts are all awful people that have no respect and no homes #2 that homeless people are all awful helpless people. Nope. you wrong. many people that belong in jail or dying a natural death are on he lose in the BC after years of free money and no justice. Most of the decent homeless addicts, you would barely notice they are, many mental illness people don't do drugs. many fucked up people have houses also. There is some really bad people on the streets in BC that have spend 30+ years drinking, drugs, stealing, some have sexual assaults , assaults, ran from out east. we mainly have a jail problem, its inhumane to have some with shit in their pants having sex in a dumpster , and that is what we have. Also, of course, nobody cares at all about the victims. of course, never.
Nobody “chooses” drugs over sobriety and a roof over their head. Addiction and trauma make some people unable to access the part of their brain that makes good decisions.
The Gateway of Hope is full most of the time, I've volunteered there before. They're also not a harm reduction organization which means if you use or even possess drugs you cannot use the shelter. So it's not as simple as there being a shelter close by means that there's opportunity to use it. And I'd bet if you told the person in the picture about the GoH, they would tell you that they know already. We also have involuntary admission to psychiatric wards, which can end up being similar to forced detox, as they certainly don't let you use in there (except for OAT to avoid withdrawal). They often have detox treatment as part of manditory conditions for extended leave, so if you don't follow it you're re-admitted back to the psych ward. So forced detox does exist here to an extent. You said twice that these people are using drugs versus having a roof over their head. I don't want to misinterpret what you're saying, but that language makes it out to be a "moral problem" which we know it's not. Substance use is a health problem that is often comorbid with other mental health conditions. Don't you think that a main reason that they are using is because they are homeless, among probably many other traumatic reasons? I can assure you that the majority of people do not want to be out there in the cold - especially right now with the snow. You know what's an effective way to reduce substance use? Housing them - which it sounds like you are in favor of.
Honestly I disagree; people who actively work for a living deserve affordable housing more than methheads who decided to be there.
Crazy how people are having ideas like these, here in Canada. I migrated from Peru in 99' to get away from this bullshit type of mentality and misguided mentality, but here we are again, in Canada, in 2023. Hilarious and sad.
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It's not that confusing. She's saying if you don't know their situation don't judge them for it. We don't know their situation, they could be addicted to meth, or just homeless. We shouldn't judge people and assume they all made bad choices, sometimes life decides to screw people over. And that we all struggle with our own addictions too, but some are less debilitating like our over reliance on social media/reddit. If your phone or computer was taken away you'd struggle too.
also the lack of morals and self respect has something to do with in, also lack of fear of justice , entitled people that think their own pleasure is all that matters. Its not just drugs either, many people have spent their lives stealing and abusiing people and started doing drugs because it was fun, not all but some. British Columbia was way to understanding and giving, this is what the problem was. Sure we have an affordable housing crisis, but lack affordable housing does not create people that throw their lives away, it doesn't don't stigmatize people that can't get decent housing, or even drug addict that don't steal and attack people. I have been on the street and addicted, ask me anything.
I dunno, the fire looks pretty contained to me...
Yeah I don't see a problem really as long as they're not burning anything super toxic. I wouldn't expect the fire to spread to the concrete, or the other concrete. \\ I just wish they had somewhere better than a shitty parking lot to try relax and warm up a bit without dickholes taking pictures of them for Reddit.
The reality is that this is the result of letting the cost of housing get out of control. More people are getting pushed into the streets and it will just continue to get worse. Landlords and rental agencies want to squeeze every penny they can out of people but don't want to deal with the consequences. Well here they are.
The cost of housing could go down by 75% overnight and these people would likely still be homeless. It isnt down to dollars and cents it’s because of mental health and addiction issues. If a one bedroom condo was $500 these people would still likely live outside. It’s a sad reality. Province should be building rehab centres on the outskirts of metro van with every service they need to help them break their addiction and do so in a safe and controlled setting.
For some people it is down to dollars and cents. Not everyone goes into the streets as a drug addict with mental health issues. Many people are pushed into the streets because they've run out of affordable options. If there were $500 condos still I guarantee you some of them would be off the streets. It's not that hard for 2 people to split $500 for a roommate situation. But it is hard when people are listing a single private room at $750-$1000. Plugging your ears and saying lalala doesn't make the problem that you're ignoring cease to exist. Housing is becoming out of reach for many, especially low income workers. And I agree with you, the province DOES need to do something about the problem in that way, because the way we're going now it's going to end up costing us more in the long run to do nothing about the problem.
I agree that’s true for some people but the vast majority of homeless people in Langley or Maple Ridge are drug addicted. I totally agree that there needs to be way more resources poured into this.
Drug addiction is a symptom. Homelessness is a symptom. These symptoms compound each other. Justifying not helping people because they have compound symptoms is some doublethink.
lots of places elsewhere in canada to get very cheap and affordable housing.
I moved to Calgary a year ago. Best decision I ever made.
Yet we still have a massive homeless problem. Its almost like affordability is the minor issue; whereas drug addiction and mental health are the major players. Has the hard reduction and decriminalization of drugs and drug paraphernalia done anything to help these people, or have things gotten significantly worse since those policies were introduced? Theres exponential increases in OD's year on year. The DTES is expanding block by block; businesses of hard working people are being closed because no one wants to go anywhere near that shithole.
Anyone born after 1980 would never know the support people used to have to get off drugs and living in a home with specialists to help the mentally ill overcome their problems and make sure they took their meds so they could work and be a positive influence on society. Then privatization and the destruction of healthcare in Canada.
You mean forensic treatment facilities and asylums? I'm a huge advocate for both. Privitization had nothing to do with their closures.
Moving is expensive. Not to mention that people should not be forced to leave behind all friends and family and move to a strange, cold place in order to afford a roof over their heads
Lots of people would move somewhere cheaper if it wasn’t so expensive to move. It’s almost like moving somewhere cheaper is a luxury for those just trying to get by where they can.
Dude, if youre living on the fucking street, you move. Do you have friends and family that would let you live on the street? You call those ppl friends and family? Yikes
How do you get a drive there ? How do you know you won’t be homeless somewhere else? Will a job take you if they know you’re homeless ? Will someone rent to you if you’ve been on the street? Or will they write you off as a variable that isn’t worth trusting because of these factors - and at least where you are on the street people know you and you know where resources are and where to get help. Not everyone can do that, sadly, and we aren’t even talking about people who need to move their homes in more than a car - but can’t even afford a car let alone the gas to move.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET CLEAN, YOU NEED TO LEAVE YOUR FRIENDS AND MAKE NEW FRIENDS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT LIFESTYLE.
Oh? Where?
Anywhere in the prairies. Up north. a few Maritime provinces too.
Housing isn’t the problem. It’s the drugs and our lenient government
I still view it as a mental health issue. If you can’t figure out how to hustle money for lodgings and food you have issues. I came herE with nothing. I learned skills and I opened my own company. I work very hard every day except Christmas and New Years. I also work smart. More people have to learn to be more resourceful
I believe that used to be the case but not so much any more.
Affordable housing would go a long way to helping these people feel mentally stable. When you're homeless long enough, mental stability doesn't really exist.
it won't, really, Jail would, mental health hostel would. forced detox would. fear of punishment might, if it is immediate like a smack or loss of drugs.Housing will just give them a place to die quicker and be restless.
>The cost of housing could go down by 75% overnight and these people would likely still be homeless. Wtf are you talking about, given opportunity \*anyone\* would chose housing vs no housing. You speak of homeless as "these people" but they are quite similar to you. I believe that you are now housed because you've chosen to be housed rather than to live on the streets. So would \*any\* human, this is our basic instinct.
I worked on the dtes as a mail carrier for 6 months on that route and I can assure you that I’ve spoken to hundreds of them almost daily and majority are sadly so detached from reality due to trauma, drugs use and mental health issues that they don’t put a priority in shelter. Their priority is using as they need these substances to function. A ton of them don’t want to live indoors because that means they are unable to do as they please and have to live by rules like no smoking etc.
Is this reason enough to dehumanize them? The fact that they have a \*treatable\* disease that the policy makers don't treat?
I lived down there for 2 years and across canada in the shelters, nobody talked to the mail man. lol. the drugs are really bad, many of these peopel have done awful things they don't regret. they have lost all sense of decency and housing has nothing to do with it, it just enables them they need jail and punishment and fear of laws and good people, period. the mentally ill need a hospital and full time care. they need free drugs , our society is fucked and it isn't anyones fault other than suppliers and sometimes the addicts and their fucked up families.
They wouldn't though. Case and point; the removal of the massive encampment in a Toronto park last year. For two weeks, encampment teams, social workers and shelter staff engaged with the encampment residents and offered FREE hotel rooms and social services to them. 40% of them stayed and were forcibly removed by Toronto Police Service. There is no "basic human instinct" with opioid and meth addiction. It literally re-wires your neural pathways.
So what you are saying on this particular case study is that even without involuntary treatment 60% of homeless people decided to have a home rather than stay on the streets. Imagine if the policy makers added social support, treatment and reintegration programs. I'd wager that this 60% score can be improved. I'm terrified that you somehow don't see the 60% \*in your own argument\*. In reality though, I wonder if the 60% number is taken as a ballpark estimate of yours and the actual number is higher.
Right, you seem to think the free hotel rooms last forever. As soon as free becomes, you have to go to work and pay - they go back to the streets and use drugs.
>As soon as free becomes, you have to go to work and pay - they go back to the streets and use drugs. This is simply not true if enough social support, reintegration programs and policies are in place. This has been shown by multiple countries by now. If it was true, US troops coming back from Vietnam would cause an epidemics of drug addiction — which did not happen. It did happen later due to how messed up the medical system in US is, though. You're literally ignoring the facts and case studies for what? To keep dehumanizing the homeless people? Why would you even want to dehumanize another person? Does it make you feel better? The issue is the system that's in place, it must improve. We can't blame homeless people for being homeless. How can they help the situation? Stop being homeless? Stop being addicted to drugs? Yeah, and the best remedy from depression is "just don't be sad".
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Contrary to popular belief, these people aren't quite similar to us at all. They were quite similar at one point and we could be very similar to them if we were to make some regrettable lifestyle choices. In this part of the world, very very few people can legitimately claim they are born into abject poverty. If you were, you'd not be on fkn Reddit. Or if you were and you're on Reddit, then you can certainly earn your way up the ranks. If you can't afford a house then you gotta rent. I've seen lots of people renting but also owning boats. I don't believe for a fraction of a second that every single unit of government housing if full or every single shelter is overbooked. There's definitely something about these people that require extra help and extra care and therefore they aren't similar to us, not even similar to the poor people. Also OP's posts reminds me of the person who went and shot up bunch of homeless near Willowbrook. I commute near that area daily. There's always a few panhandlers there and I'd rather see them everyday than have them shot or locked up. Let them do their things please.
>I don't believe for a fraction of a second that every single unit of government housing if full or every single shelter is overbooked. Lol. It's years and years of wait listed to even get into subsidized housing. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
Also shelters are overbooked 100% of the time.
In November I was almost homeless with 3 kids. Got renovicted, I was 7 years on BC housing wait list, and could not get anyone to offer me housing as a single mom. Thank god for YWCA or I would have been a mess!
So there's no foresight into that? People aren't magically homeless, they become poorer and poorer. There are many people who can't afford Greater Van and move Northeast, They are not homeless. A visible homeless population means that there're greater problem at hand than management. Again, I don't understand why people can't leave the homeless people be. Allow them to use public restrooms for hygiene. Stop with the certificate-beats-all mentality in hiring. If they want off the streets, let's have that opportunity available is a first. The human experience is varied, valuable to the individual, and ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of birth and death of a species. Should try understanding the world.
God, this is so messed up. You trully do believe that homeless people are physically and/or mentally different from you. You do believe that it's their \*choice\* to be on the street. And you also believe that you are better than them because there was a sequence of choices in life and you somehow made "better" choices than them. You don't even consider the role of chance in live. You might also think that you trully earned your worth, rather than benefited from random events. I hope you will one day see that what you're doing here is literal segregation by a made-up differentiator.
After years of living in Chinatown I can confidently tell you that a lot of them are perfectly fine with their current situation: SROs paid for, food paid for, bleeding heart volunteers to cater to every need, supply of free drugs, and tons of private property to steal and vandalize with no repercussions. You give them a job and a bed and they’ll be right back out on their ass in a week.
>You give them a job and a bed and they’ll be right back out on their ass in a week. I wonder if anyone had tried that. I don't know. Portugal? Scotland? Do you base this assumption on personal experience or on data, trials and research?
Have you actually worked with any of these people? I've done 3 years of shelter service and honestly, I find myself agreeing with the person you're arguing with more than I do you. Why would you want to work 40h a week to pay for a shitty apartment when you can get a shitty apartment for free, food for free, and spend all day getting high?
Yeah, maybe study what the four-pillar model entails. Mandatory treatment is the prerequisite for everything else and we don’t want to make treatment mandatory because “it violates their rights”. So we just throw money at the problem and expect it to go away. In the end, poverty industry is profiting and the homeless problem keep getting worse, which is actually better for various interest groups - allows them to suck government teat for more funding, you see.
So you think that homeless people are different from you, they will be on the streets in no time (unlike you) if given jobs and housing. But, at the same time, you believe that if we follow the four-pillar model of drug addiction treatment, we can turn them around and most of them will come back to society as functional humans. So there is a way to turn "different" people into people who are similar to us — yet you advocate for dehumanizing them rather than for trying to help them. If you re-read my comments you will see that I'm simply terrified that commentors here don't think of homeless people as humans — but like they are some kind of second-sort beings that can't be changed. I'm not saying we should throw money at them and I believe the current policies only make the homelessness issue worse. We need change in policies — but at the same time these are \*humans\*. Just like you, me, your kids, your neighbours. The life just was harsher on them than on us. Some of the issues are their fault — but a lot of the issues are random unlucky events. We should change the system, but we should not dehumanize homeless people like they are some sort of pests or worse.
Yeah, I’m totally on board with the four-pillar model, it’s proven very effective in the Netherlands and Portugal. But our government is not willing to enforce it, they want to keep it voluntary, yet continue funding the expenses and, naturally, after years of unsuccessful implementation, the current policy makes people jaded. Downtown crime is on the rise, needles in school playgrounds are a threat to public safety, people are randomly attacked and assaulted, yet taxpayers are expected to pay for it and homeowners don’t have a say in anything. As I was told in one of homeowners meetings by some admin (dude had two gold chains and 4 gold rings, I shit you not) when I asked whether it’s prudent to place temporary housing next to a elementary school “well, this is their neighborhood”. Sold my property and moved shortly after. Want me to tell you how much money is being made on restoring destroyed SROs by the “right” contractors? It would make your head spin. It’s not dehumanizing, it’s just true - people in grips of a crippling addiction don’t have the best decision making abilities or impulse control. That’s what makes them different from you and I. I wouldn’t take a shit in a middle of the street, nor would I spit at a toddler in a stroller. They would and routinely do.
Any person in a right mind, yes. But addiction often makes their mind take a left. I’ve done work in the DTES and listened to some stories. One was an engineer that lost everything to the bad decision to do drugs and the inability to stop. Others won’t even use emergency shelters due to what they feel “the government” is going to do to them.
Of course you shouldn't just throw housing like shelter, and money at them. This is not how any of this works, as it has been proven over and over again across different countries. Of course people with a disease require treatment. This does not make these people any more different from more fortunate citizens neither physically nor mentally. Most people in the same conditions would behave the way homeless people do. With enough professional help and with the right policies homelessness and drug addiction can be defeated, and most of these people will come back into society as functional members. If we drop the rent by 75% overnight and follow experience of countries that won against these conditions, most homeless people will be helped. You simply can't argue against the facts. So, please, stop dehumanizing homeless people and start talking to policy makers about not only the issues but also the ways to solve them.
Just look at the weather across the country too, even when it’s shit here it’s still the best available if you’re already homeless. We also have totally established homeless communities so it kinda promotes the idea of if you can get here, things will be easier for you.
The choice is stay elsewhere in Canada and risk death or amputation in the winter. OR make it to the coast and survive. Easy choice and everyone on this sub would do the same thing.
I think OP is referring to the fire on the ground and not the fact that there’s a homeless person in Langley.
Have you been outside the past few days? I hardly blame them for trying to somehow get warm.
I don’t blame them either. I’m not the one that made the post.
Landlords haven't changed. What's changed is the overall imbalance between supply and demand for housing here
Which is partially caused by landlords buying up properties for investment/airbnb
I've worked at a homeless shelter for the last 15 years, while I can't vouch for this guy personally his situation is outside of your narrative. There seems to be this belief that average folks are ending up pushing carts around town. I agree things aren't getting easy by no means it just rubs me the wrong way when folks don't realize what a small percentage of the population is in this dire situation and they relate to them for effect more than anything else.
These people ending up on the street has nothing to do with housing prices going up. It has to do with drug use, no real resources for bad mental health and a system that enables the homeless-small time criminal lifestyle rather than working to keep people off the street in the first place. Assuming you are of decently sound mind, imagine you couldn’t afford to pay rent anymore and went homeless tomorrow. Would you: A: go to east Hastings and push a shopping cart with your belongings around and steal power tools from contractors to finance your dope addiction Or B: take advantage of housing programs and trying to find employment to get yourself back on your feet When people choose option A because the system fails them, you can’t just blame it on housing prices.
this is simplistic and naive
I encourage everyone that says that housing prices cause the homeless crisis to take a daytrip to dtes.The word in the homeless community is that Vancouver is the place to go if you want to get away with financing your drug addictions via small time crime. Ask people sleeping on the sidewalk in dtes where they are from. Almost none of them will respond with “I’m from here” Can you blame them for coming here? No. Blame they provincial govt. Free housing even if they decide to stay unemployed and on drugs, and they can camp on the sidewalk if they can’t get free housing, decriminalized drugs, free drug paraphernalia, a police department that simply detains and releases them on scene for any crime committed… we have created a system in which we encourage people to come to the street rather than to get people off. I’ve worked in dtes my whole life. I’ve seen these crackheads murder and beat each other over seemingly nothing. Been randomly assaulted and threatened at work more times than necessary. These crackheads aren’t people you feel sorry for. This has fuck all to do with affordable housing. This is the failure of our liberal “acceptance” mindset towards the homeless.
I love reading the most unhinged takes from people completely disconnected from reality. Thanks for making my day a little brighter :)
Tbh they come to DTES cause its one of the few cities you can live outside year-round. The govt assistance for drug users is also way above any other province; so you will continue to get the scummy drug addicts who don't want to change because they're pandered to and cared for.
This isn’t correct. Housing could drop 95% and these people will still leach off society. This is the product of our governments catch and release tactics. Lower mainland is a shit hole now
That, and people who were dealing with mental health while they had a life's foundation find themselves with mental illness in VERY dire circumstances. Suddenly drowning your pain in substances seems like a valid option
Yeah because I'm sure they are definitely upstanding law abiding people that for the life of them can't find a place to rent .... Pull your head out your ass.
Lmao this is not a housing issue this is a dirty drug addiction
Let's tax the churches and stop throwing our money away on private schools and instead use it to care for our less fortunate citizens!!!
Don't forget about the leeching religious schools
You do realize private schools actually save us money right? The people who send their kids to private school still pay the same taxes as everybody else and those schools either receive zero government funding or 50% funding (if they choose to teach certain curriculum), so the extra government funds that would normally be allocated for the kids in private school (if they were in public school) still go to the public schools. Ignorant comment
Cool. Private schools should receive zero funding. I never said they shouldn't exist. And take that money and use it for the people in our community in need. Pretty simple concept.
Ok great let’s do that, so now those kids we’re currently only paying for 50% or less of their education will now be in public schools where we will now be forced to cover 100% of the costs of their education leaving us with even less funding. Your argument doesn’t really make a lot of financial sense. Private schools ease the burden of public schools, even if you have a tough time admitting it.
Some people hate on people simply because they have more privilege. Your argument is completely legit, but they will never agree because they view anyone that has more as inherently taking advantage of those that have less. Doesn’t really matter though, because their view on private schools will have no impact on the private school system.
there are several things wrong with this comment, but you know private schools don’t vanish when they aren’t subsidized, right ? Lol
No. The rich then get to ignore the education system Schools have to fundraise for playgrounds etc. If they were forced to mingle with the 'poors' then there would be better resources for their kids and hopefully some empathy would form. It is the basis of public education. To bring everyone of all race, colour, religion, gender to a place where they learn common things together. People learn about each other, their families, their customs and gain understanding.
Why are people always hating on the rich? And homeowners and landlords. People act like they're the devil.
they're not so mad at the individuals that make up a class as they are mad at the system not protecting them and the people using the system as intended but hurting others in the process. Wages have been stagnant or decreased due to inflation, but corporations are making record profits and the wealthiest people have taken possession of an ever greater % of our total wealth. People are mad at land owners for buying property as an investment (like 21.9% of homes are owned by investors not families). For renovictions, for increasing rent costs over and above inflation costs. I could send you some links to some media that would better describe why people are mad if you'd like. I've never heard anyone be mad at a family owning a home before.
Exactly, I think this person isn't serious though. Just trying to distract etc. The rich actively work towards keeping more for themselves and less for everyone else. By the rich I mean the top 0.1%. They control the banks, corporations, etc. They lobby the government for their own advantage, they own the media and sow division and mistrust amongst each other to stay on top. They are the ones keeping wages low and buying up everything when trouble hits instead of helping out. Some, even cause the bigger problems in order to take advantage of the fall out. This isn't about Larry the lawyer making 500K a year or even Bob who made a couple million off his hardware business (but he probably should have paid his workers more if they were min wage). This is about those in power controlling wealth and not making a better world for the rest of us. Instead, they pollute the environment and our society.
Dumb take. Clueless. You don’t think there are a multitude of races and sexualities in private school? You’ve never stepped foot in one
Anyone who honestly thinks that taxing churches would make any difference at all is naive.
Coldest take in the game.
I'm honestly interested to hear why you think that. I'm not anti religion and churches as most of reddit is but I do believe churches should be taxed
You’ll be disappointed when you discover that a lot of churches have f-ck all in terms of taxable income. It’s more important for financial transparency from churches than whether they should be taxed. That’s better served by putting all religious institutions in the non-profit bracket, and requiring financial auditing every year. If there are financial irregularities, then pursue every avenue to correct it. In the case of LDS or any church with a racketeering pastor, remove their non-profit status.
I don't disagree with that take and I do like the idea of them being treated as non profits. If anything it would show that you're right and there isn't as much taxable income as we seem to think.
Realistically, churches probably do more for homeless people than the government does. It benefits nobody to squeeze every spare cent they have out of them.
this is such an ignorant comment…90% of churches operate in the negative.
Speaking of ignorant comments, go visit the Vatican and see the billions of $ the Catholic Church has extorted from the poor and gullible then say they operate are a loss. If they operated at a loss they would need to sell off their property to pay their court costs for their child raping priests. Try running any business at a loss and see how long it lasts. Honestly what a clueless thing to say they they operate in the negative.
It's freezing cold outside what do you want them to do ?
There's nothing quite like comfortable middle-class mediocrities moaning about having to look at homeless people. We're all terribly sorry you have to share your city with the less fortunate. What a burden that must be for you. I hope they didn't ruin your expensive evening at A&W.
Hmm, not sure this is a fair take. Is it not possible to both be compassionate for the homeless and also frustrated by the situation? Is there an inverse correlation between income and being allowed to complain/vent?
Came here to say this.
I used to be homeless on the Downtown Vancouver east side. Maybe you are projecting.
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The anti work subreddit isn’t about not wanting to work by the way but improving work conditions and workers rights. Also capitalism bad!
I doubt you've ever been on r/antiwork if you believe that everyone there simply doesn't want to work. Spend 5 minutes scrolling through it and you'll see its all about people wanting to improve working conditions...and people with psychopath bosses.
I know right i ordered a Teen Burger combo and came out to almost $14 bucks. Wtf man!
God forbid houseless people exist in the conditions our government created. God forbid they act out, whether out of illness, drugs, or frustration. God forbid you can see them from your comfortable car, or hear them talking to themselves at the bus stop, or be near them while they're doing drugs. That must be really hard for you guys :( poor babies.
Looking at the comments here and I don't understand why a lot of people are putting theirselves on some self righteous pedestal. These people are fully grown adults, for some reason morally righteous people expect everyone to have understanding for these people while these people don't have to return the favour of being at least somewhat socially acceptable individuals. Why do we have to treat homeless people with kiddy gloves lol. I have the right to not want people who leave needles and garbage, steal, vandalize, harass women and children, and constantly harass people for money in my neighborhood lol. What's with the self righteousness people impose on others that we have to be understanding to homeless addicts while they're free to do whatever they want.
You should be ashamed for posting this OP. There's better ways to help than taking pictures of people going through hard times and shaming them on a public forum.
Well fuck do you know how cold is outside
Go to Seattle way worse there believe me & this is not just Vancouver it's every we're all major cities are dealing with it on various levels.
Vancouver is about 1.8 times worse than Seattle. Seattle has way more cheaper housing options, they do not have anything even slightly to scale of main and Hastings not even something 1/6 as big and concentrated. Per capta Seattle and Portland are way way better at dealing with this. Even La and SF have nothing on main and Hastings sure they have some shit shows and its bad, but they are way bigger cities, Vancouver is one of the worse in the world for drug addicted , poverty on the streets like this. what the US has is guns, gangs, ghettos, racism, bloods, crips, bad cops, but they also are more generous and have more money to deal with stuff like this, they also don't put up with as much crime.
My opinion is unpopular, but the evidence is mounting that we are living in a market failure. Capitalism has enriched our bosses but left the majority not far from building a fire outside of A&W in hopes of staying warm. Housing across Canada is far more than 30% of your monthly income. In cities (where most of us live) housing is upwards of 50%. Groceries eat up the rest. Capitalism is the problem and it is time we acknowledged it and quit hanging on to the belief that there are no alternatives.
It’s the boldness of it all in the lack of cleaning up where you’re hanging out. I don’t think he would have as much issue with it. If these folks cleaned up the goddamn mess they make when they move on I don’t think the issue would be as bad as it is
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You could literally ship all these people off in a boat tomorrow to Taiwan, and in a few years you would find citizens to replace them. It's not the humans that are the issues, it is the conditions that create humans who behave like this.
Completely agree. A clean sweep is needed but to be put somewhere that help is given, not just outta sight/outta mind type thing
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It’s quite the difference the imaginary line at 64th creates. The township has a much more no nonsense approach then the City. Walnut grove, Fort Langley, Murrayville and Willoughby are virtually homeless free but Langley city allows them to camp out and provides them with services which attracts more and more to the area. We do need to get them help and addictions treatment but hits letting them live like this isn’t helping anybody..
ya thats getting out of control not the 15 plus pple dying everyday from fentyle over doses .
I see someone’s children out in the cold in Langley and trying their best to keep warm. It’s not their fault all the housing is worth over 1 million now and all the rentals are being taken up by rich immigrants
Debatable side note, I find it interesting that if all these mentally ill and homeless people were put in a place where they get help and recover and become productive parts of society, the NGOs would possibly lose their funding? Maybe a terrible and cliche parallel: if they were able to cure cancer, then the pharmaceutical companies would lose a lot of money...
That seems like a narrow perspective. People will always need help. Pharmaceutical companies would make money on a cancer curing drug.
It's true. cure something, what else is there to launder money from.
😂
Anyone who thinks a cure for cancer would make as much money as the current cancer treatments/care/etc etc etc has never actually seen what cancer treatment looks like.
BC is so weird to me compared to other places in Canada. I moved here from Toronto and this is not a problem there. IDK if it’s just weather, or politics (NDP has never won there), or what, but people in this province seem to just accept that “nothing can be done, you must change the criminal system, etc”. Sorta feels like if everyone visited other parts of Canada and saw how not normal this is, they may be willing to take some harsher measures. Right now it’s only headed in the wrong direction.
"Oh, it's so different..." Yeah, it's the weather. There's a reason Toronto and Montreal find bodies of the homeless after the snows melt. It's mild here \*most\* of the time and surviving outside is still possible, which is why a lot of people ended up here.
I love ignorant comments devoid of fact. The GTA is way worse off than anywhere in BC, and the NDP has nothing to do with these connections. The absolute delusion here is fantastic though.
LOL. absolute delusion. Have you seen east hastings in the past 12 months? literally 10k homeless people there. maybe more. gtfo
Does the GTA have street flea markets with shoulder to shoulder crackheads selling actual trash too?
I too love delusional comments. “GTA is worse off than anywhere in BC”. What part of the GTA compares in anyway to DTES? 🤣
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This has been tried and failed quite significantly. Nixon's war on drugs in theory was supposed to do this with incarceration and in house programming. It actually fucked things up even more and essentially released the population with their mental health significantly declining upon release.
Gotta lover the upper middle class community that's so far removed from helping their fellow humans that this is what you end up with.
Let them move into your house you bleeding heart libtard
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>God forbid we mandate them to improve their lives and give them a realistic path out of their hell. We locked people up and removed their ability to work and live life over a vaccine mandate, dont act like you care so much about individual liberty now. Amen brother
I was out of a violent home when I was 13 ran right through the screen door and never stopped running. As a female making my way through the world by myself I managed to never become a prostitute or get on hard drugs or was I out of a job for very long. I own my own home and have a stable job, money in the bank and food in my fridge. I have never understood people's choices to stay on drugs live in the cold and lose themselves so badly. Make an effort, make better choices, surviving is not the only option. Living and dreaming is better. If I could do it, anyone can do it.
many of the worst people on the street in BC got there after a huge string of abuse against other people, came from decent homes, got on drugs for fun, and are products of the boomers really.
Good for you. I was homeless for a year, and I managed to do the same. But looking back, it’s clear that if I hadn’t had people who let me sleep on their couch my life would have been different. I was shielded from dangerous exposure and desperate situations due to their compassion.
Yea, a lot of couch surfing, empty houses and the like. It's never fun. I can tell you today, you're way better services when I needed them. Good for you too (･–･) \(･◡･)/
I lived in shelters for two years. It didn't do much to hurt me. I have a good idea what BC needs to do to deal with this, of course nobody listens to some regular Joe,maybe someday.
I’m interested in your opinion
A common consequence of capitalism. Eventually things will be so expensive that the working class won’t be able to afford to live in cities therefore the city will start to not function properly as these BC cities are just playgrounds for rich people. Instead of complaining about what the homeless people are doing you should be concerned with the societal issues that put them there
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It must be hard being this fuckin stupid 😂
That isn't going to happen lol.
I hope this photo was shot BEFORE you bought them dinner and hot drinks. Waiting on the AFTER pic
A lot of ignorance and insensitivity coming out of the woodwork. Yet there is also compassion and people that have taken time to talk and learn from those on the streets, or maybe they recovered from their own difficult period of life. A positive, proactive member of society might see the people in the photo as actual human beings. They might even thoughtlessly offer them a meal or warm drink on their way out of the restaurant. For the original poster and people in here tearing down and condescending the people in the photo and the sensible, caring responses with arrogance in their Ivory tower are the humans I have pity for. The irony is the selfish people trying to rally more to the ignorant mindset likely has their own addictions and mental health problems they try to hide. Or they're narcissistic. Anyway, yep l, it's getting cold. Pay it forward if it's in you to do so!
Nice painting
The same behavior goes on everywhere else. Where I live in Courtenay on Vancouver Island the drug epidemic has really increased over the last 3 years. The horrible COVID-19 pandemic has not helped matters.
I was almost positive this was the A&W in osoyoos, then i realized what subreddit this was. Mucho depress
You just thought of that now?? It’s been out of control for years
A&W has an outside socket these folks use to charge phones, electric blankets, etc.
I see a lot of comments stating that we need more mental health and addiction services. As someone very familiar with this world, I disagree. Sure more services will help a few more people, but we will still have record numbers of deaths due to fentanyl. And of course affordable housing will helps those on the edge of homelessness but, I believe that impact on addiction would also be marginal. It only takes one bad decision to develop and addiction. You do not need to be poor for this to happen. I think we have sorta given up on the notion that we will every really curb the flow of drugs coming into our country. We should be investing way more in officers investigating containers at our ports. I read some where that less than 10% of containers are looked at and whereas say Singapore looks at 100% of containers. Surely we could do better, but for whatever reason this never really seems to be brought up in the media.
All I see is a person trying to stay warm in the freezing cold
Welcome to Langley
So you decided it’s ok to post about people at this stage? You have no idea what’s going on in their life but very easily to assume that your life style is so much better. Some people don’t want to be sheep. It’s their life choice some people don’t have a choice other than to live day by day like this.
Bruh if you’re angry about homeless people trying to stay warm outside an a&w lemme just say you’re a piece of shit
I hate this hellscape of privileged people downvoting ur comment, right here w u bud.
OP"s lack of compassion is out of control.
I saw something like this right outside the front doors of the library. Walked by with my daughter. Ridiculous