Leave the Homeless Alone

 

Leave the Homeless Alone

By Kendall Worth!

I was reading Sam Austin’’s Blog about a situation that happened in Dartmouth, where a homeless man assaulted a 65 year old man at Starr Park.

Shelter at Starr Park – Photo from : https://samaustin.ca/starr-park-assault-shelter/

I have a question. Did the 65 year old resident of that neighbourhood knock on the door because he wanted to help out or to judge and stigmatize him for living in a crisis shelter? (still homeless but with a door that locked, and a roof)

In a recent BLOG post I wrote an Open Letter to Halifax City Councillors and also copied this letter to our MLA’s. This letter asked politicians and other officials to please consider that in most cases it is not the fault of the homeless person that they are without a shelter/apt/house. We have got to remember, that, just like income assistance recipients who are housed, every situation is different.

Even though I was not there when that assault happened, I have studied the community of people living in poverty long enough to know what goes on in people’s lives that puts them at risk of becoming homeless. It is safe to say that in 90% of homeless cases, it is because they could not afford to pay rent and bills. A homeless person is usually an honest person who just cannot afford life’s necessities. From what I had been seen covered in the news, it is my understanding that this 65 year old man did come by to stigmatize him for being homeless.

I read at one point that the Halifax Mutual Aid, who built the Shelter, said they know who that 65 year old man is, who came and knocked on the door. So it sounds to me that the 65 year man did not come by the structure to help the homeless person.

There are two sides to what makes people become homeless. The First is when homeless lose their job(s) for some reason and losing that job means they can no longer afford rent and bills. It could simply happen because the homeless person could be waiting to go on Employment Insurance and they have not received their EI cheque before the rent is due. They end up getting evicted before their first EI cheque arrives. The Second side to this is they could have been on Income Assistance (IA) before becoming homeless. A negative decision, from some previous issue, that affects your cheque, means that some people cannot pay their rent. This link provides lots of examples demonstrating how ESIA (Department of Community Services, in Nova Scotia, program) can be responsible for making some people homeless.

I believe this whole incident (of that 65 year old man getting assaulted by that homeless person) could have been avoided if:

#1 – That 65 year old man had a better understanding of the reason why this person may be homeless. If, when he knocked on the door of that structure, he had of shown care and compassion, instead of stigma and discriminatory judgment.

#2 – the overall affordable housing crises in Halifax had been solved. That is, if more affordable housing was available.

If that 65 year old person wanted that homeless person out of the park, where did he expect him to go? It sounds like to me that the 65 year old man wanted that homeless person in jail for being homeless. Overall that 65 year old resident should have just left the homeless man alone then the assault would have been avoided.

I want to end my piece on this subject by saying I believe this whole assault should serve as message for the public, as a whole. Not just politicians, but the general population need to start showing more support for the homeless of our city. Remember, many in our homeless population have mental health issues and invisible disabilities.

I know those who believe in stigma about homeless is not limited to that 65 year old man. You also hear in the News of people still stigmatizing People’s Park and that needs to stop.

From: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-visual-representation-of-stigma-domains-and-their-respective-themes_fig2_317143770