Drugs and Homelessness

This is an issue I am still learning about, so I don’t want to pretend I have all the answers or promise a program before I understand exactly what is already being done and who is responsible for what.

What I can tell you is where I stand.

First, I don’t believe homelessness and drug addiction are the same issue. People can find themselves homeless for many reasons: the cost of housing, loss of income, family circumstances, mental health, disability or simply having nowhere affordable to go. Addiction is part of the picture for some people, but certainly not everyone.

For someone who is homeless, I want us focused on getting them into appropriate, permanent housing and helping them regain stability.

Where addiction is involved, I believe we need a much clearer path to treatment and recovery. I understand the public-health reasoning behind providing clean drug-use equipment, but I struggle with a system that can provide someone with the equipment to continue using drugs when we still can’t provide them with a clear and timely path into treatment when they’re ready for it.

I also don’t believe allowing homelessness, open drug use and the problems that can come with it to become entrenched in our downtown is compassionate to anyone. It isn’t fair to the person struggling, and it isn’t fair to residents, businesses and employees who deserve to feel safe in their community.

As a Town councillor, I wouldn’t control most of these services. My role would be advocacy. I would be asking the County, Province, health services and the agencies involved some very direct questions.

Where are the treatment beds? Where is our supportive and transitional housing? What happened to the rapid-rehousing program announced for Alliston? How many people are we actually moving from homelessness into permanent housing? And if what we’re doing isn’t getting people off the street, what needs to change?

I have compassion for people who are struggling. But I also believe we can expect better results.

Helping someone shouldn’t mean accepting that living on the street is the best future we can offer them. And caring about those individuals and caring about the safety of our downtown can absolutely happen at the same time.