Drugs and Homelessness

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.

This problem also seems to be getting worse. I'll address the drug side with our police force and look into what resources are available for the homeless situation.

I had previously answered a similar question twice. My answers are above. Thank you for the important question and please reach out for any further clarification.

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.

Once we figure out why our number is increasing we can perhaps curtail that and work with the county to come up with a plan. Part of this plan would be looking at other communities that have had success and seeing if we can apply that to our situation. I'm part of a committee that meets every two months. This is front of mind. By listening to the experts, comparing our situation with other communities, and being willilng to take action, we will hopefully come up with a solution for all.

This is an urgent concern. I am working on being better informed so I do not have a plan at the moment.