What you loved and loathed last month

High praise for Nick Hune-Brown’s sweeping take on Toronto’s homelessness crisis, which explored the conditions that got us here: soaring rents, years of underinvestment in social housing, a decaying and insufficient shelter system. Readers were simultaneously shocked, ashamed, angered, saddened and grateful for the piece.

“Exceptional reporting and insight into a very ignored tragedy. I was surprised how many people are homeless or on the verge of despair. Our city is rich and compassionate, yet efforts to help are wildly insufficient. Money is wasted by so many agencies doing overlapping services. This is a human tragedy in plain sight. It requires good hearts and political will to correct. We have good leadership, but we need follow-through.”

—Joel Dimitry, Thornhill

“I read Nicholas Hune-Brown’s homelessness article with heartfelt interest. However, I was surprised that nobody seems to be advocating for a voucher system, which, to me, seems like it would be superior to the current city-run social housing system. Rather than forcing people into poorly maintained housing located in designated neighbourhoods—neighbourhoods that often lack proper access to banks and grocery stores—a voucher system could eliminate multi-year wait lists and allow recipients to live almost anywhere. It would also provide recipients with more flexibility; some could supplement the voucher with additional income and live in a more expensive home, potentially closer to workplaces or well-regarded public schools. Or they could spend less than the full voucher on housing and allocate the balance to other life-improving needs like education or childcare.

“We could learn from Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, which is a successful system that replaced complex social bureaucracies with direct cash payments to needy families.”

—John Ewing

“Nicholas Hune-Brown’s thoughtful piece is necessary. He points to one of the principal causes of the affordable housing and homelessness crisis: the lack of political will to incentivize social housing as an urgent, long-past-due cost. There are dedicated advocates and academics who have proffered longterm solutions. Stop-gap measures, as Hune-Brown carefully observes, are wholly inadequate. Every community in the GTA, and the provincial and federal governments, must act to build housing now.”

—Cam Kilgour, Toronto “This makes me so sad. A city as big, wealthy and diverse as Toronto ought to be ashamed.”

—Joann Jones, Facebook

“A moving and thoughtful piece on the homelessness crisis, how we got here and what should be done to improve the situation for all Torontonians. Thanks, @torontolife.”

—@kendrahm, Twitter

“Everyone should read this story by @nickhunebrown. We can do so much better than this.”

—@maxfawcett, Twitter

There was some mild criticism from readers who were offended at the prospect of throwing more public money at the problem:

“Toronto’s finances are devastated from the downward spiral of deficit spending, but we wouldn’t have a homeless crisis if the constantly preaching progressives were to open up their homes and wallets to these unfortunate souls. Problem solved without any more tax dollars wasted on a failed social experiment. For those living on social assistance, rent is cheaper everywhere in Ontario not called Toronto. Living in this city is an expensive endeavour but not a taxpayersubsidized entitlement program.”

—Ray Mierins

The extreme outrage, however, was reserved for our decision to run a short piece about a Danish family purchasing a Bridle Path home in the same issue.

“The young Danish family searching for a multimillion-dollar house near the Bridle Path. The homeless living under bridges in the Rosedale Valley ravine. Does the potential for ‘hygge’ not seem a bit trite when it is minus 35 degrees and your walls consist of a nylon tent and plastic tarps? Something is not right.” —Kristine Limion

“After reading your excellent story on homelessness, I was shocked to see a profile of an extremely wealthy house-hunting family in The Chase. Of all the months you could have chosen to highlight foreign riches, you had to pick the one that showcases the poorest people of Toronto, who freeze to death under bridges. Carefully planned juxtaposition? Editorial indifference? Whatever the case, I literally felt sick after reading this.”

—Leslie Bader