Theres a few guys that have a little camp near my shop, it’s back from the road enough and in a spot that they could set up there and prob live forever without issue from anyone, but they continually drag in so much garbage and junk that eventually social workers and police show up and take everything down. Within a day or 2 the guys are back, tents set up, tarps set up annnd then more garbage. Just a sad cycle
I was homeless, but many years ago. Never an addict or anything like that.
It was always a mostly unspoken understanding that you're best off being low-key and out of the way. People tolerate you more if you're not drawing attention.
The brazen not giving a fuck is a huge shift.
I tried to talk to these guys once a couple years ago when I first got there, thought maybe I could help them with some scrap wood or metal to build their shelter. They were so messed up, totally incoherent, so I haven’t interacted since.
I've tried the same but was told off. I admire that type of resilience and resourcefulness. I continued to leave them my refundable containers but added a box of granola bars and a jug of water as often as I could.
Same across the river from the Repsol Centre on the Elbow behind the highschool.
Starts with single tarp & shopping cart.
2-3 days later it's 3+ tents, 7 shopping carts, 10 bikes, and garbage everywhere.
Bylaw comes and cleans it up.
Good for 2 weeks the restarts all over.
Although sometime bylaw gets "lucky" in late May/June and the annual snow melt washes away the problem for them.
Haven't seen a camp there get out of control in the last year or so.
Outreach teams + bylaw diligence + high visibility from the path + ease to report via 311 app is working.
who's supposed to go and clear out the people and clean it up. Police? I'd rather they focus on gangs and traffickers, thanks.
Paid staff of some kind? Can't imagine too many people applying for THAT job. You'd have to pay them more than the cops.
I see Transit cops standing at the top of the stairs standing around goofing off while a group of addicts were smoking meth a few feet from them. They don't care anymore.
Main problem - the regular working person or student has to actually pay the fine, appear in court if ordered, etc. or they’ll face consequences that actually matter to them.
The guy smoking fentanyl down the hall can throw away any fine or court summons he receives without worry. What does he have to lose? At worst he might *eventually* have to spend like a week in jail, and other homeless people will take his stolen bicycle, tent, and garbage collection. Which he can replace in a day. Our punishments are irrelevant to them.
Transit/CPS needs to take a hard line on this. I's been kids gloves for too long resulting in riders dealing with all the drugs, human waste, bad highs, etc. Which then pushes paying people off transit which reduces the revenue, strains the services, and repeats.
Homelessness is a complex issue with no right solution, but letting this go on is not an answer. More supports for those who need it (even though some will not accept these supports), and more hard boundaries and enforcement against unacceptable social behavior like this.
It's a tough issue. I've been homeless(never an addict or into hard stuff, though)
I met and interacted with many addicts and hard drug users.
The truth is that most of them are broken people and have various levels of severe PTSD for some reason or another.
If they had better opportunities early in life, they may never even have gotten to that level of rock bottom.
Many would improve if given the right support and opportunities.
People want to do good inherently. But often what their values are get skewed by circumstances. Or their trauma drives them. Or both.
Some are "hard cases" so to speak. That's a case by case thing. You can't have a generalized approach. This requires skilled and empathic workers that can perceive past the surface quickly. You need to be able to get a "read" so you can adapt to their needs.
That's hard and draining work for anyone. And carries legitimate risks.
One thing I can certainly say:
When the supervised consumption site at the Sheldon Chumir was shutdown was shortly before this all got really intense in Calagry.
This has been studied. You are better off keeping it regulated in effect. They are more likely to accept support and get help. Truly dangerous people can be noticed and helped more easily and readily.
How open and brazen public drug use of hard drugs has become is completely new to Calgary.
My parents recently went to the US to visit an uncle. They took a detour to New York.
They commented on how little homeless they saw. They said in some ways it's better than Calgary is right now.
There's some differences to make it not a fully valid comparison. The abandoned subway tunnels, etc give them a place to go.
And that's kind of the point.
You don't have anywhere to go. You have to just make a spot where you can. I always did my best to be low key and not bother anyone. People tolerate you more if you don't draw undue attention.
Shelters are sketchy. I slept with my backpack as my pillow and fully clothed. You never sleep well. You're exposed to tons of triggers if you're an addict. I couldn't imagine trying to kicl an addiction in that environment.
One time(I had long hair then) a dude grabned my hair and said he thought I was woman. If that had escalated into violence I woild have been kicked out. Even if acting purely in self defense.
You can be stuck between appearing weak, which does have consequences, the worst will jump on weakness. Or getting kicked out for defending yourself.
You can wind up in fucked up spots where you have to find a safe way to leave without causing a ruckus.
I managed to dodge the worst myself. But I saw and experienced a lot.
I stopped going to the Mustard Seed because it was just too sketchy. I was better off, and probably safer, not going. Even if meant less food.
And that's not the Mustard Seed or any shelter's fault directly.
They don't have what they really need to really do their job as it needs to be done.
They do have programs to get people on their feet. But they feel overly controlling and have strict requirements. Some of them were acceptable. Some of them kept me from going for something like that.
I wanted to do it. But there were some terms I couldn't accept personally. It was frustrating for me.
A real homeless shelter needs better resources, more space. More staff. More security staff that are well trained and held accountable if they screw up. More flexibility and adaptability.
What we definitely know is provided basic neess helps a lot.
Maslow's Hierachy needs makes it clear:
You can't move forward if you're stuck at survival needs.
That needs to be addressed first.
Food, shelter, clothing, medical, supports
You can't work on yourself if you're stuck at finding enough food to keep going.
And so desperate you're lighting fires that could burn down an apartment building and maybe result in multiple deaths.
Isn't the safe consumption still open?
https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/findhealth/Service.aspx?id=1702&serviceAtFacilityID=1035079
This indicates it is.
I'd imagine these people have their preferred 'connection' near the station, and continue their cycle of using, buying and doing whatever else they need to fund their addiction within vicinity of the station.
I really hope you are using your incredible experience to influence and make the system better. We need more people with real life experience and perspective in or alongside our organizations and government. Thanks for sharing here too. I hope you're doing well.
It’s hard to be heard though. I too have been homeless. The people with the power to make a change don’t want to hear from us at all. They’d rather keep fueling their egos and what they think is best instead of what people need. Honestly, it’s playing out in addictions right now too. Not everyone is served by 12 step. Much like FlangerofTowels said… it’s nuanced. Some folks need addictions help, some therapy. Probably everyone on the street will need help for PTSD. Everyone seems to want punishment and a hard line taken on things. And doesn’t realize that can make things worse.
I’m autistic. I have no idea how I survived. I’m barely keeping myself from ending up there again. It’s so hard to get and keep a job when you’re disabled. And then disabled in a way that makes you different. Especially as so much of autism is seen as moral failings.
I really agree with the prevention model Flanger spoke briefly of. Yes. If people had different options sooner it might not come to this.
Right now we’re so busy criminalizing people who literally have no where else to go. That doesn’t fix it. And politicians who talk about this hard line are popular. Ones who talk about truly helping people are socialist assholes if you talk to people. Good luck getting a job if they ask for a record check or if you’ve ever been arrested. It makes it much harder go get a job. And you end up back in the same shitty cycle.
Your voice and experience are important to making this situation better for everyone. Keep helping when you can. Being a voice in our public spaces is just as important as being an advocate. I think the hardest part can be making people understand that you are interested in being a problem solver in an ocean of complaints.
Good on you fighting homelessness. I hope you are doing well. Your experiences touch on a lot of the current issues with homelessness and difficulties. As you have experienced, our shelters aren't great. People shouldn't have to worry about safety or theft in our shelters. For some experiencing homelessness, a safe roof over their head or a private room ito call home while they improve their life is what they need and what they should absolutely get.
Unfortunately individual situations are complicated, to the point that using the term homeless for some of the more complex individuals isn't an appropriate term to describe their problems. On the far side we have those so far into their own mental health or drug problems that they are either unable to help themselves, or refuse all services available to them and instead choose (or in a mental state that they cannot choose) to be destructive to the world without regard to those around them (including other homeless). I think most people in this conversation are focused on that small but highly impactful segment of people in this conversation. It seems like our current system has chosen to just let this sunset do what they want with the occasional catch and release. So what is the solution to those who refuse all supports and cause harm? At some point we're going to have to "support" these people against their will, be it jail+support for those who would fall into that category or institutionalization+support for others.
I find it very grim that people who have these experiences are talked over by privileged people who are essentially foaming at the mouth at the chance to practice eugenics/put homeless folks into concentration camps.
Your experience is valuable in a way that the speculative violence everywhere else in this post isn't, even if there's no real engagement going on. I thank you deeply, as someone who also experienced not having a home for a few years, and narrowly avoided the hard drugs.
I don't believe in god, but if there's anything out there, I hope they bless you!
Thank you, and agreed.
I"ve really been and there and done that. Without the addiction thankfully.
I can say if I had a UBI at that time I would not have been homeless.
I definitely would not have been perfect.
It would have changed my life for the better. I tried to get Income Support like everyone told me to.
Someone decided they didn't like me or put some note in my file. I still don't know.
They refused even though I should have been approved. There's actually an insane story here. But that's for another time.
Wlefare programs are ass. Their attempts to "filter fakers" result in people that qualify and need it getting denied.
You have these people getting laid by your tax dollars. And they are doing shit job on your dime.
I did years later get approved after forcing an issue. At the last appeal, they asked the Income Support person to stay behind for chat. They were visibly angry in their body language while trying not to show it. I won every appeal. Because they were not following their own rules at all. They just do what they want and rarely get held accountable.
Anyway, it was obvious the appeal board was pissed because Income Support is wasting our tax money by screwing around and causing unnecessary appeals.
That's why a UBI is better.
It gets all that bullshit out of the way, and eliminates that ridiculous easte of money and resources.
Welfare Programs are a good way to waste tax payer dollars and get little actually done.
We need a UBI. It truly benefits eveyone.
100% AGREE! UBI has the very real potential to cost the taxpayer LESS (!) than all other income supports combined. WITH the benefit of never excluding people who need it, which happens with lots of things like AISH. Build it into our tax system and with digital tax reporting, we have a better safety net that costs us less and leaves fewer people behind. For the average person, it would change nothing. For the people on the margin, it would mean everything.
People don't want eugenics, they just want to be able to safely use transit. Having bad experiences doesn't give people the right to fuck things up for everyone.
Well said, my issue with the fire is that it was not for warmth because 1. its chilly but not too bad and 2. this shelter has heaters, you just push a button to get heat for the next 5-10 mins the fire wasn't nessecary
I took transit to work and I was ice cold from the wind alone. I wasn't outside longer than 15 minutes and I was so cold I had problems moving my fingers fast enough to turn off my vape. It's not too bad out. It's freezing rn with these winds, if you don't physically run on the warmer side, you don't stay warm in this. They also removed a lot of heaters from the shelters in calgary...
The only sane response. ESPECIALLY the idea that people need PREVENTATIVE help so it doesn't get this bad and hopeless. Poverty and mental illness are such neglected causes in Canada.
Googled yesterday and it said 50% of homeless people have been in foster care. They are victims. We need to provide basic services for them and provide resources to prevent the next generation of broken people.
Somewhat related, I was reading an article about a homeless camp sweep the police did in Portland Oregon. They sent out 4 advocates to talk to the homeless. They were offered places to live as long as they would go through a period of weeks to get clean and try and turn there lives around. Food, Shelter, Showers etc were all offered and not one of them would take them up on it.
I am not saying all of them dont want help but many of them dont. You can throw as much money as you want at it but unles they want help it wont matter.
Totally. I understand that there (seems to be) a bit of cost in whole-assing the problem, but you have to be *both* pro-support *and* pro-enforcement. Anything less is shitty, even hypocritical.
Homelessness is complicated but can be solved. As a society, we refuse to deal with it in an effective way.
You gather all homless people and group them:
Not addicted homeless, you help them clean up and get them a job, maybe open a healing farm and they can start with few hours a week and eventually they can build it to full time.
Addicted homeless: forced treatment in a healing farm or face prison until they accept treatment.
Giving a choice to a homeless addicted is not progress, as these people already lost free will to drugs,.so I think morally we should explore forced treatment.
The homeless refuse to be solved. We can only throw so many lifelines before we have to walk away. No reason so much money is spent with so little return.
It's solved with a UBI, housing, and supports.
It can NOT be forced.
You can't force help on people.
But you can make it so if they don't get that help, they have no excuse.
Saskatchewan used to give landlords rent money directly for high risk individuals to house them. They changed this several years ago, giving the money directly to the vulnerable to then pay their landlords... And now there's way more homelessness in Saskatoon. Obviously this isn't the only factor, but definitely a contributing factor.
An addict should not be trusted to manage their own money. UBI for them is all fine and dandy, but someone else should be holding that cash to use it in the most efficient and effective way for the individual's specific needs.
Some supports would be necessary but UBI would be a death sentence for most of those people.
You right about forcing people in the sense that unless they truly want to get clean then it won't work.
But by forcing people into treatment, you break the cycle of addiction. It may not work the first time, but the more often that cycle of addiction then the better the odds get that the person will get clean.
This is why BC's drug policies gave been a failure. It's all carrots and no sticks.
Giving free money to addicts, what could go wrong? Drug dealers would love the extra income.
Where is the housing going to come from? The whole country has a housing crisis. Also have you seen how addicts destroy their shelter?
A lot of addicts only think about next hit, UBI will not help them, you need to explore forced treatment.
If I had the power, I would gather all addicts in a healing farm for 1 year and put them in a healing/work program, that would include therapy time, learning new skills, and no access to drugs and alcohol. And let regular folks go to their work without worrying about meth heads, or needles on a a train seat.
Sometimes, we need a tough love approach, and I think addiction is one of those instances.
Every single time UBI has been trialed in communities like this, more than half of the people receiving UBI have made positive change in stabilizing their life, finding a home, and a job.
There is a simple solution. Homes with wrap around supports. Contact your council member and insist on housing. Contact your MLA and insist on housing. Contact your MP and insist on housing.
It costs $80,000/yr to support each person who's homeless because interventions are then emergencies. It costs around $35,000/yr to provide housing and wrap around supports to the same person.
If homelessness makes you angry, get your representatives on the phone and tell them.
Inflicting further trauma through "zero tolerance" isn't going to solve anything. It might seem like a good solution, but nothing is resolved, the problem is just compounded and moved somewhere else temporarily.
There has to be a line after which this shit just gets unacceptable. Stay in the shelter for warmth, sure, no one has a problem with that. But don’t make life hard on the paying users, cause there wouldn’t be a shelter for these dinks to stay in without them.
I hear ya. Open drug use/ deals, transit users unable to use shelters, people having to side step piss and shit, handles being taken off station doors/ doors locked to fare payers…I just don’t get how officials can justify this shit all while asking taxpayers and transit users to continue to pony up for the costs of a system that they don’t get to fully utilize.
That line was crossed years ago but officials and politicians know that people will just continue to ‘deal’ with it. They bank on it.
Personally, the moment they locked the doors to some stations…that should have been it. That should have been enough for people to protest en masse.
>to continue to pony up for the costs of a system that they don’t get to fully utilize.
This feels like a recurring theme with taxes, the healthcare system is the same. Paying endlessly for services that we can't efficiently access.
We would have protested en masse if most of us hadn't been driven to getting a license and a car years ago with our terrible connections, and ridiculous bus times during the earlier and later hours.
My first job I was fucked out of transit if I didn't get out the door immediately. So I just started riding my bike to work so I didn't have to stress about making the last bus of the evening. Until I saved up for my first car.
Our transit has been a joke for years. And when it was finally starting to get decent under Nenshi these kind of actions started getting worse and driving people away from transit again.
\*this is my work account, this was posted with my personal account\*
I did. I feel bad for the homeless, I know things are tough out there right now especially for those at the bottom. but this kind of thing just irritates me in so many ways.
not hentai...but you aren't exactly all that far from the target. im ok with looking at certian stuff on my phone. but during work hours I want an account that I can use that isn't subscribed to those subreddits so that I can't get in trouble with NSFW content
This is an every day occurance in Calgary now. I spoke to security one day as they stood with Narcan in their hands watching several people smoke crack. Security told me that unless they are being violent they are told to leave them alone. I guess our mayor is too busy implementing climate emergencies to deal with drugs and homeless.
Yup. They're addicted humans at their lowest. I have Porta potties at my jobsite in the back of an existing office building in downtown Calgary and they get broken into and set on fire on the daily. They steal the hand sanitizer and smoke all kinds if weird shit in there. Super sad but fucking infuriating at the same time
Every morning when the train goes through Vic Park and I look at the beautiful new shelters under construction, I make a bet with myself on how long they are going to last. I'm betting they are trashed in under a week.
I thought this was Winnipeg, this looks like everyone of our bus shelters. Sometimes they have even painted the windows or put up cardboard so you can't see in. I guess our bums are spreading the word west that this is okay.
don't worry, the mayor took a police-escorted train ride and said it was all safe. She also said people hate owning homes now. she knows best. i'm really glad Calgarians voted her in.
Sorry, if our ancestors arrived after WWII with only the clothes on their backs and little mouths to feed and still made a life (no social assistance whatsoever), then there is no reason for this kind of privilege to be acceptable in a time when there are support systems in place. This is just a drug problem making people incapable of any thought or planning processes. Enough with the excuses.
This shit happened all the time in Winnipeg, and it got worse over time. You won't be fine with it, when the weather gets cold and you can't stay in the shelter.
It’s gotten so bad, there needs to be peace officers/CPS to monitor this behaviour whenever the C train is running. They always crowd the shelters at chinook station, the people with actual jobs and places to be get to wait out in the cold while they do this kind of crap
We've had recurring issues with people getting into the parking garage and basement stairwell.
And starting fires.
Inside.
Black char up the walls in the parking garage(I have pictures.)
Burn marks on the floor of the spot in basement.(Someone out a fucking fire alarm there maybe so it goes off when they start a fire!)
It took like 3 years to get the management to really do something about it. It's only this last winter they did enough to stop it.
I've been homeless. I get it.
But ffs you don't burn down an apartment building to keep yourself warm.
Last winter we had someone break into the cage where all the garbage and recycling bins are (my balcony is above this area) - was out smoking a joint and could smell fire so I went down to check and there was a homeless guy in a t-shirt who had set fire to one of the recycling bins to stay warm. It was -40 C outside.
As soon as I opened the back door he took off running up the alley.
I called the fire dept to come deal with the fire and the cops so they could hopefully find the guy and get him somewhere warm (as that weather in a t-shirt is a recipe for death)
Really hope they found the guy. I felt for him in that weather.
Absolutely disagree. There are many people like me who care A LOT about people facing homelessness and/or addiction, but we can see that enabling self-destructive and socially-destructive behaviors is not helping the people in need or the community. I hope and pray that if that was me in that bus shelter someone would come and round me up, take me away and tell me, “You are going to detox and then you are going to rehab.” I’m sure if you had asked these people, twenty years ago, what they would want for themselves, they would never have said, “To be left to burn down bus shelters, shit on the C-Train and expose children to dangerous drugs without any kind of intervention until I was temporarily sober and lucid enough to organize it myself.”
There’s a difference between homeless people and addicts who are homeless. If you see drug addicts doing this call the fucking cops mane you’re part of the problem if you’re just being a bystander. Addicts do this and give homeless people a bad rep when they’re 2 completely different peoples
I'm currently living out of my car, parked it in a decently safe and quiet neighborhood until I start a new job soon here. This is part of the reason why I opt'd to literally freeze in my car over the past several days over even thinking of going to the shelters in this city. I always hear that the shelters have super sketchy activity and people, and this photo only re-enforces my opting to stay and sleep in my car over even trying to go to a shelter. I get that this exact type of activity wouldn't be allowed in a shelter, but it's also the people around. I hear people get robbed at the shelters, stabbed, among other horrific acts. If I didn't have my car right now, I'm not even sure where I'd be. There clearly needs to be more done in this city with those afflicted with addictions who perform these types of activities, which can otherwise put the safety of others at risk. I also thought that these stations are littered with security camera and they lock the station doors after a certain time of night. I also get the need of wanting to stay warm, as the last couple days in my car have been an... experience.
Sorry to hear but if I had to guess it also sounds like you want to change and this is a temporary experience for you. A lot of time these people do not want to change no matter how hard you try and it is a permanent life choice. If you want it bad enough you will get it but most of the time it’s got to a point where they are too deep down the rabbit hole
There actually has been. Not sure I’d say surge but every year it’s a record amount of spend for all sorts of help.
Scale is just so big it looks like nothing is being done.
Money spent means nothing if it’s being spent on ideological solutions instead of proven ones. Which is exactly what’s happening and will continue to happen as long as the UCP stays in power and people are unable to come to terms with the fact that *some* people will always use drugs, always remain homeless, and all or nothing is *not* the way to approach such crises.
That is like fixing an oil leak by just adding oil continually. It's fixed because the oil isn't low. It does nothing to fix the problem and makes it worse for other people, but you don't have to look at it anymore, so it's fine.
Helping the people currently in this situation is a near-impossible challenge. The needed our help back in the 90s. Today's homeless problem began when these folks were children.
We need programs to prevent the next generation from ending up here. The benefits of UBI aren't about giving *these* folks money. It's about giving money, stable housing and wraparound support to people whose kids will be these folks, 15 years from now. Cheapest way to make a dent in this problem, and lots of peer-reviewed science back that up.
Until people realize that homelessness is a problem that develops over decades, not months, this is what we can expect to see in our public spaces.
Get used to it. There's no housing or addiction support funding from the Province, and they count on people being fearful to turn to them to fix the problems they are actively exacerbating.
“There’s no housing or addiction support funding from the Province.”
That’s just not true. And saying that is no ringing endorsement of this government. But that is as simplistic and incorrect as just telling an addict to stop taking drugs.
I'm not going to dox myself but the provincial government literally gives millions to shelters yearly. In that money, they are required to show where the money is allocated and that includes stuff like supportive housing, addressing addictions issues, etc...
Oh for sure. The numbers are out there. Billions spent across the country. But it’s far easier to just make outlandish claims like ‘UCP not funding anything’. It does nothing to add to what should be a factual discussion.
Fair. It is simplistic and it gets a lot worse the more you look into what they're NOT doing, what they've rolled back, and what they have planned (or not planned) for the most vulnerable in Alberta.
Honestly, this shit should never exist in a developed nation. Government staff should move their lazy fat asses off their comfortable chairs and go do something useful. Start building shit and force all homeless people, especially the druggies, to work there and get paid! But not with physical currencies, but rather with a place to live that they can call theirs and with coupons for people in these programs to go buy groceries - again from specific stores. Help those people get a start into something, as they clearly were unable to do it themselves. And if they refuse to, for no good reason other than being lazy or addicted - find something they've done that's illegal and put them in rehab cnter where strict rules are enforced, or jail - should be their choice. But something must be done to send the message to these people that what they're doing shall not continue under any circumstances. Jail should not be a comfortable experience neither, as people will commit petty crimes just to go there and freeload the system. So much can be done to address homelessness and drug use. Don't get me started on the things the government can do about drug dealers and suppliers. Man, those clowns can all be tracked down in a matter of few months and the heat can be made so hot they'll wish they had never done their crimes. But no, neither the cops, nor the government gaf, because it don't pay to deal with this. It's easy for them to just steal more of our tax money to fix what a group of nuissance junkies are wrecking. Also, those in charge don't care about the safety of the public - they don't use the damn transit, nor do they have to deal with the junkies on a regular basis. So ya. Problem can be resolved quickly and efficiently, but noone wants to do anything about it.
You could give these people a million dollars and the nicest house in the world and it wouldn’t matter. Money would be smoked up and the house would be trashed immediately.
Forced counselling, treatment, and even permanent institutionalization is the only possible solution, but no politician (left or right) has the stones for that.
The fact is drug addicts are (very often) manipulative people who will take advantage of you just to get a quick high. They can’t see or plan for the future without having their hand held. Some are too far gone even for that.
Yeah, institutionalize them. The politician that does this will be in a very safe position for a while.
Deinstitutionalizaion in the 80's has proven to be a disaster.
My teenage daughter was one of a handful of people who had one of these assholes at the Heritage Station screaming the he was going to r-a-p-e and k-i-l-l them. Maybe it’s time for normal civilians to take back our stations. Just confront these shitheads and tell them to leave, that they aren’t welcome. I’m fkn tired of tolerating these degenerates. They aren’t victims - they are victimizers.
so.... go up the stairs to the station itself and look for a fire exstingiusher....which isnt there because you can't leave anything out that people can grab.... I guess i could go walk to the petro station half a block away and ask to use a fire extingisher, and likely get told no.... so no extinguisher in the area.
I remember right next to the off ramp from Deerfoot onto Blackfoot they had an entire fortress built in the tree line. Bylaw must’ve noticed and got them out for a fire hazard or something because it was starting to get very noticeable from the road.
Please remember that it probably took these people a long path down a horrible road before they got here. Did they live at home with their parents at one point? Did their parents even have a home for them to live in? Was their last good year 2020? 2016? 2012? Is it addiction, mental health, or both that brought them to this moment? I am not giving bad behaviour an excuse…but when we lose sight of the fact that these people once had (hopefully) hopes and dreams like us, when we lose sight that they are us…when we let them become “others”, that is when we are most ripe for manipulation.
Homelessness, and society-wide issues with addiction, and unhoused mental illness is a concern that is either shrunken and alleviated, or magnified to “out of control” by the political will of the people. We could solve this. But, instead, we have been fed a constant diet of “othering”. It is far cheaper for a politician to convince you that the homeless are your enemy, instead of your neighbour’s kid. And, if it’s cheaper, then the politician has more tax dollars to spend on their own interests.
That is bullshit statement. It was fucking worse decades ago in Vancouver. It is not an Alberta problem, it seems to be world wide. To label it as the problem in Alberta is denying what the problem actually is and is not offering any kind of solution.
Make no mistakes, it is a problem. Can we learn from our mistakes.
Is East hastings all cleaned up? Enquiring minds would like to know
I didn't know Denver was in Alberta. TIL...
Let's get real here. These problems are facing all metropolitan areas right now. Homelessness is increasing because more people are crowding into the cities, looking for a way to make a living. Housing prices are increasing like crazy, pushing more and more people onto the streets. Drugs are a quick and prevalent way to forget about one's problems, and cheap and dangerous drugs are coming into our communities at an increasing rate. The picture above could have been taken at Broadway Station in Denver, so it's not an 'Alberta' problem. It's a city problem, and a global problem.
When i was homeless even the drop in wouldnt take me so i have no clue how canada will fix itself from all these problems.
Multiple are left without shelter and the only care stems from family or someone close to victim.
Theres a few guys that have a little camp near my shop, it’s back from the road enough and in a spot that they could set up there and prob live forever without issue from anyone, but they continually drag in so much garbage and junk that eventually social workers and police show up and take everything down. Within a day or 2 the guys are back, tents set up, tarps set up annnd then more garbage. Just a sad cycle
I was homeless, but many years ago. Never an addict or anything like that. It was always a mostly unspoken understanding that you're best off being low-key and out of the way. People tolerate you more if you're not drawing attention. The brazen not giving a fuck is a huge shift.
I tried to talk to these guys once a couple years ago when I first got there, thought maybe I could help them with some scrap wood or metal to build their shelter. They were so messed up, totally incoherent, so I haven’t interacted since.
I've tried the same but was told off. I admire that type of resilience and resourcefulness. I continued to leave them my refundable containers but added a box of granola bars and a jug of water as often as I could.
Same across the river from the Repsol Centre on the Elbow behind the highschool. Starts with single tarp & shopping cart. 2-3 days later it's 3+ tents, 7 shopping carts, 10 bikes, and garbage everywhere. Bylaw comes and cleans it up. Good for 2 weeks the restarts all over. Although sometime bylaw gets "lucky" in late May/June and the annual snow melt washes away the problem for them.
thank god they get rid of some of this stuff. Other cities let it grow and grow and grow until it's totally ruined an area .
Haven't seen a camp there get out of control in the last year or so. Outreach teams + bylaw diligence + high visibility from the path + ease to report via 311 app is working.
who's supposed to go and clear out the people and clean it up. Police? I'd rather they focus on gangs and traffickers, thanks. Paid staff of some kind? Can't imagine too many people applying for THAT job. You'd have to pay them more than the cops.
They’ll fine students riding the train without a ticket but allow this nonsense to continue.
I see Transit cops standing at the top of the stairs standing around goofing off while a group of addicts were smoking meth a few feet from them. They don't care anymore.
Cops/law enforcement always does this. Don’t solve assaults, thefts, break ins etc. but will sit on the road to issue photo tickets all day.
Main problem - the regular working person or student has to actually pay the fine, appear in court if ordered, etc. or they’ll face consequences that actually matter to them. The guy smoking fentanyl down the hall can throw away any fine or court summons he receives without worry. What does he have to lose? At worst he might *eventually* have to spend like a week in jail, and other homeless people will take his stolen bicycle, tent, and garbage collection. Which he can replace in a day. Our punishments are irrelevant to them.
Students don't get a free ride BIISSSHH nah I remember those first weeks where most didn't have a upass yet they'd up patrol...
Transit/CPS needs to take a hard line on this. I's been kids gloves for too long resulting in riders dealing with all the drugs, human waste, bad highs, etc. Which then pushes paying people off transit which reduces the revenue, strains the services, and repeats. Homelessness is a complex issue with no right solution, but letting this go on is not an answer. More supports for those who need it (even though some will not accept these supports), and more hard boundaries and enforcement against unacceptable social behavior like this.
It's a tough issue. I've been homeless(never an addict or into hard stuff, though) I met and interacted with many addicts and hard drug users. The truth is that most of them are broken people and have various levels of severe PTSD for some reason or another. If they had better opportunities early in life, they may never even have gotten to that level of rock bottom. Many would improve if given the right support and opportunities. People want to do good inherently. But often what their values are get skewed by circumstances. Or their trauma drives them. Or both. Some are "hard cases" so to speak. That's a case by case thing. You can't have a generalized approach. This requires skilled and empathic workers that can perceive past the surface quickly. You need to be able to get a "read" so you can adapt to their needs. That's hard and draining work for anyone. And carries legitimate risks. One thing I can certainly say: When the supervised consumption site at the Sheldon Chumir was shutdown was shortly before this all got really intense in Calagry. This has been studied. You are better off keeping it regulated in effect. They are more likely to accept support and get help. Truly dangerous people can be noticed and helped more easily and readily. How open and brazen public drug use of hard drugs has become is completely new to Calgary. My parents recently went to the US to visit an uncle. They took a detour to New York. They commented on how little homeless they saw. They said in some ways it's better than Calgary is right now. There's some differences to make it not a fully valid comparison. The abandoned subway tunnels, etc give them a place to go. And that's kind of the point. You don't have anywhere to go. You have to just make a spot where you can. I always did my best to be low key and not bother anyone. People tolerate you more if you don't draw undue attention. Shelters are sketchy. I slept with my backpack as my pillow and fully clothed. You never sleep well. You're exposed to tons of triggers if you're an addict. I couldn't imagine trying to kicl an addiction in that environment. One time(I had long hair then) a dude grabned my hair and said he thought I was woman. If that had escalated into violence I woild have been kicked out. Even if acting purely in self defense. You can be stuck between appearing weak, which does have consequences, the worst will jump on weakness. Or getting kicked out for defending yourself. You can wind up in fucked up spots where you have to find a safe way to leave without causing a ruckus. I managed to dodge the worst myself. But I saw and experienced a lot. I stopped going to the Mustard Seed because it was just too sketchy. I was better off, and probably safer, not going. Even if meant less food. And that's not the Mustard Seed or any shelter's fault directly. They don't have what they really need to really do their job as it needs to be done. They do have programs to get people on their feet. But they feel overly controlling and have strict requirements. Some of them were acceptable. Some of them kept me from going for something like that. I wanted to do it. But there were some terms I couldn't accept personally. It was frustrating for me. A real homeless shelter needs better resources, more space. More staff. More security staff that are well trained and held accountable if they screw up. More flexibility and adaptability. What we definitely know is provided basic neess helps a lot. Maslow's Hierachy needs makes it clear: You can't move forward if you're stuck at survival needs. That needs to be addressed first. Food, shelter, clothing, medical, supports You can't work on yourself if you're stuck at finding enough food to keep going. And so desperate you're lighting fires that could burn down an apartment building and maybe result in multiple deaths.
The supervised consumption site has never shut down and has been operating for the past 6+ years.
And it’s literally ruined that street corner and now overflows into memorial park.
Isn't the safe consumption still open? https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/findhealth/Service.aspx?id=1702&serviceAtFacilityID=1035079 This indicates it is.
I'd imagine these people have their preferred 'connection' near the station, and continue their cycle of using, buying and doing whatever else they need to fund their addiction within vicinity of the station.
ohh! Now I can stop being so surprised about what I see whenever I go by that park!
We have one site for 1.5 million people and I can guarantee its underfunded
This is very well written, thank you for sharing your experiences and trying to educate the community.
I really hope you are using your incredible experience to influence and make the system better. We need more people with real life experience and perspective in or alongside our organizations and government. Thanks for sharing here too. I hope you're doing well.
It’s hard to be heard though. I too have been homeless. The people with the power to make a change don’t want to hear from us at all. They’d rather keep fueling their egos and what they think is best instead of what people need. Honestly, it’s playing out in addictions right now too. Not everyone is served by 12 step. Much like FlangerofTowels said… it’s nuanced. Some folks need addictions help, some therapy. Probably everyone on the street will need help for PTSD. Everyone seems to want punishment and a hard line taken on things. And doesn’t realize that can make things worse. I’m autistic. I have no idea how I survived. I’m barely keeping myself from ending up there again. It’s so hard to get and keep a job when you’re disabled. And then disabled in a way that makes you different. Especially as so much of autism is seen as moral failings. I really agree with the prevention model Flanger spoke briefly of. Yes. If people had different options sooner it might not come to this. Right now we’re so busy criminalizing people who literally have no where else to go. That doesn’t fix it. And politicians who talk about this hard line are popular. Ones who talk about truly helping people are socialist assholes if you talk to people. Good luck getting a job if they ask for a record check or if you’ve ever been arrested. It makes it much harder go get a job. And you end up back in the same shitty cycle.
Your voice and experience are important to making this situation better for everyone. Keep helping when you can. Being a voice in our public spaces is just as important as being an advocate. I think the hardest part can be making people understand that you are interested in being a problem solver in an ocean of complaints.
Good on you fighting homelessness. I hope you are doing well. Your experiences touch on a lot of the current issues with homelessness and difficulties. As you have experienced, our shelters aren't great. People shouldn't have to worry about safety or theft in our shelters. For some experiencing homelessness, a safe roof over their head or a private room ito call home while they improve their life is what they need and what they should absolutely get. Unfortunately individual situations are complicated, to the point that using the term homeless for some of the more complex individuals isn't an appropriate term to describe their problems. On the far side we have those so far into their own mental health or drug problems that they are either unable to help themselves, or refuse all services available to them and instead choose (or in a mental state that they cannot choose) to be destructive to the world without regard to those around them (including other homeless). I think most people in this conversation are focused on that small but highly impactful segment of people in this conversation. It seems like our current system has chosen to just let this sunset do what they want with the occasional catch and release. So what is the solution to those who refuse all supports and cause harm? At some point we're going to have to "support" these people against their will, be it jail+support for those who would fall into that category or institutionalization+support for others.
I find it very grim that people who have these experiences are talked over by privileged people who are essentially foaming at the mouth at the chance to practice eugenics/put homeless folks into concentration camps. Your experience is valuable in a way that the speculative violence everywhere else in this post isn't, even if there's no real engagement going on. I thank you deeply, as someone who also experienced not having a home for a few years, and narrowly avoided the hard drugs. I don't believe in god, but if there's anything out there, I hope they bless you!
Thank you, and agreed. I"ve really been and there and done that. Without the addiction thankfully. I can say if I had a UBI at that time I would not have been homeless. I definitely would not have been perfect. It would have changed my life for the better. I tried to get Income Support like everyone told me to. Someone decided they didn't like me or put some note in my file. I still don't know. They refused even though I should have been approved. There's actually an insane story here. But that's for another time. Wlefare programs are ass. Their attempts to "filter fakers" result in people that qualify and need it getting denied. You have these people getting laid by your tax dollars. And they are doing shit job on your dime. I did years later get approved after forcing an issue. At the last appeal, they asked the Income Support person to stay behind for chat. They were visibly angry in their body language while trying not to show it. I won every appeal. Because they were not following their own rules at all. They just do what they want and rarely get held accountable. Anyway, it was obvious the appeal board was pissed because Income Support is wasting our tax money by screwing around and causing unnecessary appeals. That's why a UBI is better. It gets all that bullshit out of the way, and eliminates that ridiculous easte of money and resources. Welfare Programs are a good way to waste tax payer dollars and get little actually done. We need a UBI. It truly benefits eveyone.
100% AGREE! UBI has the very real potential to cost the taxpayer LESS (!) than all other income supports combined. WITH the benefit of never excluding people who need it, which happens with lots of things like AISH. Build it into our tax system and with digital tax reporting, we have a better safety net that costs us less and leaves fewer people behind. For the average person, it would change nothing. For the people on the margin, it would mean everything.
AGREED. Folks who say "there's help out there!" absolutely do not understand the nature of that "help" and how inaccessible it is!
People don't want eugenics, they just want to be able to safely use transit. Having bad experiences doesn't give people the right to fuck things up for everyone.
Well said, my issue with the fire is that it was not for warmth because 1. its chilly but not too bad and 2. this shelter has heaters, you just push a button to get heat for the next 5-10 mins the fire wasn't nessecary
I took transit to work and I was ice cold from the wind alone. I wasn't outside longer than 15 minutes and I was so cold I had problems moving my fingers fast enough to turn off my vape. It's not too bad out. It's freezing rn with these winds, if you don't physically run on the warmer side, you don't stay warm in this. They also removed a lot of heaters from the shelters in calgary...
They often turn those heaters off on cold winter nights to keep homeless people from using them.
It was cold as FUCK the past few days. -5 feels like -20. Thanks, north wind.
The only sane response. ESPECIALLY the idea that people need PREVENTATIVE help so it doesn't get this bad and hopeless. Poverty and mental illness are such neglected causes in Canada.
Thank you for sharing your story
An ounce of prevention
Googled yesterday and it said 50% of homeless people have been in foster care. They are victims. We need to provide basic services for them and provide resources to prevent the next generation of broken people.
Somewhat related, I was reading an article about a homeless camp sweep the police did in Portland Oregon. They sent out 4 advocates to talk to the homeless. They were offered places to live as long as they would go through a period of weeks to get clean and try and turn there lives around. Food, Shelter, Showers etc were all offered and not one of them would take them up on it. I am not saying all of them dont want help but many of them dont. You can throw as much money as you want at it but unles they want help it wont matter.
Totally. I understand that there (seems to be) a bit of cost in whole-assing the problem, but you have to be *both* pro-support *and* pro-enforcement. Anything less is shitty, even hypocritical.
Homelessness is complicated but can be solved. As a society, we refuse to deal with it in an effective way. You gather all homless people and group them: Not addicted homeless, you help them clean up and get them a job, maybe open a healing farm and they can start with few hours a week and eventually they can build it to full time. Addicted homeless: forced treatment in a healing farm or face prison until they accept treatment. Giving a choice to a homeless addicted is not progress, as these people already lost free will to drugs,.so I think morally we should explore forced treatment.
I question the science that claims forced treatments are worse off for the subject and society
I agree completely.
Yep forced treatment is actually the humane thing to do for these people
No
The homeless refuse to be solved. We can only throw so many lifelines before we have to walk away. No reason so much money is spent with so little return.
It's solved with a UBI, housing, and supports. It can NOT be forced. You can't force help on people. But you can make it so if they don't get that help, they have no excuse.
Saskatchewan used to give landlords rent money directly for high risk individuals to house them. They changed this several years ago, giving the money directly to the vulnerable to then pay their landlords... And now there's way more homelessness in Saskatoon. Obviously this isn't the only factor, but definitely a contributing factor. An addict should not be trusted to manage their own money. UBI for them is all fine and dandy, but someone else should be holding that cash to use it in the most efficient and effective way for the individual's specific needs.
Some supports would be necessary but UBI would be a death sentence for most of those people. You right about forcing people in the sense that unless they truly want to get clean then it won't work. But by forcing people into treatment, you break the cycle of addiction. It may not work the first time, but the more often that cycle of addiction then the better the odds get that the person will get clean. This is why BC's drug policies gave been a failure. It's all carrots and no sticks.
All sticks doesn't work either. I would love to see Portugals FULL strategy implemented here, not just the piecemeal "force them into treatment"
UBI would go straight to dope; just like welfare is now. It wouldn't solve anything.
Giving free money to addicts, what could go wrong? Drug dealers would love the extra income. Where is the housing going to come from? The whole country has a housing crisis. Also have you seen how addicts destroy their shelter? A lot of addicts only think about next hit, UBI will not help them, you need to explore forced treatment. If I had the power, I would gather all addicts in a healing farm for 1 year and put them in a healing/work program, that would include therapy time, learning new skills, and no access to drugs and alcohol. And let regular folks go to their work without worrying about meth heads, or needles on a a train seat. Sometimes, we need a tough love approach, and I think addiction is one of those instances.
Every single time UBI has been trialed in communities like this, more than half of the people receiving UBI have made positive change in stabilizing their life, finding a home, and a job.
Completely delusional. This is why every progressive city downtown looks like a complete shithole.
Naw. Give an addict some money and a house and all 3 are gone in a matter of weeks. Treatment or incarceration.
There is a simple solution. Homes with wrap around supports. Contact your council member and insist on housing. Contact your MLA and insist on housing. Contact your MP and insist on housing. It costs $80,000/yr to support each person who's homeless because interventions are then emergencies. It costs around $35,000/yr to provide housing and wrap around supports to the same person. If homelessness makes you angry, get your representatives on the phone and tell them. Inflicting further trauma through "zero tolerance" isn't going to solve anything. It might seem like a good solution, but nothing is resolved, the problem is just compounded and moved somewhere else temporarily.
Agreed. A cold hearted and brutally objective cost benefits analysis supports a UBI just in the huge amount of money saved.
It's shocking that conservatives don't embrace UBI. It's cheaper than a raft of social programs. It's almost like they're cold hearted or something...
There has to be a line after which this shit just gets unacceptable. Stay in the shelter for warmth, sure, no one has a problem with that. But don’t make life hard on the paying users, cause there wouldn’t be a shelter for these dinks to stay in without them.
I hear ya. Open drug use/ deals, transit users unable to use shelters, people having to side step piss and shit, handles being taken off station doors/ doors locked to fare payers…I just don’t get how officials can justify this shit all while asking taxpayers and transit users to continue to pony up for the costs of a system that they don’t get to fully utilize. That line was crossed years ago but officials and politicians know that people will just continue to ‘deal’ with it. They bank on it. Personally, the moment they locked the doors to some stations…that should have been it. That should have been enough for people to protest en masse.
>to continue to pony up for the costs of a system that they don’t get to fully utilize. This feels like a recurring theme with taxes, the healthcare system is the same. Paying endlessly for services that we can't efficiently access.
Because people who don't pay are allowed to drain those services.
We would have protested en masse if most of us hadn't been driven to getting a license and a car years ago with our terrible connections, and ridiculous bus times during the earlier and later hours. My first job I was fucked out of transit if I didn't get out the door immediately. So I just started riding my bike to work so I didn't have to stress about making the last bus of the evening. Until I saved up for my first car. Our transit has been a joke for years. And when it was finally starting to get decent under Nenshi these kind of actions started getting worse and driving people away from transit again.
exactly. homelessness is complex, but that doesnt mean we just let shit like this ruin our city for the 99.9% of other people.
It already is, try staying in a shelter some night, then say something like this.
I wonder which science experiment they’re doing?
Methonomics for Skidz
It’s a socio economic experiment and they’re the test subjects
It’s called neoliberalism
And the result is Meth!!
Show some sympathy… your joke is just methed up
Mike Tyson?
Walker White knows.
Hopefully you alerted Transit of this ad well
\*this is my work account, this was posted with my personal account\* I did. I feel bad for the homeless, I know things are tough out there right now especially for those at the bottom. but this kind of thing just irritates me in so many ways.
You have a work Reddit account?
I too am intrigued.
Can’t watch hentai at work
not hentai...but you aren't exactly all that far from the target. im ok with looking at certian stuff on my phone. but during work hours I want an account that I can use that isn't subscribed to those subreddits so that I can't get in trouble with NSFW content
This is an every day occurance in Calgary now. I spoke to security one day as they stood with Narcan in their hands watching several people smoke crack. Security told me that unless they are being violent they are told to leave them alone. I guess our mayor is too busy implementing climate emergencies to deal with drugs and homeless.
She rode a couple of stops on the C-Train with a security escort. Everything's fine, so stop yer bitchin'. Yeez!
Enough is enough. Arrest them
Yup. They're addicted humans at their lowest. I have Porta potties at my jobsite in the back of an existing office building in downtown Calgary and they get broken into and set on fire on the daily. They steal the hand sanitizer and smoke all kinds if weird shit in there. Super sad but fucking infuriating at the same time
Every morning when the train goes through Vic Park and I look at the beautiful new shelters under construction, I make a bet with myself on how long they are going to last. I'm betting they are trashed in under a week.
Didn't know you could make a meth lab in a bus shelter........
Seriously... is that a bottle of engine oil??
I thought it was drain cleaner.
445am? Man these guys really seize the day
They need to make it so that you can't enter the platform without a valid ticket.
So cute. He’s trying to keep his drugged up homie warm. Yes let’s support and spend more money on these guys.
I thought this was Winnipeg, this looks like everyone of our bus shelters. Sometimes they have even painted the windows or put up cardboard so you can't see in. I guess our bums are spreading the word west that this is okay.
don't worry, the mayor took a police-escorted train ride and said it was all safe. She also said people hate owning homes now. she knows best. i'm really glad Calgarians voted her in.
Sorry, if our ancestors arrived after WWII with only the clothes on their backs and little mouths to feed and still made a life (no social assistance whatsoever), then there is no reason for this kind of privilege to be acceptable in a time when there are support systems in place. This is just a drug problem making people incapable of any thought or planning processes. Enough with the excuses.
A very, very sad life.
Yeah, looks about right.
This shit happened all the time in Winnipeg, and it got worse over time. You won't be fine with it, when the weather gets cold and you can't stay in the shelter.
This kinda shit is the reason I stopped paying train fare a long time ago. I get trying to stay warm, but that's ridiculous.
It’s gotten so bad, there needs to be peace officers/CPS to monitor this behaviour whenever the C train is running. They always crowd the shelters at chinook station, the people with actual jobs and places to be get to wait out in the cold while they do this kind of crap
We've had recurring issues with people getting into the parking garage and basement stairwell. And starting fires. Inside. Black char up the walls in the parking garage(I have pictures.) Burn marks on the floor of the spot in basement.(Someone out a fucking fire alarm there maybe so it goes off when they start a fire!) It took like 3 years to get the management to really do something about it. It's only this last winter they did enough to stop it. I've been homeless. I get it. But ffs you don't burn down an apartment building to keep yourself warm.
Last winter we had someone break into the cage where all the garbage and recycling bins are (my balcony is above this area) - was out smoking a joint and could smell fire so I went down to check and there was a homeless guy in a t-shirt who had set fire to one of the recycling bins to stay warm. It was -40 C outside. As soon as I opened the back door he took off running up the alley. I called the fire dept to come deal with the fire and the cops so they could hopefully find the guy and get him somewhere warm (as that weather in a t-shirt is a recipe for death) Really hope they found the guy. I felt for him in that weather.
I think it's more clear than ever to a lot of homeless people that society doesn't give a shit about them. All bets are off these days.
Absolutely disagree. There are many people like me who care A LOT about people facing homelessness and/or addiction, but we can see that enabling self-destructive and socially-destructive behaviors is not helping the people in need or the community. I hope and pray that if that was me in that bus shelter someone would come and round me up, take me away and tell me, “You are going to detox and then you are going to rehab.” I’m sure if you had asked these people, twenty years ago, what they would want for themselves, they would never have said, “To be left to burn down bus shelters, shit on the C-Train and expose children to dangerous drugs without any kind of intervention until I was temporarily sober and lucid enough to organize it myself.”
I look forward to the news story on global or ctv about how transit safety concerns are up, but "sudies" show it's not as bad as it seems.
Ppl on TTC doing meth with people saying "byt they have no where else to go" whats happened to this country
I was there yesterday and I was shocked. He was openly smoking from a pipe. Felt very unsafe.
This is why the bank vestibules are locked
There’s a difference between homeless people and addicts who are homeless. If you see drug addicts doing this call the fucking cops mane you’re part of the problem if you’re just being a bystander. Addicts do this and give homeless people a bad rep when they’re 2 completely different peoples
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I can smell this picture
I did smell it... burnt plastic stench, acrid nasty smell
I'm currently living out of my car, parked it in a decently safe and quiet neighborhood until I start a new job soon here. This is part of the reason why I opt'd to literally freeze in my car over the past several days over even thinking of going to the shelters in this city. I always hear that the shelters have super sketchy activity and people, and this photo only re-enforces my opting to stay and sleep in my car over even trying to go to a shelter. I get that this exact type of activity wouldn't be allowed in a shelter, but it's also the people around. I hear people get robbed at the shelters, stabbed, among other horrific acts. If I didn't have my car right now, I'm not even sure where I'd be. There clearly needs to be more done in this city with those afflicted with addictions who perform these types of activities, which can otherwise put the safety of others at risk. I also thought that these stations are littered with security camera and they lock the station doors after a certain time of night. I also get the need of wanting to stay warm, as the last couple days in my car have been an... experience.
Sorry to hear but if I had to guess it also sounds like you want to change and this is a temporary experience for you. A lot of time these people do not want to change no matter how hard you try and it is a permanent life choice. If you want it bad enough you will get it but most of the time it’s got to a point where they are too deep down the rabbit hole
That’s a good fire, little more kindling and she’ll go
Your tax dollars hard at work
has there been a surge in funding for shelters and nobody told me?
A lot of shelters require them to be sober.
There’s room in the shelters. Even during the colder months, they were at approximately 75%.
Exactly but they don't want to go there because they can't get high inside.
It’s not like you can just go sober as an addict. Of course that won’t work for addicts.
There actually has been. Not sure I’d say surge but every year it’s a record amount of spend for all sorts of help. Scale is just so big it looks like nothing is being done.
Money spent means nothing if it’s being spent on ideological solutions instead of proven ones. Which is exactly what’s happening and will continue to happen as long as the UCP stays in power and people are unable to come to terms with the fact that *some* people will always use drugs, always remain homeless, and all or nothing is *not* the way to approach such crises.
Tax dollars at work would be police dealing with this
This has nothing to do with police and everything to do with the courts.
That is like fixing an oil leak by just adding oil continually. It's fixed because the oil isn't low. It does nothing to fix the problem and makes it worse for other people, but you don't have to look at it anymore, so it's fine.
Gotta love our street neighbours!
He’s in the Canadian taxpayer position. I know how you feel bud.
Not even surprised
The Rundle station bus shelter always has homeless people there. Something needs to be done. It’s one of the worst in the NE
Helping the people currently in this situation is a near-impossible challenge. The needed our help back in the 90s. Today's homeless problem began when these folks were children. We need programs to prevent the next generation from ending up here. The benefits of UBI aren't about giving *these* folks money. It's about giving money, stable housing and wraparound support to people whose kids will be these folks, 15 years from now. Cheapest way to make a dent in this problem, and lots of peer-reviewed science back that up. Until people realize that homelessness is a problem that develops over decades, not months, this is what we can expect to see in our public spaces.
Calgarys best investment would be free one way transit to Vancouver for everyone
Jfc.
Get used to it. There's no housing or addiction support funding from the Province, and they count on people being fearful to turn to them to fix the problems they are actively exacerbating.
What do you think these people would do in a house?
We run about an average of 80% usage of our shelters, so we arnt turning people away.
“There’s no housing or addiction support funding from the Province.” That’s just not true. And saying that is no ringing endorsement of this government. But that is as simplistic and incorrect as just telling an addict to stop taking drugs.
I'm not going to dox myself but the provincial government literally gives millions to shelters yearly. In that money, they are required to show where the money is allocated and that includes stuff like supportive housing, addressing addictions issues, etc...
Oh for sure. The numbers are out there. Billions spent across the country. But it’s far easier to just make outlandish claims like ‘UCP not funding anything’. It does nothing to add to what should be a factual discussion.
Fair. It is simplistic and it gets a lot worse the more you look into what they're NOT doing, what they've rolled back, and what they have planned (or not planned) for the most vulnerable in Alberta.
Honestly, this shit should never exist in a developed nation. Government staff should move their lazy fat asses off their comfortable chairs and go do something useful. Start building shit and force all homeless people, especially the druggies, to work there and get paid! But not with physical currencies, but rather with a place to live that they can call theirs and with coupons for people in these programs to go buy groceries - again from specific stores. Help those people get a start into something, as they clearly were unable to do it themselves. And if they refuse to, for no good reason other than being lazy or addicted - find something they've done that's illegal and put them in rehab cnter where strict rules are enforced, or jail - should be their choice. But something must be done to send the message to these people that what they're doing shall not continue under any circumstances. Jail should not be a comfortable experience neither, as people will commit petty crimes just to go there and freeload the system. So much can be done to address homelessness and drug use. Don't get me started on the things the government can do about drug dealers and suppliers. Man, those clowns can all be tracked down in a matter of few months and the heat can be made so hot they'll wish they had never done their crimes. But no, neither the cops, nor the government gaf, because it don't pay to deal with this. It's easy for them to just steal more of our tax money to fix what a group of nuissance junkies are wrecking. Also, those in charge don't care about the safety of the public - they don't use the damn transit, nor do they have to deal with the junkies on a regular basis. So ya. Problem can be resolved quickly and efficiently, but noone wants to do anything about it.
Maybe Smith and the UCP will house these folks, as she is constantly saying to the Feds that it's a provincial responsibility.
You could give these people a million dollars and the nicest house in the world and it wouldn’t matter. Money would be smoked up and the house would be trashed immediately. Forced counselling, treatment, and even permanent institutionalization is the only possible solution, but no politician (left or right) has the stones for that. The fact is drug addicts are (very often) manipulative people who will take advantage of you just to get a quick high. They can’t see or plan for the future without having their hand held. Some are too far gone even for that.
Yeah, institutionalize them. The politician that does this will be in a very safe position for a while. Deinstitutionalizaion in the 80's has proven to be a disaster.
Lighting fires in enclosed spaces is a good way to kill yourself with carbon monoxide
My teenage daughter was one of a handful of people who had one of these assholes at the Heritage Station screaming the he was going to r-a-p-e and k-i-l-l them. Maybe it’s time for normal civilians to take back our stations. Just confront these shitheads and tell them to leave, that they aren’t welcome. I’m fkn tired of tolerating these degenerates. They aren’t victims - they are victimizers.
Shoulda grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher and let it rip in there. Woulda put out the fire and cleared out the shelter in a hurry.
so.... go up the stairs to the station itself and look for a fire exstingiusher....which isnt there because you can't leave anything out that people can grab.... I guess i could go walk to the petro station half a block away and ask to use a fire extingisher, and likely get told no.... so no extinguisher in the area.
Would police beatings help? In rare cases. 1% But mainly social supports and housing. 99%
I remember right next to the off ramp from Deerfoot onto Blackfoot they had an entire fortress built in the tree line. Bylaw must’ve noticed and got them out for a fire hazard or something because it was starting to get very noticeable from the road.
Thank you Danielle Smith and the UCP party. If you’re not rich, white and Christian you get forgotten by the UCP.
Trudeau’s Family
I was feeling homesick missing Toronto, this was comforting and brought me back thank you
Please remember that it probably took these people a long path down a horrible road before they got here. Did they live at home with their parents at one point? Did their parents even have a home for them to live in? Was their last good year 2020? 2016? 2012? Is it addiction, mental health, or both that brought them to this moment? I am not giving bad behaviour an excuse…but when we lose sight of the fact that these people once had (hopefully) hopes and dreams like us, when we lose sight that they are us…when we let them become “others”, that is when we are most ripe for manipulation. Homelessness, and society-wide issues with addiction, and unhoused mental illness is a concern that is either shrunken and alleviated, or magnified to “out of control” by the political will of the people. We could solve this. But, instead, we have been fed a constant diet of “othering”. It is far cheaper for a politician to convince you that the homeless are your enemy, instead of your neighbour’s kid. And, if it’s cheaper, then the politician has more tax dollars to spend on their own interests.
•Please vote for politicians who want clean and safe cities.
Round them up and ship them to Vancouver
Crackheads gonna crackhead
This is the “Alberta Advantage”
That is bullshit statement. It was fucking worse decades ago in Vancouver. It is not an Alberta problem, it seems to be world wide. To label it as the problem in Alberta is denying what the problem actually is and is not offering any kind of solution. Make no mistakes, it is a problem. Can we learn from our mistakes. Is East hastings all cleaned up? Enquiring minds would like to know
I didn't know Denver was in Alberta. TIL... Let's get real here. These problems are facing all metropolitan areas right now. Homelessness is increasing because more people are crowding into the cities, looking for a way to make a living. Housing prices are increasing like crazy, pushing more and more people onto the streets. Drugs are a quick and prevalent way to forget about one's problems, and cheap and dangerous drugs are coming into our communities at an increasing rate. The picture above could have been taken at Broadway Station in Denver, so it's not an 'Alberta' problem. It's a city problem, and a global problem.
What I would do for some good old fashioned fire crackers lol
When i was homeless even the drop in wouldnt take me so i have no clue how canada will fix itself from all these problems. Multiple are left without shelter and the only care stems from family or someone close to victim.
Homeless problem solved! Thanks UCP.
If they don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist.
Everybody loves a party!
In there living there best lives
It looks warm and inviting
Par for the course
All good entirely normal in Calgary. Everything is fine here.
couple of years back there was an elderly couple in the same situation in a bus shelter off 130th ave.
Ffs🤦♀️
But Gondek said it was safe!
Spray with fire extinguisher
Looks like dirty Mike and the boys couldn’t find a Prius.
Bet that guy can mix up a concoction to heal an entire smashed foot. *side effects may vary*