Poverty a major reason for our problems

Editor: The discussion around people experiencing homelessness, addictions, and disrupted mental health continues apace both in this paper and in other venues around the city. It is worth noting the problem is largely poverty.

In 2018, with a population of 99,769

(City of Lethbridge, 2018), the city had 223 unhoused people (Homeless Hub, 2021). At that time, the city also had approximately 3,000 people who were living on incomes under $900/month for a variety of reasons (Homeless Hub, 2021). Of the individuals experiencing homelessness, 65% identified as female, and 37.4% were individuals under 18 years of age, the greatest demographic age group represented in the data (Turner Strategies, 2018).

Since this data was collected, we have experienced an increase in jobless rates by one half in this province (Alberta, 2021), an economic downturn, and a global pandemic. One can only assume, without current data readily available, that the aforementioned numbers have increased. Nevertheless, the data bears out that over half of the city’s unhoused population identifies as young and female. To my neighbours in London Road, Victoria Park, and the downtown core, these people are our neighbours and we have a duty to support them.

The loudest public dialogue in the city has been from individuals and groups who are opposed to our inadequately housed neighbours for a variety of reasons which will not be highlighted here. These same have offered solutions that involve criminalizing and/or moving the unhoused population away from the downtown core and adjacent neighbourhoods where services, food, transit, and community are most easily accessed. This NIMBYism often takes the form of fear or discomfort but does not offer solutions that are respectful or thoughtful, nor do they address the root causes of homelessness and addictions in our community which primarily occur due to a complex interplay of poverty and adverse lifetime events and traumas.

Neither is there any attention given to the fact that we do not even have half enough beds available to provide safe, albeit temporary, shelter for the city’s unhoused population.

The fact is that the city we live in is growing and changing, and we are not providing the supports necessary to ensure all of its citizens can experience safe, fulfilling lives here.

Rather than advocating for a ghettoization of individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness in Lethbridge, we would be well advised to seek long term solutions to support all our neighbours. Our city is a reflection of all of us.

As such, Housing First, a no-strings-attached approach to providing shelter, should be our priority.

The money funnelled into adversarial, law-based groups would be better spent maintaining housing for our 223 unhoused neighbours.

Data from around the world indicates that this approach works and makes good economic sense (Young & Manion, 2017; Larimer, Malone, Garner, et. al, 2009; Chung et al 2017; Macnaughton et al, 2019; Collins et al, 2019).

Utah provides an excellent case study of what can happen when Housing First is implemented by the government and supported by the community.

Following implementation of Housing First, our community should be advocating for Universal Basic Income.

Again, worldwide data bears out that having enough income to meet one’s daily needs provides a sense of security, feelings of belonging and wellbeing, and motivation to contribute to the community (Yoo et al., 2020, 2019; McKinsey report on Finland, 2020; Banerjee et al, 2020; Oemmelen, 2020). What has been framed in the local media and elsewhere as a problem of addictions, criminality, or other antisocial behaviours is, at its core, a problem of poverty and one which we are obligated to address for the health of our community.

We can solve what we perceive as issues not by banishing our neighbours to the outskirts of the city but rather by ensuring that we all have our needs met. There is more than enough here for us all.

Mary Greenshields

Lethbridge