[The following is a reflection on addressing homelessness, by Sudbury-based artist and photographer Larson Heinonen, who himself earlier in his life spent "decades on the street in most major Canadian cities."]
The great minds that once in a while take it upon themselves to address and deal with homelessness always fail because they, with rare exceptions, do not take into consideration the root causes of homelessness.
In the past several decades, several ‘’experts’’ have offered their opinions and all have been later proven wrong. Now, it is my turn, I am not arrogant enough to offer solutions but I have some ideas that are worth considering.
One of the major problems society has when addressing homelessness is assuming they have the same value system we have. This is not true. We believe homelessness is as simple as providing a homeless person with a roof and a job. In some cases this is true. In many it is not. Homelessness is a state of mind, a mindset, a philosophy of life, it is not a lack of what you value.
Several years ago, during my decades on the streets of most major Canadian cities, had you offered me a home and a job, I would have declined the offer. So would most of my peers. Having a home means leases, contracts, commitment, and above all, lack of freedom. A job means having responsibilities, deadlines, schedules, etc. A homeless person wants to not be tied down by commitments and responsibilities and be able to put his or her belongings in a bag and take off to greener pastures tomorrow morning. Until we stop projecting our values to others, we are doomed, from the start, to failure.
The major issue homeless people have to deal with is mental illness. When someone is so low-functioning that all he can do is to rummage in garbage cans for food and beg for money on street corners, we should help him, not add to his despair by expecting and demanding that he work and maintain a household. This heartless approach to street people and what they do is not only ineffective but inhumane. Telling a panhandler to get a job, ranks on the idiotic statements scale with telling a depressed person to just snap out of it, telling an obese person to eat less, telling a person with one leg to go for a run, giving Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad the Nobel Peace Prize, well, you get the point.
My motivation for writing is only to tell the truth so we can better help those who accept it. I am not running for a political office, I do not speak for any church or anti-poverty organization. I simple want was is good. We cannot even begin to address the issue of homelessness if our starting point is false information.
Another fallacy that ‘’experts’’ on homelessness are fond of throwing in our faces is, ‘’Everyone is only one pay check away from being on the street’’. Not true. Non-homeless people have family and friends to help them in case of emergency, they have the skills and know-how to access social services if the need arises. You are in no danger of becoming homeless tomorrow or next week or even next month. Don’t worry.
Since dealing with homelessness is now left to politicians, churches and anti-poverty groups and others whose understanding and modest knowledge of homelessness comes not from any direct experience but sociology textbooks or the Bible. I am not belittling knowledge from these sources but we have taken their advice for decades and it hasn’t reduced homelessness or even made a dent, maybe it’s time to try something else. If your friend kept banging his head against the wall and then complaining about a headache, would you tell him to bang harder and the pain will go away? Our present approach to homelessness (Studies, Think tanks, Task Forces, Praying in homeless centres and soup kitchens, Just plain talking in Academia, etc.) doesn’t work, may I suggest we do something else.
Homelessness usually only makes headlines when a person dies because of it or an election is looming, at these times experts come out and ponder homelessness in front of media’s cameras, politicians give passionate speeches and feign outrage, anti-poverty groups scream injustice, but when the media packs up and puts their cameras and notebooks away, normalcy returns and the issue is forgotten until the next death. Next election. It has been this way for decades and the homelessness situation will not change anytime soon because our approach to it is wrong and it is only of interest periodically.
If we want to eradicate, no, eradication is too ambitious and unrealistic a goal, how about just harm reduction. To do harm reduction successfully we must include homeless people and former homeless people with the usual politicians, church members, academics and social workers. To know about homelessness but not including homeless people is impossible. Our present approach to homelessness excludes (Usually) homeless people. This is like having car trouble but ignoring a mechanic’s advice and doing what you accountant says.
Because the wrong people are entrusted to deal with homelessness and we just don’t have the will to make changes to status quo that doesn’t work and hasn’t worked for decades, we are ensuring that the most vulnerable amongst us keeps suffering and dying on our streets.
Homelessness will be gone soon, don’t hold your breath.
This post originally appeared on larsonsgallery.com and is reposted here with permission.
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The Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op was formed to create independent media in the North, to speak to our issues and outlooks on our communities as well as the world around us. Independent media provides an avenue for people who are wishing to gain critical perspective on the issues that matter most to us, and to give a voice to those people and stories that you won't find in the mainstream media.
The Sudbury working-group site is no longer being updated and has been archived.