By Candace Pitvor
Published in September 2019
Homelessness is an issue that continues to impact our community that affects so many people from diverse walks of life. And, it can happen to anyone at any given time. Not too many people choose to be homeless as it is scary, stressful, unsafe, unhealthy, unpleasant, nasty, and extremely exhausting. Homelessness can relate to people living life out on the streets, in abandoned buildings, parks or on park benches, couch surfing and in shelters. This paper brings into light my personal involvement in working with people who experience homelessness, mental health and addiction.
Most individuals I work with live with concurrent disorders, meaning, they are dealing with mental health issues mixed with addiction. These are people who have not had it easy in life, that so often reach out for help. Although, it is almost impossible for them to get appropriate help due to their “concurrent disorders”. Whenever they go to hospital, they are told to leave and deal with their addiction, and when they go to treatment they are told to leave and deal with their mental health. This is a major system failure happening within our community with doors constantly closing on individuals trying to get help. It is no wonder they eventually give up!
Today sitting in my kitchen while sipping on tea, I read an article declaring “currently 264 people are experiencing homelessness within Waterloo Region as of April 2018, apparently, this includes singles and families” (Thomson, 2018). This is obvious to me starting from my work day each morning, walking downtown and all I see around me is condo after condo being built. Sadly, I notice places that use to be homes to lower income people are now being torn down. This infuriates me deeply to see buildings that once were low-income housing now in the process of being torn down to be replaced with new condos that will never be affordable to so many people in Waterloo Region. Personally, I have witnessed with my own eyes people being pushed and forced out of their own homes and put onto the streets with absolutely nothing. I have watched them walk away with only what they can carry on their backs.
As I work in the field of Street Outreach, I often hear many different stories from people experiencing homelessness. I hear stories and situations of why or what brought them to that point in their life. Daily, I listen to people telling me their stories mention reasons such as poverty, addiction, mental health, abusive relationships, system failures, lack of adequate housing, loss of a job, sudden health problems and the list goes on.
Whose Problem is This?
As I often do, before going to work I ask myself why we should care. Whose problem is this? Why are more and more people coming into homelessness? Are we as a region experiencing Gentrification? Perhaps people may start to care only when they are directly impacted by this crisis. Maybe they will one day when it’s their friend, son, daughter, mother, grandmother, uncle, father or a loved one. I strongly want to ask everyone, “Is that when you will care?” I feel we go on living our very busy fast paced lives, sometimes not even realizing the sadness and pain happening all over the place.
Facing Judgement
Equally important, people who are experiencing homelessness are almost always facing judgements, unfair treatments; they are stigmatized, feared, hated, blamed, shamed, embarrassed, harassed, made to feel unworthy, and so often they feel no one cares about them, they feel defeated, and they give up on everything.
For example, have you ever stopped to look a person who is panhandling in the eyes to ask about his/her day? Would you offer them a smile? I challenge people to think about what a person experiencing homelessness may go through daily trying to survive minute to minute! Imagine them wondering where their next meal will be, where their next shower will be, where their next drink of water will be, where they will sleep or when they will be able to safely sleep again. Just visualize it being every thought in your head, imagine it being the only thought in your head, every minute, every day, and all the time! We so easily can go grab something to eat from our fridge, go to our washroom and have a shower, grab a glass of water from our kitchen sink; if tired, we lay in our bed and sleep safely. These are things most do and take for granted without a thought daily.
The Experience of Motel Living
The other day, I was driving down the highway with a woman I had just picked up from the New Hamburg Inn, a red old looking motel, with only six rooms. This woman at the motel with beautiful red hair, deep blue eyes who had the look of sadness and pain almost intolerable to witness, shared with me how she has experienced homelessness for over 5 years within our community due to mental health issues.
She was staying at the motel with a friend of hers, whom I work with, who has been experiencing homelessness for over 10 years due to PTSD. Fortunately, this man was “lucky” to be placed in a motel as a temporary solution until we could come up with an adequate housing solution for him. As one of the rules of the motel was no guests allowed, I was the one that had to ask her to leave. This woman with so much sadness and pain in her eyes understood. She even went to the motel owner and said, “Please do not kick my friend out, I was only here for a night helping him out”.
Showing that even though she too was suffering so much, she wanted to help protect her friend from losing his place of temporary safety. As the woman and I were driving I asked her, “where can I take you?” she said she was okay with me dropping her off anywhere downtown. As we were driving downtown she said to me, “Do you know what it is like to have to sleep outside and have to find a place that you can light a fire because it is so God damn freezing out you would do anything to get warm!”
She then went on with immense tears pouring down her cheeks to ask me “Do you know what it is like to have your children taken away from you because you can’t raise them due to society’s norm because you may be a little bit sick, too mentally unwell to care for your own children?” Not surprisingly, I had no words for her and I regrettably had no solutions. I felt helpless and distressed. I almost started to cry as I looked out to the road we were travelling on to bring her nowhere.
All I could do was be there for her in her moment of extreme suffering and pain. Supportively, I gave her all my attention and sincerely listened to all she had to say. Eventually she asked to borrow my phone, so she could call her uncle who did not answer the call. She then stated that she was hungry, so I dropped her off at St. John’s Community Kitchen. A place she knows all too well, a place she could get something to eat and a place she could visit and chat with friends who also are living life on the streets.
St. John’s Kitchen
St. Johns Kitchen is such a wonderful place where people from all different walks of life are welcome. We open our doors to everyone who wants to come, Monday to Friday from 8am to 3pm. In the morning a person could help themselves to bread, peanut butter and jam. Sometimes we get donations such as donuts and muffins or other yummy snacks that we leave out for people to enjoy. At lunch time, we always provide a hot healthy meal. Most of the people that come here are experiencing homelessness, families with low income, new comers to Canada etc.
Within the kitchen, everyone shares a great big open space filled with tables and chairs. Amazingly, the walls are all painted a pleasant welcoming yellow and we have large pictures on the walls. Some of the pictures were painted by people accessing our services. We have big beautiful green plants and trees that help fill up some open space on shelves and in corners. Then there is the massive open kitchen where volunteers and staff work together on meal prep and cooking.
The Work of Outreach
After I park my car, as I walk in the building passing so many people that are outside in the lane way, everyone says hello to me, I say hello back and ask as many people as possible how their day has been. Shortly, after entering, I exit out the big red doors of the kitchen to look for a man I support. I need to remind him of the medical appointment he has for tomorrow. This short, tanned-skin man with scars all over his hands and face from fighting, is in a hidden laneway beside St. John’s Kitchen. He meets with a group of his friends every morning at 10am, a time all the boys call “post time”, the time the liquor store opens. Some of these men have housing, some live outside on the streets, some live in abandoned buildings, parks and/or in shelters. In this moment, where they live does not really matter to them because they are all having fun, laughing, drinking and sharing stories.
The Reality of Homelessness
In my experience of working as a Street Outreach Worker I believe that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region is much higher than 264. I would go as far as to double that number. Having introduced the daily struggles and suffering as well as the causes for homelessness I say this: the next time you run into a person who is experiencing homelessness or a person who is panhandling take a minute to at least to say hello, smile and acknowledge their existence. Do not be scared or afraid of them and, most importantly, do not judge them. Show some compassion, treat the person with dignity and respect. We all deserve at least that much no matter our circumstances!
Candace worked as a Streets to Housing Outreach Worker at The Working Centre for 4 years and is now a Community Outreach worker at the Kitchener Public Library.
