SHIRKING RESPONSIBILITY
Florence Stratton criticizes council for refusing to fund Plan to End Homelessness
On April 29, after many delays, the Regina Plan to End Homelessness finally came before city council. Coun. Andrew Stevens moved an amendment, seconded by Coun. Jason Mancinelli, that the city make a financial contribution of $2 million to the proposed housing and homelessness stream to fund the Plan to End Homelessness. That this motion was defeated (by an 8-3 vote) during the COVID-19 pandemic makes it particularly shameful.
According to the plan, 2,200 people are homeless in Regina. How many of the recommendations to reduce the spread of the virus can these 2,200 people practice?
How do you shelter in place or self-isolate if you don’t have a home?
How do you wash your hands frequently if you don’t have a sink?
How do you maintain a safe physical distance if you are sleeping in a homeless shelter or eating at a soup kitchen?
Mayor Michael Fougere was one of those who voted against the motion. This is despite the fact that in the 2016 municipal election he ran on a platform of ending homelessness. It was also Fougere who, in 2017, brought the motion before city council that launched the Plan to End Homelessness.
The mayor gave two reasons for his opposition to the city putting money into the plan. First, that because of the impact of COVID-19, “the financial integrity of the city has been stretched.” It would seem that for Fougere, COVID-19 has become a handy excuse for not providing financial support to the Plan to End Homelessness. Prior to the pandemic, when city coffers were not so “stretched,” he didn’t want to put any money into the plan either.
The mayor then fell back on his usual reason: That homelessness is a provincial and federal responsibility and that for the city to put money into the plan would signal a willingness for the responsibility to be downloaded onto the city.
The plan calls for an investment of $63 million over five years in a Housing First program, with $25 million to come from the federal government and $38 million from the province. The problem is that neither the provincial nor the federal contribution is likely to be immediately, if ever, forthcoming.
We can’t wait for the federal government. We can’t wait for the province. The matter is far too urgent. The dire health needs of Regina’s 2,200 homeless people are being ignored during COVID -19. Homeless people are especially vulnerable to the health effects of the pandemic. Due to poverty and homelessness, many have weakened immune systems and chronic health conditions.
The dire health needs of Regina’s 2,200 homeless people were also being ignored prior to the pandemic. The life expectancy of a person who is homeless in Canada is 47 years. That’s three decades shorter than the average life expectancy in Canada. In other words, homelessness, even in the absence of a pandemic, is a death sentence.
This is outrageous! What kind of people are we?
Homelessness is not only an economic and political question. It is also a moral and spiritual matter. Do we want to be part of a society where what Thomas Piketty calls “the violence of inequality” is the order of the day — where some lives are worth more than others?
The City of Regina can’t solve Regina’s homelessness crisis all on its own — that will require financial support from the federal and provincial governments. Regina can, however, provide a model for the other levels of government by making a meaningful contribution to the plan.
How about $5 million? That’s the amount of city tax dollars going annually to pay for Mosaic Stadium, which now sits empty because of the pandemic. When the new stadium was in the planning stages, city officials promised that Taylor Field, where the old stadium stood, would be redeveloped to include 700 new affordable housing units. Now is the time to keep that promise, if not by building those 700 units, then by providing equivalent funding for Housing First.
Or if $5 million is too much during the time of COVID-19, then there is the Stevens-mancinelli motion calling for a contribution of $2 million. That would be enough to double the number of people currently being housed under Regina’s federally funded Housing First program.
COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on homelessness. Now is the time for action. City council must reconsider the Plan to End Homelessness as soon as possible. How about putting it back on the agenda for the May council meeting or convening a special meeting.
And when this meeting happens, councillors must ensure that it is the language of human decency, the language of fairness, the language of justice that dominates the meeting — not the language of downloading or jurisdictional responsibility.
In the meantime, we must all seek out ways to express our gratitude to homeless people, as well as front line shelter workers, for the courage they continue to show in their ongoing struggle to protect themselves, along with the rest of us, from the spread of COVID -19.
As Fougere said in February at Regina’s 2020 memorial for those who have lost their lives to homelessness: “Homelessness is a tragedy. It must be ended!” Unless the City of Regina does its part, there is every likelihood this tragedy will continue.
No one should be homeless in Regina during COVID -19 — or at any other time.