by Fiach Johnson, http://bullsheet.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/new-solutions-for-homelessness/
New Solutions for Homelessness
It’s not often that I talk about my own personal life here on this blog. Mostly I keep it focused on reposting media articles on homelessness related activism and eco-defence (among a few other things.) However, there is some cross-over here, in the sense that I’m also involved in the things I write about.
I live in the city Of Victoria, BC, on Lekwungen Territory. The latest homeless count put the number of homeless people here at around 1500. Some people argue that if you include everyone who is underhoused or living in unstable situations the number is closer to 10,000. After a certain point however, the exact number doesn’t matter. There are less than 200 shelter mats, and worse than that, there are few options for someone who has found themselves on the street.
You may have noticed that the content of this blog has been dominated lately by news of tent cities across North America. Here in Victoria, we’ve had the occasional short term tent city, all of them busted by the police. The latest attempts have happened in the wake of a BC Supreme Court decision ruling that homeless people have a right to erect temporary shelter to protect themselves from the elements. Tent city activists have interpreted the ruling to mean that people can have tents up whenever they need shelter, day or night. The city of Victoria interprets the ruling to mean that people have that right only at night. Recently the city asked the judge to clarify the ruling by adding the words ‘at night. The judge refused.
My analysis of public sentiment is that the public generally accepts the ruling, but does not want to see tent cities spring up in public parks.
In the past year or so of studying this idea, I’ve been convinced that it is something we need in this area, and I have joined the efforts to make services like this a reality here.
We’re in the process of forming a working group to create a plan for making this idea a reality.
Below I’ve posted the questions that we’ll be addressing during this planning process. One question that isn’t addressed in the following list, is what do we call this new tent city?
I ask that because Tent City has taken on a meaning in this and other cities that causes a wall to go up immediately for some people.
The new police chief and Mayor were both recently quoted as saying “Bad things happen in tent cities.” and have stated they would not be allowing tent cities to happen on their watch.
That leaves us with the task of creating something that fulfills the same purpose as a tent city, but is not necessarily the kind of uncontrollable autonomous zone that the mayor and police chief fear. What we’re setting out to create is a form of temporary emergency shelter that is cheaper and quicker to implement than a traditional homeless shelter, one that borrows from the idea of tent cities the kind of independence and 24/7 access that tent cities offer; a place where people can stay with their spouses and/or pets and where they are able to work at night and sleep at day, or have a place to call their own, even if it is a cheap tent. Obviously real homes with real walls and running water and heat are preferable, but while we wait for these homes to manifest (Victoria has a vacancy rate of around 1%, and new rental housing has not been built in decades.) we need somewhere that the people who are sleeping outside, and dying as a result, can have a higher level of comfort.
In addition to that, those of you who have been following tent city news have seen that the economic crisis is forcing many people out onto the street, and tent cities are springing up to serve formally middle-class people. Whose to say we won’t see a similar crisis in this city? Are we prepared to deal with an influx of homeless people? What can we do to prepare for a problem that is going to grow before it goes away?
Those of us working to create a tent city have one solution, and we hope to see it, and other innovate ideas implemented as soon as possible.
So here are the questions that I have put forward to those people attending this week’s planning meeting:
Rationale
*Why do we need this kind of service?
*In what ways are other services lacking that this project can address?
Who Will Use This Service?
*What restrictions, if any will we have?
*Would it make the project more acceptable to focus on certain groups, ie, disabled, elderly, families?
Municipal/Legal Regulations and Relations
*What are the regulations prohibiting this project
*What are the municipalities willing to do to relax these regulations/What do they require from us?
Community Relations
*What are the concerns of the public towards this project?
*What kinds of actions can we take to engage/dialogue with the public?
Land
*Where will this happen?
*Private or public land?
*One or more camps?
Camp Regulations
*What is allowed/not allowed in the camps?
Food
*What kind of food will we provide?
*How will we acquire it?
Safety/Security
*What kind of training would volunteers require?
*How will we keep people and their belongings safe?
Supports
*What kinds of supports will we need to offer?
*What do we have the capacity to provide?
*How do we build our capacity to provide more?
Funding/Supplies
*What will this cost us?
*What do we need?
*Where will we get the funding/supplies we need?
Volunteers
*What is our volunteer capacity to implement this project?
*What kind of commitment is required of those involved?
*What kinds of structures will we have for dividing tasks?
Similar/Previous Projects
*What can we learn from existing/past/attempted projects of this kind?
Administration
*How will this project be governed?
*Will we form a non-profit, or seek assistance from another non-profit?
*How will we make decisions that affect the project?
Timeline
*When do we hope to have this plan finished?
*When do we hope to start providing service?
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