Housing is basic survival necessity

Dear Editor: I’m writing to address the view that there are some homeless people who are “deserving” of our collective support and some, due to their behaviour, who are not. The letter-writer says it is “challenging and contradictory” for many people who might wish to offer their support when homeless campers engage in certain behaviours (improper disposal of paraphernalia, expressions of anger, etc.).

I would like to highlight the assumption underlying this view, namely that society’s support is a reward for good behaviour. The flip side of this is that withholding housing is an acceptable form of punishment.

Housing is not a privilege reserved for those who can afford to pay for it; it is a basic survival necessity, like food, clothing and medicine. To deny any of these as punishment is to say that their survival doesn’t matter.

In spite of this, there are many people in tent cities who continue to persevere in the face of massive community disapproval and threat. It seems that our communities are divided, but all parties can agree that people living in parks is not the long-term solution to homelessness.

The challenge for us is to look past our outrage and recognize our own fear of displacement. We can use this recognition to humanize the ones who are living the reality of homelessness at this moment, and stop putting conditions on the provision of the most basic human needs. Ben Baird Saanich

Those that choose to be homeless to pursue a lifestyle of non-compliance so they can partake of illicit drugs and be a nuisance in general do not deserve sympathy.

Supplying cheap housing is not the answer. A lot of these people have no interest in maintaining a certain level of decency in these facilities. Most of these people came from somewhere else.

It’s kind of strange that most of these homeless camps are in the warmer climes of the country. Wonder why that is? The other strange thing is if they are so broke and poor, how do they afford the tents, sleeping bags , camp stoves and related equipment?

They seem to move this stuff around in shopping buggies which cannot be purchased. One gets tired of stepping around them at doors asking for “spare change.”

When told to get a job, you get sworn at and insulted.

Their “tent camps” are a collection of junk, garbage, dragged in paraphernalia, needles and related filth. If some remote area was offered for them to set up camp, they would not go there.

There seems to be no answer to this or those in authority just do not care. Just hand out the cheques and look the other way. George Getty Prince George