The CBC is reporting that “Charlottetown City Council has voted to keep homeless shelters 100 metres away from elementary schools.” Isn’t this simply silly?
If there is any proof that people without homes are more likely to be a harm to children — and I seriously wonder if there is any at all — then surely 100 metres means absolutely nothing in terms of protection.
Otherwise it seems to me that we’re trying to “protect” our children from something that we should be helping them confront — and that they, in turn, should be helping us confront.
If we truly think that homeless people are a menace to society, we should lock them up in armed camps on remote islands; otherwise, they deserve the right to live where they please, just like everyone else.
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Comments
This bylaw is not a product
This bylaw is not a product of the city, it is a product of stupid islanders. The city did not have any means of writing up such a bylaw until stupid, ignorant people started complaining… and about what? Homeless people sleeping across the road from a school? Give me a break. A couple bootleggers are with-in a block from that school.
And I’m sure if some pervert homeless person really wants to take a look at some children while playing games at recess, he/she could just take a walk up the street. This bylaw does nothing but make the city look like bad people, and the Mayor look like Toronto’s Mayor.
One sad aspect of this
One sad aspect of this approach is the stigatization of children. At least one of the proposed shelters is for women and children. Those children walk to those schools. Nice to lable these kids with the touch path in life further. Thumbs up City of Charlottetown.
Remember, too, this is not a “stupid Islanders” issue. The City of SUmmerside has the ability to take the higher course with its own bylaw. The stupid stick may turn out to only be swinging within the City of Charlottetown boundaries.
Islanders, for the most part,
Islanders, for the most part, are close minded people and hate change… Most islanders don’t even see the need for homeless shelters, let alone exactly what they are. I over heard some older guys at Tim’s on Kent Street talking about homeless shelters, and to say the lest they were very ignorant about it. They basically thought it was a shelter like in the movies, you know, all the hard drugs being used and high alcohol consumption. The went as far to say these shelters will cause crime and down fall of our city.
A) Most homeless shelters in a city the size of Charlottetown are basically housing lodges, but free. B) They are staffed, and drugs and alcohol is not allowed. C) No one can back up that a “homeless Shelter” causes crime. I would guess it keeps it down, because these people have a place to sleep and food to eat.
As a community worker and
As a community worker and experentially informed person in Ontario, it occurs to me that the Island is looking at a national crisis from a new and naive perspective. There are no clear solutions to homelessness in Canada or the world. There are solutions to individual problems. We need to understand that homelessness can strike almost anybody at any time. The way to deal with this problem is on a case by case basis (i.e. conduct surveys of the affected population and gear services accordingly). Many homeless are capable of reintegrarting themselves into the “accepted” realms of society with a bit of support and encouragement while some will never become “useful” members of our society (always remembering and understanding that all people have something to contribute). The chief problem with most support services dealing with the homeless is that they tend to group all homeless in the same catagory. My experience has shown me that this is not due to perceptions of the front line workers but rather due to funding formulae based on uninformed taxpayers and politicians trying to deal with a problem that they do not fully understand. There have been a number of reports on homelessness worlwide, but all of them seem to miss the point. the point being that there are as many reasons for people being homeless as there are homelss people.
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