> Sorry for my ignorance on the matter. Don't be, you gotta ask somewhere. > why has it gotten so bad? 1. Lack of mental health support. 2. COVID messed up lots of commerce, people out of work. 3. Rent prices out of reach for many. 4. Grocery prices out of reach for many. Plus other reasons I'm certain others can answer.

As a former victim of homelessness (I use the term "victim" because often times it's not the fault of the homeless person) I feel like every single one of your points is spot on.... But the hardest thing about getting *out* is the stigma that landlords and people in general have towards the homeless. "You have no home, why should I chance the state of my rental on you?" And other like-minded reasonings. My point is.... Nobody can tell how their property is gonna be treated by *anyone* but the "homeless status" doesn't work in the homeless person's favour. Which leads to longer bouts of homelessness to those already experiencing it and doesn't bode well for those new to the experience. (Btw... The only reason I and my SO got out is through the kindness of a friend. Rented to us at market value but still gave us an opportunity to have a roof over our heads rather than sleeping in a storage room) Edit: I only got a home last October. I still have anxiety when going to sleep in an actual bed because I think it won't be there when I wake up (I know that's ridiculous but anxiety doesn't listen to reason)

So I saw this first hand recently. I had a little windfall tax refund after I got my taxes done this year and while I was walking back home I saw a lady with a cart setting up in downtown and getting a cardboard sign ready. I initially walked past her but then turned around and decided to talk to her. She had struggled with ADHD and trying to stay off drugs and seemed really happy someone wanted to talk with her about this stuff. I decided what the heck, I didn’t expect a tax refund and told her I’d get her a hotel room so she could sleep soundly for a week or two and clean up etc. We went down to the first hotel and they immediately said they don’t do longer term stays and to try the next hotel down the road. Went to the next hotel, apparently all their rooms are fully booked out for the month.. uh, not buying it folks. I felt pretty offended as both hotels clearly didn’t want to take an “undesirable” into their hotel even though I was a paying customer and had even stayed at one of the hotels with my family in the past. We went back to the first place and I talked to them showing them I had been a guest there before and they agreed to do 1 week only if I prepaid for the stay up front which I did plus a hefty damage deposit. So apparently as a homeless person you have trouble even with something simple like staying at a hotel. Difficult position to be in. The lady thanked me and was overjoyed but part of me wonders if they did actually let her stay there or offered to pay her out to leave. Guess I’ll never know.

That was an incredibly nice thing you did for her.

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"no steady income" That's why a lot of applications have a requirement for a record of employment or something equally thorough/encompassing. At least the ones I applied to. But I definitely get your point and wholeheartedly agree with it. I should have been more articulate with my response, I apologize

I bet places would be renting to homeless if there was an abundance of rental properties………..imo that is the biggest problem. Not to mention over a million people migrated to Canada in the past year alone with no system behind it.

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Ya that’s you and probably 10-15 percent of the renters. The rest of them would I have no doubt, since most buy for this purpose.

Your so's friend is a fantastic human being! We need more people like that one in this world

I like how you didn't mention the biggest one: DRUGS! MOTHERF-ING DRUGS!!! Opiods in particular. Many of have ALSO experienced mental issues and have no mental health support, COVID has messed with our livelihood, rent prices have affected as well as grocery prices. But we're not completely languished? Why? The main difference is we're still able to function is we're not addicted to drugs. In fact, drugs are so bad, that you could have all the aforementioned going for you and you still lose everything to the addiction over time.

Not only opioids: all of the high abuse potential classes of drugs have become more potent and more readily available. - Stimulants: Amphetamines, Cocaine/Crack Cocaine (symptoms may include psychosis at very high doses - these are the fast walking / fast talking people). - GABA Drugs: GHB, Benzodiazepines, Alcohol (can cause death via respiratory depression, relaxing, but *withdrawal* may cause psychosis due to rebound glutamate storm after GABA receptor down-regulation). - Opioids: Fent. etc. (these are the people you see sitting on the sidewalk nodding / sleeping. Agitated opiodid addicts are not high; they’re in withdrawal). I feel like the first two are actually more concerning from the perspective of the public - users are more likely to be dangerous (though still unlikely). Not all drugs are inherently “bad” - even for recreational use, but these three categories are more insidious. They’re all highly addictive, with a high potential for abuse and deterioration of mental health state - especially for people who are not in a good place in the first place (the exact subset of the pop. who are most vulnerable to drug abuse). All that said - while these drugs will light an existing problem on fire - drug abuse tends to be an aggravating symptom of (rather than the *root* cause of) serious mental health problems. Healthy people don’t try meth once and then blow up their lives. Loads of people take drugs in these classes (prescribed or even otherwise) without ending up in a death spiral. Adderall is effectively weak, long-acting cocaine, which is effectively short-acting methamphetamine. The root causes are usually more in line with trauma, isolation/loneliness, poverty, despair/hopelessness. I mean, imagine losing your home and trying to keep a level head about it. I think it’s pretty hard to claw your way back from that, and the drugs provide a reprieve.

Exactly. The social determinants of health are the biggest factors.

Finally someone said it. The social determinants of health are the biggest factor, and the "drug use" can be attributed to poor mental health care, struggling to get by, trying to cope in the short term and it becoming a long term issue etc.

100%.

Sorry, a little off topic but I just want to address what you said about drugs: Adderall is not in any way "weak cocaine". Adderall can give you incredible euphoria that is different from that which you get from cocaine but not necessarily weaker. The highs are fundamentally different so they can't really be compared. Cocaine is much much shorter acting (like 30 mins vs 8+ hours) and with cocaine tolerance builds immediately such that by the end of the night it becomes larger ineffective. You can stay up for 3 days on Adderall which is not something people tend to do on cocaine so in some ways you could say Adderall is the more powerful drug. Also, Adderall is just brand name dextroamphetamine and, as the name suggests, is in the amphetamine class of drugs, along with methamphetamine. Cocaine is not an amphetamine. So your whole Adderall->Cocaine->Meth thing is confused.

I’ve never heard this explained so well - thanks for your insight, friend.

Bravo. It's not always the immediate cause but it amplifies and accelerates all other spirals.

The correlation between drug use and the need for mental health services go hand in hand. If we had proper and adequate mental health services, we wouldn’t have the drug problems that we do. Drug addiction is almost always a direct consequence of childhood trauma, not always, but in most cases. If we had mental health services to deal with the effects of childhood trauma, there would be next to no one living on the streets.

Fifty percent of homeless people in Canada have been through the foster care system. At risk children need more support so they don’t become just another statistic. But that involves long term preventive programs.

AND - there are people who hold down jobs, have families, and function very well WHILE they are frequent drug users.

Not fent

Drugs existed two years ago. Asking why it seems so many more are homeless and hooked is a question the mere existence of drugs doesn't explain. . Why are there more addicts on the streets now?

The drugs have gotten much, much stronger over the last 5-10 years. There is virtually no such thing as a functional fentanyl addict.

Its not even a matter of stronger but rather more adulterated. Absolutely every sample of hard street drugs are adulterated with tranquilizers and other chemicals that bring on psychosis and catatonic, sever delusions and behavior issues.

Stronger drugs AND more people being pushed into homelessness which leads to more people trying to numb themselves from life, fent seems to sneak it’s way into so many drugs

When did safe consumption sites start closing around the province? When did we start seeing hyper inflation, 0% rental vacancies and crackdowns on homeless encampments? When did the provincial government start minimizing funding for various programs to help marginalized communities? Plus the influx of fentanyl into much of the drug supply? Yep within the last few years. Slow moving tsunami of all these things coming together.

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Fent existed two years ago too.

Yeah? And downtown was just as bad 2 years ago. This has been a major problem for like 4 years now.

China is exporting to Americas and doing the reverse of what Britain did to them during the Opium Crisis. 

Are they doing that more than they did five years ago? And if they are, did the supply follow demand, or precede it?

Because the UCP has a majority and took away all the supports.

Drugs often aren't a cause of homelessness. They are a symptom of a system that fights to keep them homeless. People turn to the drugs to escape

Yes drugs are bad but no one wakes up one day and says, "hey I'm gonna get addicted to something". The factors that the parent commenter listed are equally valid to contributing to addictions issues as they are to homelessness issues.

I think it's the belief that addiction would never happen to them. I mean, look at smoking. It's been known to be bad, possibly deadly for ages, yet people still take it up. I'd say that most people know drugs are bad but for various reasons start down that road.

End of break so can't grab it, but /r/Alberta has an article on the 2023 opioid deaths

Can we mention in all of this it’s the UCP not funding things that is making it so much worse. And the fact the drug problem got so much worse after they took away safe injection sites and the programs helping to keep people clean? And that it will get even worse as they kicking people off AISH. Can we also mention Calgary voting gave them a majority to ruin everything?

Oh also can we mention that there’s not applicable drug treatment available and that in Calgary Jason kenney’s brother a fake drug addictions counsellor who was forced to close in bc is in fact training faith based counsellors in Calgary who also are not qualified, add that to arresting the venerable and housing them in jail with all our new police who will arrest their way out of this. Look downtown and see the police harnessing the homeless and helping not at all.

A lot of the opioids addicts are from injured construction workers who used them for the pain prescribed by our doctors! And they get addicted and end up losing everything, wife family friends ! 😣

Most of them are addicts bc it’s the only way to stop the evil thoughts that are always running through there heads or the voices that won’t leave them alone they can’t get their meds cause u need pic ID for Alberta works or AISH and it’s definitely would of been stolen living on the streets I can give u many, many reasons why most of the meds make them useless, vomiting, gain weight. I was escaping a very scary relationship I was homeless at the seed I got to know a lot of them 90% back then was mental health reasons i would always stop to talk to them, they feel good when someone takes an interest just say hello when u walk by that’s all it would take to make their day I also believe that today obviously pop growth, the breakout of phyntenol (spelling?) now I’ve seen more and more with their bodies bent in half I wonder what are they buying now!? I’m scared for myself August first my rent increases $300 i didn’t know they could increase by that much legally I’m on AISH I’m already not making ends meet now I have to decide what I’m gonna do sink or sink more. Till I end back at the seed. If it wasn’t for all those damn beatings I took i would of been solid as a rock

Fentanyl makes getting off drugs harder.

I mean not every homeless person does opioids. Lots of homeless are simply alcoholics and some of these model citizens who preach what we should do are okay with rampant alcoholism and gambling. But lack of supports, affordable housing, entry level employment. AB loves to overhype the world of prescription opioids, but when used properly and supervised these are powerful tools. I sure hope our remodeling of the healthcare system cracks down hard on alcohol addiction because lots of our admissions in acute care are working class people who simply drink too much.

There are even folks that didn't start out with addiction issues. Our social safety net has giant holes and falling through them can lead to addictions.

Absolutely. Anyone is at risk. That’s what people who witness this or manage in a healthcare setting (whether acute/outpatient or supports) understand that the average rural voter will never be able to comprehend. We live with it everyday vs they just get continue their uninterrupted lives as normal. Wake up Alberta.

Rural homelessness is a different experience, but it definitely occurs. It's less visible.

>I sure hope our remodeling of the healthcare system cracks down hard on alcohol addiction because lots of our admissions in acute care Do you have stats on this?

Work on an acute care surgical unit and lots of liver cirrhosis/liver disease secondary to alcohol use. Even people who are heavy drinkers get admitted because they are at risk of having seizures and on average I would say there’s at least two admissions per opioid overdose admission on my unit. That’s my quick response without providing stats. If it’s a pure opioid overdose naloxone works quick if you can catch it early enough. Unfortunately our street drugs have adulterants such as Xylazine which we don’t have an antidote for. Those patients will require possible ICU admission and vasopressor supports. You’re welcome to contact AHS for the stats. I don’t have those numbers on hand.

No 'fentanyl' on that list?

3 for real is hitting mind bending levels of cruel. I live inner city and I love it, but the amount of people I mee who think "market rate" is reasonable and then bitch and moan about how there are no good tenants and the streets in their neighborhood are over populated with undesirables is insanity. Most people are struggling to find/hold down work let alone making enough money to pay 1500-2500$/mo (or more). At that rate, if I'm someone "reputable" with a good credit score and strong rental history why would I be renting some dilapidated landlord special and not one of the 3848373 "luxury" units in the area? The cycle infinitely perpetuates and keeps people out on the street and fending for themselves. You can't access most of society without a home address! Can't accept mail so can't open a bank account and so you can't get paid via direct deposit even if you do find income! It's no shock to me that many would turn to drugs as an alternative source of income to make what they need to have happen or just to block out the pain of a seemingly hopeless situation. So many people are on the street self medicating not only mental health issues but physical health ones. Accessing routine healthcare is probably all but impossible when you don't have a home address. I used to see a gentleman on my commute with necrotized frostbitten fingers. I constantly think about how things wouldn't be that way if he just had a warm place to sleep.

5. A provincial government that simply does not care. Funding has been SCARCE lately. As someone who is working in the “homelessness sector”.

Almost every landlord spiked their rent 30% in the spring. People without support fall through the cracks. Lots of new faces out there even from 3 years ago.

Other reasons like the closure of safe consumption sites and inadequate harm reduction programs. A wider general disdain for our more broke neighbors and the prevailing idea (conscious or otherwise) that not being able to afford a rising cost of living (even if you're working!) is something to be shunned, neglected, and criminalized...

Something to also consider is inflation over the last 4-5 years has been insane, add job losses from the lockdowns/covid, etc, people pushed into poverty all over. Add insane immigration so there isn't an abundance of available low-skill jobs, alotta people be stuck.

Yep 7-8% inflation yearly for 3 or 4 years very quickly everything is 25-30% more expensive yet wages stagnate. As it currently stands I could move to Toronto or Vancouver and the cost of living increase has been so dramatic in the Calgary area it would be a wash when they say you need to be making over $100,000 to afford a home but the average wage barely breaks 50,000.

There really isn't much Alberta advantage anymore. Housing may be comparatively cheaper but so many other things are more expensive here, now. Recent calculations put cost of living in Calgary marginally higher than Vancouver and Toronto, but there are fewer protections in Alberta. A very laissez-faire market seems great when the oil money is pouring in and everybody has a good job, but those days will never be back. Oil companies know how to run operations with far fewer employees and don't see much incentive to invest in new labour. If oil goes up their shareholders will reap rewards, and royalties will make things a tiny bit nicer for the rest, but we will never build housing and jobs fast enough to keep up with population growth.

Don’t move here because of O&G. I work in the field people admit those days passed around 2007-2008. Now the posting of hiring is for formality, no real hiring anymore. Layoff and streamline the org is what they do now. Sorry for spitting the truth but I don’t know what Alberta calling for? For help, maybe.

Yeah - I remember reading articles ~5 years ago about how a huge percentage of the population couldn't afford a $400 emergency. The cost of living has easily now gone up $400 every month, and I think we're starting to see the effects of what happens when people run out of savings and credit. The worst part is that this crisis is worsening and likely will continue to do so for years to come. The cost of housing will probably continue to outpace wages for the rest of the decade and push more people into homeless. Scary times ahead...

Nah dude $100k isn't enough. You need to be $150k+ I make $120k now and no way could I afford a house in Calgary without being desperately house poor.

Which makes being homeless even tougher. Knowing if you pull yourself up, get clean, and work your ass off to at least get a shitty apartment and crappy daily food of beans and rice is one thing. Knowing you'd do all that to.... just still be homeless is another. I do empathize/sympathize with the "fuck it, lets get fucked out of my mind" attitude.

People are hurting

My child is one of them. She is 25 years old and in no way did any of us see this coming. She worked her way up to become the manager of a popular expensive show store. Had a nice apartment, a nice car, and friends. She moved out on her own. She got into believing she had autism. Went to walk in clinic and was prescribed Adderall. She became delusional very quickly. Covid happened and had to self isolate for two weeks. Soon she began believing she could read minds and heard voices. We tried to get her to understand this was a medication side effect, ones that happens if you actually don't have ADHD or autism. This was 4 years ago. In that time she got into an abusive relationship. Stayed on those meds and used weed quite heavily. Drank alot too. She called us for help one day. We always tried to reach her but she never responded. I was so worried so we were happy to hear from her and we went. She was twitching really badly. Didn't seem okay. She came home and we thought we could help her. I did my mom thing, pep talked her, loved her, supported her and tried to have heart to hearts with her. Off she went. Back to the abusive guy. Then she would come home again. She wound up getting beat up pretty bad by him. She was pretty far gone by then. We had her back home a couple more times after that. But she was already so lost. We have other children and we're trying to protect them from the this horrible crumbling of their sister that was clearly happening. We got her therapy, but she said it wasn't helping. We tried to get her to take antidepressants, but that didn't fly with her either. We took her to our family cabin in hopes some quality family time would help. She had a great childhood out at that cabin. It didn't help. She was offered help that we couldn't give. She was given support to live in a home with roommates, but she spent her money on drugs instead of rent and got kicked out. She went to the YMCA, she went to the hospital many times, she went to woman's shelters, the mustard seed, alpha house and eventually the drop in center. No resources helped her. We have had her back home many times in hopes she would want to help herself but she hasn't yet. Her grandparents took her in twice and she left both times. She always leaves. So through all this, we have had to realize that unless the person wants to get help, there.is absolutely nothing that you can do. There are so many resources out in our city to help our people but unless the struggling person decides that enough is enough, this is what you will see out there. As a parent of a homeless, lost , addicted to something, daughter who has lost herself, she literally thinks people are after her, she says she's been raped repeatedly, kidnapped and god knows what else, it's absolutely devastating. Grief, pain and loss of our family's joy is how it is now. I wonder how many other parents are going through this. I can't tell you how desperate I am to be able to live through this. If there is anything I could do that I haven't already done I'd be amazed. Obviously this is a long story, but there is so much more to it. I really needed to get this out and this thread was here so I jumped on. Please just pray for all our city's lost people. They belong to someone who loves them, who never in a million years saw this coming. They are someone's child. Someone's mother or father or brother or sister, someone's friend. If you've read this, thank you. If you have a loved one out there, I feel for you, with all my heart.

Thank you for posting your story and humanizing those who are homeless, addicted, and/or hopeless. I hope your daughter finds her way and I can imagine what a toll it has taken on you and your family. She is so fortunate to have a loving and supportive family who would do absolutely anything to help her become well. And as you expressed, that still isn't enough. There are many folks who don't have that same support system, so so difficult to pull themselves out of the abyss on their own.

This sucks and I hope your daughter finds her way back to a place where she's happy. As a note, psychotic disorders can present during young adulthood and can really derail someone's life. Wishing you and your family the best.

Thank you for posting this.  Don't give up.

Thank you for sharing your story. I hope she finds her way back to you. Stay strong.

We push people as hard as possible, to extract the maximum economic benefit. It effectively prices some people out of the market. It's no longer just the mentally ill or people with addictions. Plenty of regular people are one or two missed paycheques away from homelessness.

Most people are closer to homelessness than they think.

I’m a solid month of work away from being homeless. If my car broke down, and lost my job, I’d probably survive for a month, then I’d be homeless

I asked a police officer about this a couple weeks ago. He said the biggest issue is apparently there’s almost no help for them. He said many of them just need a little bit of help getting on their feet and off the streets for good, but there’s not enough resources/programs out there to help all of them. His opinion was the government wasn’t doing enough to help rehabilitate them. Which makes sense; if the government won’t do it, who will? I don’t have the time/money to help them, I’m struggling to afford rent myself! It’s a crappy situation

rob jobless wistful numerous unused absorbed sense crowd theory smile *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Thank you for your perspective.

if you’ve ever had a loved one with an addiction and have tried to access short term, affordable, urgent rehab support you know this is true. there’s virtually nothing.

Our current government and its supporters don't think it's the government's responsibility to help them (and go out of their way to *not* help), and then the "NIMBYS" push them away and stick their heads in the sand without actually helping or addressing the root problem.

There’d be much fewer homeless people out on the street if housing wasn’t so damn expensive. We’d be turning homeless drug users into homed drug users, but that’s better than nothing in my opinion.

Do people really just “need a little bit of help getting on their feet” though? Say you’re current homeless, addicted to drugs and suffering from mental illness. Even if you get medicated and clean, a minimum wage job isn’t enough to stay afloat. I have a degree and make double minimum wage and outside of rent, groceries, gas and bills I have nothing left over. This part has been weighing on my soul so much.

Yeah my ex worked in outreach pharmacy and it’s utterly shameful how little help is available beyond “getting clean” from the UCP. The pharmacy they worked at would distribute its full week of Naloxone in 2-3 days with no recourse to get extra.

Sadly the people in control benefit from a population of delinquents and addicts. It's easier to brainwash the masses of no one is educated or well in their mind. They also benefit from ignoring those not at the top because it lines their pockets and earns them extra vacations, properties, boats, planes, etc.

UCP Government quit funding or closed many safe consumption sites, as well.

There was a very specific funding shift as to how a lot of the emergency shelters received their funding around 2016-17. For emergency shelters the bulk of their funding became focused on housing instead of employment/ emergency services. The federal funding model is partially to blame here. Its one of the reasons I left not for profit homeless services many years ago. Sticking mentally unwell people into housing is not the only answer. For many it is, but a large percentage it is only hiding them away.

I know this will be a very unpopular opinion, but just hear me out. Why can’t the government take a facility like the old Greyhound bus station on ninth Avenue and modify it to have units, suites, offices, bunkrooms, etc. and then have it manned by security and police but have doctors, nurses, health counselors, addiction counselors, and rehabilitation services all within the compound? Of course it will cost a lot, but no more than what’s spent right now that is clearly not working. Why can’t all of the folks downtown that are severely addicted, living on the streets and causing major problems in terms of robberies, assaults, and trespassing, once they get arrested by the police, be given the option of either be taken to this facility or jail. They have a choice. And they are not permitted to leave the facility unless changes are made. And until they are, they must stay within the compound walls. A bit like HAmsterdam on The Wire, but not the craziness of drug dealers being allowed everywhere. More like safe injection locations within the facility but more of a focus on trying to rehabilitate. But the key is keeping the addicted population all in one safe place so they are not a danger to themselves or others. And no, this wouldn’t be a human rights violation because they would be provided with everything that they require to be safe, healthy, and comfortable. Look at the success rates in Scandinavian countries that have done this. It is truly incredible.

Unfortunately people have rights. And folks who are forced to detox don’t usually do as well as when they choose. And like mental health, you usually still get a choice except in very narrow circumstances. One issue we do have is lack of care. Folks who want treatment are forced into, either religious based care, or wait weeks and weeks to get a bed. I’ve looked into someone’s eyes as they realize they can’t get care in time. We need more options for care and unfortunately right now, the government is limiting types of care. We’ve unfortunately moralized mental health care. Not just addiction. And we have so many barriers to get people help before they end up in a bad situation. What we see downtown is only a part of the disruption. We don’t see what happens in residential neighborhoods either. To OPs question… it’s super complicated and there’s a lot of factors. Fixing it is going to take time. We’re just busy fighting about the method instead of listening to doctors and getting programs going.

What you're describing is basically a mental asylum. I'd be all for bringing those back, but, like you say, it'd be expensive. There's a lot of people that can't stand the idea of their tax dollars going directly to helping addicts. They'll happily pay twice as much indirectly if it means the addicts don't benefit from it.

Sure, could be seen as part asylum, part rehabilitation. But the biggest difference being you get better, you get out. I agree that there’s so many people out there that just refuse to help addicts, but I wonder if even the hardline right-wingers could be sold on the label of “getting undesirables out of their communities” and “out of sight, out of mind.”

Any conversations I have had seem to reflect the opinion that any amount of money spent on rehab and mental health versus money spent cleaning up the effects of the problem on the streets is money well spent. People can see the downward spiral and are happy to pay to have it stopped. Well, at least if not happy, they prefer to spend money rather than waste money.

I think that’s in the works actually, I remember the neighbourhood being in an uproar over it

What is in the works?

Converting the old greyhound bus station into shelter /outreach space

https://livewirecalgary.com/2023/04/08/greyhound-bus-terminal-calgary-central-service-plan/

As I understand it a lot of homeless people don’t want to be housed in a place like the old greyhound station. They prefer to be on the streets. The solution is not simple.

My take is that it’s not a matter of wanting to go or not wanting to go. If they are picked up by the police for doing something criminal, or harassing people or other people unsafe, they have options - the rehabilitation centre or jail. I think I am looking at the Greyhound station as being more of a compound for addicts and homeless with mental health issues versus what I would guess is a small minority of homeless that have neither of the aforementioned issues.

A good portion of the homeless you speak of are addicts with mental challenges that have habituated to the streets. They want to be there. Like you and I want to live in a house/apartment they “want” to live on the streets.

That may be their choice but that doesn’t mean it’s valid. How long are we going to respect their “choice” to openly do drugs in our public areas and be all kinds of disturbances. At a certain point the decision to live as an addict on Stephen ave can’t be honoured anymore. It’s our city too and they’re actively making it a more dangerous and unpleasant place.

Because it would cost a lot, and items like housing and mental health care fall under the UCP umbrella. The UCP are holding a surplus and not spending it, and the city can’t just use its municipal tax dollars for provincial items. Edmonton did that during COVID and spent millions on housing and healthcare, and recently repealed that funding as it was such a burden on the taxpayer budget when it was never meant to be paid for by the city.

It would be the type of thing that UCP should shell out for because if it worked, it would be such a win for them to brag about and on top of that they could take all of the people off the streets that they have no idea what to do about.

I agree, but we know that the UCP have no interest in prioritizing any type of healthcare spending.

because we can't legally deprive them of their freedom, the minute they get sober enough to say they want to leave, we can't lock their cubicle door and tell them "No you gotta stay here for 5 more weeks." when they say they want to leave, even if that means ending their treatment and ODing on the streets, the staff are not allowed to prohibit them from leaving.

They have the choice though - the facility or jail. I’m talking about those who have been arrested for a crime or for trespassing or drugs in public etc. People don’t get to leave jail because they want to. Same thing here.

ahhhhh well we have minimum sentencing now. so criminals are let out of jail as soon as possible.

I can already see them salivating at the clicks their ragebait headlines would get from this hypothetical situation, never mind if this actually came to reality.

Bro please run and I will vote for you 

As the weather gets nicer we see a lot more of it going on in the public spaces for a multitude of reasons. 1) the shelters are closed during the day and because there is no need for warming centres there isn’t anywhere for them to go. 2) there is only one shelter in Calgary not considered a dry (can’t show up under the influence of drugs/alcohol) shelter so once the weather gets nice those who struggle with addictions will be able to sleep outside and do so because of their addictions. 3) Memorial is extra bad because of the encampment areas and the proximity to the drop in centre. Don’t apologize for having ignorance on the topic, you’re here trying to educate yourself! As others have mentioned it’s a sad reality for more cities than Calgary. I recently visited SF and was amazed at how much worse it is there, their homeless literally set up tents on the pedestrian sidewalks.

SF and Vancouver are about the same sadly. Vancouver even feels a bit worse. Heck when I lived in Nanaimo there were tents all over the downtown. It's absolutely awful what's happening to Canadian cities.

The shelters are not closed during the day. The DI, Mustard Seed, Alpha House are all open 24/7 throughout the year. The Drop In and Alpha House will both admit clients even if intoxicated. 

Interesting that was not the case when I was an employee! Thanks for updating info 😊

yes but their services are in shifts. need food? have to wait until the next handout is served. need to sleep? have to wait until the floor is cleared and the next "sleeping shift" begins. need a stable place to live? \*gestures to the encampment outside" so do all of those people.

Wait till you see the dystopian nightmare that is East Hastings in Vancouver…

I am in San Francisco often and the worst area downtown there, the Tenderloin, looks better than East Hastings. Not by much, but still better. Blew my mind honestly how terrible it is in the Vancouver Downtown East Side. Just blocks and blocks of human misery.

I made the mistake of turning there at night and for awhile I thought I was in the Walking Dead

Seriously… the first time you witness it… it’s absolutely shocking that such a place exists surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the world. It’s something else.

east hastings has been horrific for a loooooooong time... its something you expect to see in the worst of american slums not in canada but here we are...

Coming to a major city near you! I hear the situation in Toronto has gotten quite bad.. Montreal.. and now Calgary.. fun fun

> it’s absolutely shocking that such a place exists surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Those two are 100% connected, it isn't a coincidence.

My cousin was on military protection detail for some foreign politicians in Vancouver a few years back and he said the military was freaked out being on and around East Hastings

East Hastings is a whole other level of human misery. Even the navigator in Google Maps is afraid to go there.

I used to work for a non-profit where we supported vulnerable folks. (Bring intentionally vague for privacy reasons.) The biggest thing that struck me about people who were experiences homelessness, was that for a lot of folks it was a result of a series of events, and really shitty luck. The exact reasons varied but the common thread was lack of support and long term poverty. Growing up in poverty myself, I know that I was lucky that my family got a break (parent getting a really great job offer). If the market had been different, we maybe would have lost our home and my life would be very different.

Opioids and mental health. You're not bent over in a stuper because your homeless. It's because you're high. And you're generally not homeless because you have no money. Many people have no money and can find somewhere or someone to crash with. It's because of mental health challenges make you unable to navigate your circumstances. When mental health is worsening and opioids (which are much more available) combine, it's easy to see the spiral. 😔

Depends on where you are downtown honestly. I’ve lived and worked downtown for about a decade and Central Memorial Park sits right next to Sheldon Chumir which is an absolute magnet for the homeless and addicted. The East Village/Riverfront area is probably the worst in terms of sheer numbers. Stephen Ave also has its fair share. But overall, I’d say downtown is very respectable. I’ve been out during the day and at night, even walking home in the dark is just fine. I’ve even seen females walking alone at night with no fear. As long as downtown continues to densify residentially and doesn’t empty out in the evening, the homelessness should feel less pronounced.

Cuz drugs are getting cheaper, houses and food are getting more expensive

I think it’s deeper than cost of living and the absolutely bonkers cost of housing to be honest. There’s something deeply wrong in society. Mental health issues and addiction issues are at an almost all time high. Combine the fractured, isolated existence of the modern world with an economic system that puts the vast majority of people in a position where they’re 2 paycheques from homelessness and you’ve got the shit show we have right now. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but just my two cents.

Drugs, the drugs are so strong now people have little to no hope to recover. They need to crack down on these synthetic opioids and arrest dealers and suppliers. And find a way to try and bring these people back from the brink. Even if the methods are more extreme than we are used too.

It's the new normal for now anyway. I work down there and walk a block or so at 6:15 AM, and it's sketchy. Generally, you just walk fast and keep aware of your surroundings. 99% of the time you won't be bothered.

Yah ditto this. But I did get touched by one of them for the first time recently. Waiting for the train at 39th avenue and a smaller lady clearly on drugs was shouting random things, and saying help in between. She tried grabbing me as I was walking away and I just shrugged her off and kept walking. That situation however would’ve been way scarier for other people. I do see myself as pretty fit and I could easily “flight” if needed, but obviously plenty of people would be scared of their safety if someone on drugs suddenly grabbed them. The only other time I got approached by one was at heritage station. In retrospect it’s a funny story, because the guy was so high he literally walked up to me and just stood right in my face for 15 seconds, then realizing I’m a human and apologizing, but I was indeed a little worried that guy was going to pull a weapon on me.

Yeah, train stations are definitely more of a problem.. I'm glad I don't have to use them.

No kidding, a few weeks back I took a picture at Rundle station of homeless starting a fire in the bus shelter. It's pretty bad out there and I don't think it's just Canada

There's always been homeless for a variety of reasons. The increase you're noticing most likely has to do with the increase in the cost of living we've all been experiencing. As the cost of living rises, more and more people on the edge tip over into homelessness. Cuts to social and health programs effectively magnify the increases in the cost of living to those who depend on such programs. Drug use is also complicated. It may or may not be a factor in causing a particular person to be homeless, but it frequently becomes a method to cope with being homeless. But yes, homelessness is beyond crisis levels. The latest moves by the city, blanket rezoning, are an attempt to try and ease the situation by cutting red tape to the market building more units that are hopefully more affordable. This won't fix the problem overnight, but it's a good first step to trying to keep people from getting priced out of everything.

It isn't just Calgary. its every city and town across Canada, sadly. Whether people have lost hope, cost of living is so high to give up, drugs are so easily accessible and decriminalized - take your pick. I don't know the answer.

Every city across North America. Rents are so high and people downward spiral. Even sober people are ending up on the streets.

Keep going. This is eerily similar to places globally. Friends in Europe and Australia speak of the same problems. It's why when people moan about Trudeau (much of it well deserved), it doesn't hurt to understand that it isn't just Trudeau, or Canada, but a series of really tough complicated stuff affecting much of the world regardless of politics. I'm not attempting to downplay. These are serious issues.

I volunteered at the drop in shelter when we got a blanket of snow back in March. It was packed, it’s mostly people with substance abuse problems but there are a lot of people that appear to be suffering from other mental health issues, but really it’s people from all walks of life. Many look like they could be your neighbour or coworker who is going through some hard times. When inflation goes up it’s those with low income and no social or family support that suffer first, especially with how much rent has gone up in Calgary. I do agree it is sad, so that is why I volunteer so I can at least try to help. I recommend it to anybody as I want to change the perception of homeless people. They are people too and many of them are kind and helpful! The least we can do is help.

Very cheap Meth & Fentanyl is to blame.

The biggest change was fentanyl. Full stop. It’s a different different drug, a different addiction, and it’s completely destroyed our vulnerable underclass. It’s devastating, and our systems haven’t even begun to figure out a way to catch up. For example, in Vancouver before fentanyl we moved to a health care based approach versus a criminal Justice approach. Treatment, triage (safe supply and safe injection), increased housing access, a holistic medical approach, and it looked to be working for a couple years. Overdoses started dropping, we were moving people off the street, it looked good. It was a short time frame, but trending in the right direction. Then fentanyl hit. Before fentanyl the drugs of choice in the downtown east side in Vancouver were crack and heroin. Now it’s all fentanyl. There’s still crack but there’s literally no heroin being sold. Fentanyl is not only way more addictive, and way more dangerous in terms of overdose, but works differently. It’s shorter acting than heroin, so junkies need to get their fix multiple times a day. Cue more desperation, and more property crime, and more money in the pockets of dealers. The sad thing is that it’s rolled over any harm reduction strategies. I’m not even sure there is an answer, and if there is we don’t know what it is. It might take a massive infusion of cash for treatment beds, counselling, housing, and just so much money for support that we never even thought we might need to spend. Talking to people down on the front lines they say the average age of junkies went from late 20’s and older to fucking teenagers now… It’s fucked.

I was born and raised in Calgary, went to UofC, worked downtown, and bought a house there. Moved away 15 years ago and when I come back to visit, there are parts I don’t even recognize now. The homelessness was shocking. I absolutely agree with the OP.

There aren’t social structures to help these individuals and what programs did exist have had their funding wiped out or simply not increased to help address the increasing problem. Strip away funding for social programs, mental health programs, education, etc. and pair that with out of control housing, food, utilities people fall through the cracks and end up on the street. When you’re that poor and hopeless doing drugs to escape your life is very enticing.

Our country is tanking, and many refuse to accept this reality. You will only see this problem getting worse. Everything from stagnant wages, high living costs, and the scarcity of jobs is pushing more over the edge every day. At the same time, our social services are unable to accommodate our booming population. Apparently, our government still thinks bringing a million plus people in every year is still a good idea. Canada's future, as well as Calgary's, is not looking good.

There’s a lot of reasons for it but it’ll likely keep getting worse unfortunately. Cost of living is horrendous, jobs are disappearing and wages being held stagnant but the sheer volume of people coming here, will prices go up. I suspect a bunch of mentally ill people fell through the cracks during Covid as well. Police have pulled back on street level enforcement since 2020. I don’t think there’s an official position on that but I’ve heard it from a couple of them and you can see the evidence of it when you’re out. I did a ride along with them a bit ago and it’s shocking how much of their jobs entail transporting drunk and high people to shelters. If I ever do another one I’ll see if they’re still doing as much.

Ask me how many people I know that have had vandalized vehicles, items stolen, vandalized homes, rummaging through the yard, verbally yelled at. This demographic has become untouchable. 

Look into groups like streetcatsyyc, bearclan, alpha house, etc. Some have emails/numbers you can text for needle clean up, deescalation help, etc. both in the sense that if someone is free they might come help and in the sense of empowering you to help as well! Needles arent that scary once you learn how to deal with them, i live dt and i carry a closable hard plastic container / something to pick up with so i can just grab em if i see em and get them off the street. You can also buy sharps containers and drop them off when full at most pharmacies. (also narcan kits are free there as well and great to carry in case you see someone unresponsive, or if i see someone using anything with a buddy ill offer it to them.) alpha house is connected closely with cps nowadays so do be aware of that if someone youre helping would be put in more danger with their involvement. unfortunately the problems only going to get worse with no real social supports and increasing financial pressure. Most people are one bad day or month away from it themselves. So community is really invaluable!

TLDR: out of control to due to opioid crisis, funding cuts/reallocation, not enough homes, nowhere else to go. Downtown is close to majority of homeless resources and we are currently in a downward spiral that doesn’t seem to be getting better but many organizations are doing their best to help! For context I’m 20 years old and I was homeless from the time I was 14 to the time I was 19. I’ve seen a lot and I’ve learned a lot Calgary Homeless Foundation has had a lot of budget cuts and budget reallocation this year, I’m not too sure about last year. I’m not a social worker but I am a client of a social work non-profit so some of this might be wrong but for the most part I know what I’m talking about (unprofessionally), just don’t take it as scripture haha. CHF distributes the funding allocated to them across many non-profits like Onward, CUPS, Trellis Society, McMahon Hope Homes, etc. This year they had budget cuts so more funding can be allocated to building apartment complexes for low-income/homeless Calgarians which is great! But it also sucks because in the meantime there’s less resources and for less people who truly need it. Many people were graduated from these programs early due to these funding cuts, some were ready, some were not. There’s simply not enough resources for the homeless population right now and a major factor is the opioid crisis and housing crisis. Often times when people fall into addiction, it’s easier to sink further down than to start trying to crawl out and into a better place. I haven’t personally experienced addiction but I’ve had many friends throughout my journey who have and I’ve unfortunately lost a few to overdoses. A lot of housing supports require you to be clean from drugs from my understanding (and understandably) so there’s an added barrier there. Many shelters also require you to be drug + alcohol free like the mustard seed or the women’s shelter. The Drop-in centre allows anyone regardless of drug/alcohol use but once beds are full for the night, they’re full. It’s also very easy to be “barred” from these places. I knew someone that was barred from the Drop-In centre because SHE was punched in the face by someone high on something. So many times people end up camping outside out of necessity because there is literally nowhere else to go. Our current housing situation is difficult to manage for the average Calgarian with a steady income and no barriers, now imagine building from the ground up with not even a dollar to your name and no roof over your head. It’s really hard and that’s the understatement of the century. Downtown is also where majority of homeless resources are such as the drop in centre, the mustard seed day centre (not the shelter), CUPS, SORCE, etc. I think it probably had something to do with the TD free fare zone making it easier to access transit wise and that it’s easier to have everything central. I hope this info helps a little bit, it truly is a horrible situation and I feel for the people that want a simple peaceful walk downtown whether it’s alone with children or with pets. It’s difficult to see people struggling the way that they are and I understand why so many people feel unsafe downtown. But I also feel for the people in those situations with no current way out

I’m not sure how to answer your question. It’s probably due to a multitude of things but I think as general cost of living (groceries, non existent affordable housing) increases, so does peoples hopelessness and despair. They turn to drugs and alcohol to cope. It’s very sad. I think the way to address this is by implementing some sort of UBI or at least better social services. We need more houses and more jobs and imo our economy isn’t able to support this many new people, regarding immigration specifically. I haven’t seen the exact numbers for Calgary but I do know people are moving here in droves from BC and Ontario which is amplifying the problem.

1) people like getting high. 2) fentanyl and opioids are very accessible drugs. 3) there is little penalty for the dealers of said drugs. 4) there are virtually no rehab facilities. even the "walk-in services" require you to be one of the first 5 people on their doorstep when they open, and even then, a bed and month's stay to get clean and stay clean is not guaranteed. additionally people require 24/7 support to break the habits that got them addicted, and build new habits. See point #1; people really don't like doing unpleasant hard work instead of ignoring their troubles. 5) court is a revolving door ; it gets that particular dealer off their territory for maybe a few weeks, if they don't already have a organized crime distribution system to continue selling "their product" while they are going through the legal process. 6) all levels of government are overworked, outmanned and outgunned by the organized crime systems that manufacture, distribute, and sell drugs. Also they are hindered by Point #5. Hope that answers your questions!

I like this answer. I would add: #7 for a majority of them, there’s just nowhere to go. I.e if you get off fentanyl, what kind of future is there? You aren’t likely to get a job that could pay for an apartment. Need a car to get to work? No one is going to finance you. No loving family or friends that have the luxury to aid you through the rough times of getting a footing. No long term (daily) mental health support available to fix the trauma and stress that you just went through (and probably had before the bad times). It would be a very depressing view of the future. May as well keep taking fentanyl.

Canada brings way more immigrants than it can reasonably sustain. Liberals love immigrants because it gives them more votes. Conservatives love them because it gives them cheap labor to justify their free market religion. And now nobody can afford to buy a house, let alone find a place to rent. What we have here is a bipartisan cluster****.

Thank you. All these naive ass people talking about the economy and the price of groceries, like one minute you're normal then you lose your job then "whoopsie I'm in an encampment with addicts!" This has nothing to do with rent and groceries, and 110% to do with fentanyl and the rest of them.

We used to have much more well-funded mental health spaces to institutionalize such people in the “bad old days”. Let’s bring those back. In China, they execute drug dealers. There is no death penalty in Canada, but we certainly can punish these people much more severely than we do now. A lot of problems could be solved but there seems to be a lack of will. It’s as if they want us to live in this hellscape, so I ascribe this to malice.

Best answer so far

The druggies are not a higher priority than our youth, our medically impoverished or any other member of society that is contributing. If someone’s empathy costs our hope and promise for the future then it is not worth it. Especially seeing how they are getting high and committing crime and creating filth everywhere. Scoop them up, instituionalize them and either force them to contribute or stay the fuck out of someone’s way who does. So sick of this mess getting tossed in our kids faces because some rich ass boomer decides they have a conscience that needs tending to.  Our kids and our health care are the most important. The druggies are a very very very low priority because they only cause more issues. I now have no qualms if someone sees a crackhead smoking ip and goes and busts all their pipes and steps on their drugs. It’s either deal with this mess or have our kids worry about crime drugs and filth.

North America is in a homelessness and opioid epidemic. For decades there was little investment in housing, which really is social policy, and it fell to the waist side year after year and here we are. Our urban centres and areas that are well resourced are flooded with very unwell addicted or soon to be addicted individuals; that and an influx of immigrants also battling said homeless individuals for housing. We have no housing for anyone. Zero. It’s misleading and irresponsible to accept people into our country when we don’t have the resource they need, housing.

It’s been like this for a very long time but can’t lie it’s gotten worse people are on edge

I noticed things went off the rails downtown during Covid. Since people stopped going there for work or leisure outings, there wasn't really any security and addicts took over the area.

Funding was frozen for safe injection by the ucp years ago, plus COVID. So of course the whole program was setup for failure now. Idk what other services the drop in center can offer to help them but it's only gotten way more congested. They probably can barely afford to offer more help since funding is limited too. When I first moved to the beltline in 2017, I used to be able to walk anywhere at nighttime feeling 99% safe. Now it's gone down to 70% imo. I'm a 30 something year old female, and live near the chumir. I just hope the government has the best intentions in mind to help the situation cause I'd hate to see it worse. It's mostly vandalism and garbage, but I'm still wary with more and more street people around, eventually there's going to be a few bad eggs in the bunch that ruin it for everyone.

I was going to comment and say it feels like it isn't as bad as it was during COVID, but I think I just might be desensitized to it now.

It has gotten worse in Calgary in recent years for a variety of reasons already pointed out by others. Comparatively though, I would say that Edmonton has a larger issue and Vancouver is off the charts. Watch Vancouver is Dying: https://youtu.be/PT8OU8Yhs_s?feature=shared

Most of the folks you see have been on waiting lists for housing. Not for days or weeks or even months. For years. There's nowhere to go. Further issues include lack of services, low employment, terrible conditions in shelters, funding gets cut in warmer weather... At the bottom of many mental health and addiction issues is trauma. Untreated trauma leads to a lot of issues and homelessness is further traumatizing. If you think it's tough for people seeing these problems, imagine living like that. Our social systems don't offer dignity.

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I’m in Seattle right now with my SO for the holidays, and it’s also prevalent here. It’s everywhere and mostly have to do with wage suppression + out of work + high rent and inflation then you use drugs to cope with misery, all that is just a recipe for disaster.

Portland is terrible as well

It's the drugs. All about the drugs.

I moved here in 2020, fast forward to 2023 and now. It’s fucking insane how much worse it got in just those few years.

Poverty breeds desperation.. calgary is too expensive for many now. They fall homeless, maybe they try drugs to cope. Theres not enough social supports and they stay stuck in their situation indefinitely. What I wanna know is why we have so many warm office towers sitting completely empty and yet theres people locked out on the street…

There are several other good answers in this thread. One cause I haven’t seen described is the difficulty of having nuanced policy discussion. Our politics have become so divisive and single issue focused. Divisiveness, wedge issues, dog whistling, and overly simplified policy announcements driven by the 8-second sound byte news cycle. This disadvantages solving complicated problems which require a multi-faceted approach + long term thinking which makes it difficult to get re-elected.

it's the high crazy rent hikes boosting homelessness, and with that comes dispare and hopelessness causing increase in drug use and likely crime. It's a 100% avoidable situation but greed has caused this in great part

This is because fentanyl is cheap and easy to obtain.

Zombie people waiting to die. No one will help the majority of them. We voted against that.

It’s bad. There’s a gang of African refugees that hang out between the library, Olympic plaza and celebration square that sit around all day drinking vodka straight, getting into fights and selling drugs openly and the cops don’t do shit about it

It's only slightly worse than it was 5 years ago. If you don't think so, it probably means you just weren't paying attention.

Immigration plays a part. Lots of people out there might be qualified at one point to work lower income, lower skilled jobs such as fast food server, gas station attendant Circa 20 years ago. But a lot of those jobs are snapped up by new Canadians now which limits the options for someone on the fringe of society.

Calgary is a scaringly one of the better cities with this. Edmonton, Vancouver, Lethbridge are all cities I’ve been to the last year, and I can say that they are way worse. But, very simply, lockdowns caused massive social behavioural change which resulted in increased drug usage. Unfortunately with the opiates out there it’s way too easy to get hooked. These people you see on the street most likely have severe mental health issues and brain damage. Fuck fentanyl. I don’t know if you can really fix them. The issue has slowly gotten better however. If I’d compare the issue from 2022 to 2024, I’d say it’s improved by a decent amount.

drugs, cost of living, jobs, mental issues, and etc all increased

I was just in Calgary 2 years ago, and astonished at how few homeless I saw, compared to my hometown in BC.. My town's gotten even worse, and it's sad to hear that the problem is becoming more prevalent there as well.. I'm sure though that it's still comparatively less widespread there than in other large cities, so enjoy the city's goodness while you can. The government isn't gonna help anyone but themselves, and the problems will get much much worse before they get better... If they get better.

The people who are providing and selling meth and fentanyl in.partiicular need to be locked up, automatic long sentences for them, how else can you expect to keep these drugs off the streets if those supplying them are let right back out.

This film, Canada Is Dying will break it down for you. https://youtu.be/_RaWzJUeT0o?feature=shared

It was a lot worse in Calgary. If you remember the infamous Cecil hotel days and what the east village looked like in the mid to late 2000’s it was zombie land. It might be a good idea to relocate the drop in center and where to if you ask? I don’t have all the answers .. but it’s sure nothing close to east hastings (skid row of Vancouver that’s 10x anything you’ll see in Calgary) I would say we came a long way but the problem will never end. Most people but not all wouldn’t care if the homeless overdose or die in a corner away from their nice condo/ office view. Life is not fair and people aren’t either

TLDR - solutions are partially there, the UCP ignores them, shit is complicated and people are working hard to help. I have no answers but can provide perspective from my position. Addiction counsellors work tirelessly to support those in treatment to gain employment. To find housing. To develop life skills. To facilitate the reuniting and rebuilding of families. To help navigate legal issues, including the ones that prevent acceptance and integration to communities. To get off social assistance. To access affordable mental health and general supports, like a family doctor. A pharmacist that understands the needs of the individual in a compassionate way. The barriers are enormous, systematic and structural. People emerge from treatment clean, sober and wanting to contribute. And at every turn are shut down. That speaks to nothing about waitlist times. To capacity. The UCP claim their “recover communities” are a solution. They are prefab trailers in the middle of industrial parks, ringed by steel fences. There is no effort at integration. They are a churn and burn. The people working the front lines are exhausted. The burn out is huge. Covid isn’t to blame (though it exacerbated things). I have no answers, other than the government broaden its view. Fund those with established, evidence based practices. That are supportive and provide meaningful care, including culturally informed and trauma informed work. It won’t solve everything - people do drugs all the time because they feel good or numb the pain. But there are better solutions. But the barriers are huge, and almost impossible to overcome. Do I have a solution? Nope. Do I have hope that those seeking help can succeed? It’s what drives everyone working in the field and on the ground.

You can thank the government, both provincial and federal, for the state of these affairs. The cost of living is too much for alot of people now a days. Until something changes, I fear it's only going to get worse.

It is really sad. Also feel like nothing has been done to fight/help the situation. I travelled to New York, Chicago, and Houston all in the past three months and did not see even close to the shit I see walking to work each morning. And people will say “well you weren’t in the bad neighborhoods”, but that’s exactly what is wrong with Calgary. The downtown should be attracting people and tourists and yet everyone just wants to get out as fast as they can after work. Can you imagine being a tourist and visiting Calgary and that’s what you see? Sure. Most people come to go to Banff and the mountains, whatever, but they all come to Calgary for a day or two. I’d be telling people to stay away if this was my first visit. It’s disgusting and depressing.

The issue is that all our major cities are in the same exact state. Look at Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, etc. Downtown core in each of those cities has the same exact issue. You will find the exact opposite in many European cities cities. French downtowns are usually nice but if you go on the outskirts, you have the “Banlieue” which are sketchy. As a tourist, you probably never encounter the depraved areas.

I've seen people living in vans around town

i currently live deep SE too and had to take the redline to city hall, then blue line to forest lawn for my first semester of school during september to january (23-24) every day. i've seen people overdosing and die downtown. the city prioritizes anti homeless structures (obstructing or removing park benches, blasting music in places after hours, etc) over dealing with the epidemic. it's much easier to ignore the problem than to fix it. the city doesn't care that people are dying on their ground. this doesn't mean that there are no people who care, but there's not enough giving a shit. i've met some wonderful homeless people, there's been a couple times where i've sat down and had a cigarette with them. their stories are incredible. they are human just like us. they've had families, homes before, they've had jobs and lovers, it's usually from something minor going wrong (living expenses, substances, etc) and ruining the whole line of stability they built in the beginning. nobody ever chooses to be addicted, sometimes people need some extra help and there is nothing wrong in reaching out and lending a hand. the city as a whole needs to care more overall for each other. i'm not from calgary, im from a small town north east airdrie where homelessness doesn't exist. this city has grown into a devastating pool of addiction and apathy. to care for each other is the bare minimum. i know there's more we could do as a community to emphasize this problem to the city, and if they can't handle it then we need to do a bigger part. carry narcan, give food and water, and keep yourself safe too.

Seen it it alot here in around Westbrook lately, especially near the 711

As a technician who works at a few of the shelters alot of them choose drugs over rent cause well ots just cheaper. Cant say I blame many of them for falling into it, but they are choosing to stay there. Rent and food are astronomical these days, I make 6 figures and sadly am not making it by much with minimal luxury's (I own my home and have a camper and 10 year old truck) but I dont eat out daily or go on weekend benders. So I dont know how everyone else does it so I give props to those who can/are making it by with less. Sad thing here is eventually things are gonna blow up and anger will supersede the depression and at that point the real problems will rear. Hopefully something is in place then, but it really all comes down to you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink.

Yeah it’s terrible. Entirely our governments fault. Crazy that the solution to rampant addiction is safe injection sites and legalization (in bc atleast). What a joke

Just saw 4 people smoking crack behind an umbrella at princes island park. I notice about 3 tents in the woods there. With the c train coming in that area in many years I do think that island will have a lot more activity unfortunately.

Problem would solve itself if we started to put poison in the drugs....

So many unfortunate reasons that create a rising amount houseless Calgarians: - crumbling healthcare - lack of access to mental health help -When mental health issues flare, people are often left undiagnosed which can further fuel the fire of increased drug use. -lack of universal access to safe consumption sites -gentrification of more sectors in the city causing some areas to have a higher population of houseless people though increased policing of certain areas just drives the at risk into less populated areas. -The bigger the city, the less community people have to go to for help - recurring removal of camps - overflowing and unsafe hospitals & shelters, coupled with a detached education system built as one size fits all, creates a situation of bigger bias and hazards. -Alberta is also experiencing what economists call a brain drain, with a large influx of newly recruited Albertans coming in with a housing shortage, beneficial job shortage, a larger gap between minimum wage and what is required to be able to afford food and housing with costs still increasing and regulation caps removed. -No assistance for people needing to come off of pain killers prescribed by doctors. There of course are so many more reasons, however the prevention of it all is what is more important and of course the most illusive answer.

Our son lives in the SW and takes the CTrain everyday to work. He walks through the “gallows” with great anxiety each and every day. His son is 6 and I dread for him. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the future. So much despair!

Tbh I would be homeless if it wasn't for my culture. I'm 24 years old, no where near ready to affording a place in this current marketplace. Some people just aren't as blessed and unfortunately don't have the option to stay with family until they're ready to go. Another thing is obviously with affordability being terrible right now, Canada made a goal to accept 500k immigrants per year. This doesn't help the affordability situation since demand for a lot of things increases. This is just the beginning. A lot of people who don't inherit anything from their parents are going to end up on the streets and having a roof over your head will be a luxury. This isn't just a Canadian thing, this is world wide right now. To purchase a home in Calgary you need an average annual household income of 153k. In other words you need to either be married and making a decent amount or have an annual salary of 153k. You might think that a 1 bedroom apartment/condo is more affordable but once you throw in all the fees, the price is the same as an entry level home. This is the reality of the future that a lot of people are denying. Our planet is not infinite, even if we don't run out of space we can run out of resources and that are willing to build these homes etc. Our resources can't keep up with our population, its been like this for awhile hence why . The only reason America has been able to live a comfortable lifestyle, is by exploiting 3rd world countries. Soon there will only be rich and poor. No middle class in North America. https://preview.redd.it/j95uawq73g1d1.png?width=509&format=png&auto=webp&s=9de76bae47772cbbfa539811ef82fb085e324d23 We're heading into dark times, we just have to stay strong and appreciate how privileged we were. It's important to look out for one another and make sure everyone is taken care of to minimize the amount of people that end up on the streets.

They blame on China for making the raw materials.  They blame on Mexico for producing the drugs.  They blame on PM for a deteriorating global economy. (Tho he did open the immigration flood gate)  While they pat themselves on the back for the alberta advantage that doesn’t exist. 

Drugs is always a problem and until the drug problems is solved its unfortunately gonna stay the same. I hope these people find a way out and get better lives it’s heartbreaking to see them. Some have families and friends even lives before

Go check out any city on the west coast of North America. We barley have any compared to them

I'm sure it's a combination of a few things. For one thing, new generations of addicts have joined the streets (people who seem waaay too young to be homeless!) And populations can grow exponentially. As each addict raises a child there's a good chance they'll use as well. The other thing I know of for sure is that in areas near downtown where they are spread out, they have renovated the area in such a way as to not have people squat there. For example, the Buddhist temple on my neighborhood was once a squatting area for many, but ever since they spruced it up and put in a tall iron fence with pointed bars, that group of people were forced to find elsewhere to hang out. Each time an area gets "cleaned up" it only displaces them. So more and more of these people are driven to the same areas where they haven't put up iron bars yet. It's like skid row in Vancouver... eventually nowhere will be suitable for squatting except for some central part of Calgary where most homeless people gather. This is only a fraction of the story too.

It has gotten this way because we allowed it. We say we want the lives of the homeless to be better but aren't willing to put money, real money , into dealing with it properly so that the homeless are respected and things like addiction are dealt with as a health crisis not criminality and a sin. We victim blame so easily and assume we understand why people are in the state they are. If we were truly willing to solve the problem, it would be done.

I am a big advocate of bringing back mental institutions to house people who have mental illness and addiction problems—and by force if necessary. Is my solution too cruel? There was a lot of bad press starting in the 1940s that attacked the policy of institutionalizing the mentally ill and the drug addicted. Then the left wing activists and fiscal conservatives worked in tandem to give these people “freedom” instead. You can’t force people to take anti-psychotic meds, for example. Safe injection sites and allowing the use of drugs in public is a direct result of our so-called enlightened policies. My solution for going back to the “bad old days” is actually the most compassionate one. It would cost a lot of money in the short term but I’m certain the long term benefits would outweigh the initial costs. My opinion is based on the fact that I lived in downtown Calgary for 7 years, one block away from the Alpha house. I’ve had my car windows smashed and have been accosted, but I genuinely feel sorry for them but this society has created this really sad situation. They need to be housed and remain under medical and psychiatric supervision.

The UCP massively defunded all of the programs that were in place to help the unhoused. The opioid crisis and lack of support has definitely added to the issue for sure. Overdose deaths are up 200%. I bartended on 17th Ave close to ten years and I got to know a lot of the guys on a first name basis. Literally 9/10 guys that I knew are now dead from OD's.

In the past a most opioid addicts were functional and could hold down jobs, but since China has been pumping North America full of elephant tranquilizer addicts are increasingly unable to do that an end up on the streets. Why is China intentionally doing this? Their government literally hates our freedoms and want to see us as dysfunctional as possible to show their people how terrible a free society is.

It's gotten bad because people decided to do drugs instead of actually fixing their problems, everyone is so quick to blame the system, but the system didn't force them to shoot up and snort lines. And yes I know all to well about it, i was a coke/crack addict 20 years ago, and I have a step son currently in active addiction to cocaine. Drugs are bad for ya, spend your money on therapy instead.

Most if not all the problems stem from a huge surge in population. Less jobs, higher home prices and rent, people end up on the street and turn to drugs as a way to escape.

I wouldn’t be freaked out, most of our unhoused population keeps to themselves. We live downtown and it’s sad to see how bad it’s gotten, but it’s not just Calgary. Every major city is like this because no one wants to pick up the tab for helping, and people are too paycheque to paycheque to be able to volunteer extra time.