Addressing homelessness, property damage, and needle safety concerns
Asked by Anonymous · 21 days ago
Are you going to do anything about this homeless situations in this town . What ideas do you have to help this matter . The residents of Alliston are feed up with their properties being damaged and personal items being stolen, and the fear of our children picking up discarded contaminated needles and we all know what can happen with that . Action needs to be taken now , we have had enough .
Peter Barbati's answer
This is an important and increasing problem for many communities. A similar question was posted. My response to that one is here:
"This is an important issue, but there are a number of issues in there. Homelessness isn't always connected to drugs and vice versa. The homeless issue is becoming worse as the cost of living increases, made worse when jobs are shed due to restructuring, trade issues, etc. The cost of construction, even before the slowdown, increased beyond the reach of many would-be buyers, and even renters as costlier builds require higher rents to compensate for the building costs.
It may be time to reconsider different forms of home ownership, different modes of construction which will allow for homes to be built more quickly and for less cost, without sacrificing quality or safety. Those will be more accessible for buyers or renters.
Drug use, I have no expertise in, as this issue often involves other emotional or development concerns, and I believe we have to seek advice from professionals on this problem.
But there is a problem here; an individual can't be forced to accept addiction treatment, nor can our medical system continue to absorb the increasing costs of hospitalization for those who continue to use hospital services due to their drug use.
Further, the casual acceptance of drug use is likely a factor in the increasing numbers of individuals finding themselves addicted. How do we prevent this? There will be many, many opinions, but it starts at home for most. In some cases, difficult domestic situations make situations even worse for those who are marginalized. Many issues to address."
Further to your question, I do believe in harm reduction, in appropriate environments (a Hospital or a Clinic environment attached to a Hospital), but not in stand-alone locations near schools or residential areas. I do also feel that when someone has been convicted of a drug related crime, the option of treatment should not be a choice. Part of the restitution/rehabilitation would be or the individual to accept treatment with the hope that they can get their life in order and be free of the chains of addiction. I expect my opinion will anger some.
