Ed,
I appreciate your concern for the predicament of panhandlers. I suspect
that you already know what will likely happen to them just prior to
completion of such a world-class facility. Police will force them out of
the district by whatever means, and some other locale will get vocal
about the problems of homelessness.
I don't know how bad it is in Ottawa, but as you've no doubt heard or
experienced, Victoria has much to address. We have an estimated 1500
homeless people whose presence affects the core areas, especially
tourist and business sites. Our local newspaper has been featuring
countless editorials and overwhelming response from readers aimed at
bringing awareness and solutions, especially in this last year with a
campaign to get citizens and city council to think "housing first". The
mantra was actually imported likely from Portland Oregon, where there
has been a most successful housing project for three years now. It is a
model not only of compassion, but of solid economic success. Police,
hospital, ambulance and emergency shelter costs are all way down because
the facility provides apartments, meals and social agenda, employment,
medical and addictions counseling. In Victoria we're still far from
providing Maslow's basics to all of the homeless, but there will be
construction of such a facility for 50 of the most needy (meaning those
who chronically get in trouble or hospitalized). Check this article, or
Google Logan Place for more detailed other articles.
NOVEL IDEA FOR THE HOMELESS: GIVE THEM A HOME
DAVID HENCH, PORTLAND PRESS HERALD A recently released survey of
Portland's homeless population shows a decline for the third straight
year in the number of chronically homeless people, those who often
absorb a disproportionate share of resources from the city and social-
service agencies. Advocates for the homeless say the improvement is
directly related to the availability of Logan Place, which provides 30
apartments to men who had been homeless repeatedly or for long periods,
and to greater access to housing in a softening rental market.
Beyond the reduction in shelter use, getting people into stable homes
provides dramatic benefits to people's quality of life, and that pays
dividends for society, said Mark Swann, executive director of the Preble
Street Resource Center, which helped conduct the survey. . .
The Point-in-Time Survey of Homelessness, which gathers information from
the people staying in city shelters, makeshift camps and in their cars,
found that just 19 percent of those people were considered chronically
homeless, down from 37 percent in 2004.
City statistics show a decline in the use of Portland shelters overall
for the past two years -- Logan Place opened in 2005 -- after increasing
steadily between 1997 and 2005. . .
"There are only 30 people" at Logan Place, he said, "but they were
responsible for over 6,000 bed nights in shelters the previous year.". . .
An analysis done with the University of New England showed that
residents of Logan Place used ambulances 71 percent less than the year
before they moved in; showed a 74 percent decrease in emergency room
visits; had a 70 percent decrease in police contacts; and had an 88
percent decrease in jail time, Swann said.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story_pf.php?id=135159&ac=PHnws
<http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story_pf.php?id=135159&ac=PHnws>
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Perhaps you could pass it along to Ottawa's city council.
Natalia
Ed Weick wrote:
I live in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. There is a move afoot to
develop Ottawa into a world-class city by building an new congress
centre in which huge, power-house meetings can be held. Estimated
costs are in the order of $160 million. A new concert hall is also
being proposed.
A few evenings ago I walked along Elgin Street, one of our principal
downtown streets. There were a couple of panhandlers every block and
I had no trouble emptying my pockets of change. It struck me that
panhandling was hard work, especially in the miserable weather of late
fall and winter.
It also had me wondering what the new congress centre and concert hall
might do for the panhandlers. The answer was pretty obvious. It
would give them better places to panhandle. They would become
world-class panhandlers.
Ed
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