X.15.2019 - Housing & Homelessness – Part One
This is the first installment of a trilogy dealing with housing and homelessness in North America. In the second blog, I will address the “Illusion of Affordable Housing” and, in the final episode, “Ending Homelessness”, I will offer my theory about how we can bring an end to homelessness in Canada — like universal healthcare, it may take longer in the United States.
In the early 90s, we were living the urban dream. My company was thriving from our office in Berkeley Castle — a former knitting mill that was converted into office space by the world-famous architect, Jack Diamond. We were living a few blocks away in a massive condo in downtown Toronto a stone’s throw from St. Lawrence Market. Our two young children took the ferry every day to attend Island Public School and we were close to culture, entertainment, restaurants and, of course, Sam the Record Man.
The school was designated the natural science centre for the Toronto School Board and it was the perfect substitute for the backyard that we lacked. On Saturdays, I would walk with our children North from Front Street (where the waves of Lake Ontario once lapped in the 19th century) to their Aikido class at Yonge and College Streets. Along the way, we would encounter no less than 25 people of all ages and genders who were sleeping on subway grates, in alleys or they presented crude, handmade signs as they panhandled for money. For several years, I carried 10 Loonies in my pocket that I would distribute as we made our way to the martial arts dojo along the longest street in Ontario.
I thought that I was being random in how I dispersed the cash to people who were always polite and grateful. Then, one particularly cold and windy day we were hustling a little faster than usual and my observant daughter asked me why I had skipped giving a few people some money. I didn’t have a good explanation for my apparent bias because I still had three Loonies in my pocket. Then, when I recalled our journey, I realized that I was habitually giving money only to young people — those who were in their early to mid-teens to be precise. I tried to explain to my daughter that we didn’t have enough money for every desperate person we saw but I thought to myself that I wanted the young people to have a glimmer of hope.
That was the beginning of my professional odyssey to figure out why anyone would have to sleep on the street or in a shelter instead of their own home. Not coincidentally, our first project was to overhaul the shelter system for the City of Toronto.
Since that time, I have worked in cities around the world to try to make a difference and to better understand the dynamics of housing and homelessness. In North America, my company has engaged all levels of government, non-profits and faith-based organizations from Labrador City to Vancouver and from Miami to Seattle. Some people would even call me an expert in the field and, yet, the number of people experiencing homelessness and dying from that experience is increasing steadily. They have not benefitted from my “knowledge.” Trying to understand homelessness is like looking at the wrong side of a tapestry. But I’m going to take my best shot.
I want to acknowledge a frontline warrior in the fight against homelessness. Her name is Cathy Crowe and she is the author of the book, 
A Knapsack Full of Dreams: Memoirs of a Street Nurse. Cathy is a street nurse who I first met when I worked on the shelter project with the City of Toronto. This past week, Cathy was featured in the Toronto Star for her work and her activism to end the misery and death related to the homeless experience. Homelessness is everyone’s problem and I will make that perfectly clear in my next installment.
Finally, I would like to quote Judy Rebick who worked with Cathy Crowe to capture the plight of people on video. Judy — a writer and producer — summarized the homelessness situation this way, “If cats and dogs were living in the conditions shown in my secret video, people would be up in arms. How can we tolerate homeless people in Toronto sleeping in conditions worse than a UN refugee camp?” Indeed. Don’t forget to vote.