Homelessmess: Now Whose Fault is That?

Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor

My Title Homeless"mess": Now Whose Fault is That? is more than appropriate as I place the Majority of the Blame on the Homeless themselves.  Why?  Well considering for the most part, I will list the following types of Homeless I have dealt with, including the DTES:

Transient Homeless
The Transient Homeless are from parts unknown from all across Canada, many who have exhausted their Welfare and Unemployment Benefits in their Home Province and travel from Province to Province from City to City in their quest to make a career out of collecting them, once exhausting their welcome and generous Welfare and Unemployment benefits they move on to the next province of Milk and Honey with a final stop to Vancouver, a favoured residence for many since the Free Wheeling, Hippy, Peace and Love of the 1960s.  I know of all this Fact, even as a young child in Quebec, places such as Unemployment Beach, now called Wrecked Beach. Most of these "The World owes me a Living" types trash their homes on a scale you would not believe and then go crying to the media that the landlord is a slumlord because he refuses to put more money into his housing, that is being constantly destroyed by them who live like pigs.

Job Seeking Homeless
 Many Homeless interviewed state they are not originally from the province in which they currently reside, most of them have been in their chosen city for close to a year, all on the premise of finding work.  They say no one is hiring, certainly contradicts places like Labour Ready and Government Stats, which say Canada has a severe shortage of Labour.  Immigrants to this country certainly have no problem finding work, even those who cannot speak english, seem to get by.

My answer is this, if after a year you haven't found a job, then move back to your own hometown, and stop sucking off the taxpayers teats, cause seriously you have not looked very hard. 

Besides, the smart thing to do is not pack up the family and move to another province without first having a job in your destined province before you leave. That smacks of complete and utter idiocy and you should not be allowed to breed.

First Nations Homeless
First Nations members who are homeless on the streets of major cities state they left their First Nations community because of lack of housing.  Well let me give you the facts here after having lived and worked the First Nations Admin offices.   First Nations take care of their own first and foremost.  If a First Nations Community member is Homeless once leave the their Reserve (We dont like the term Reserve, preferring Community) , it is more likely they refuse to abide by the Communities Rules and Bylaws, such as NO Drugs, No Alcohol, No Stealing, No Fighting, No Wrecking your Home etc.   First Nations work damn hard in trying to rehabilitate their own, those who refuse are basically on their own.  Most leave because they want to live in the city, free from First Nations restrictions.

Young Kids Homeless
A lot of young kids, move to Vancouver for the mild weather and easy life, most hjave exhausted their welfare and unemployment benefits from other cities elsewhere.
You would not believe how many Teens are not even from Vancouver, thousands of them. Very few of these teens are from British Columbia.

If Teens fleeing child or sexual abuse certainly need help and housing, once housed, they are to be placed in programs, they also have to find work, those who  do not, do not elicit sympathy from me, the ones I have dealt with say their abuse was more not conforming to parents house rules or they decided panhandling and partying was a fun way to live from day to day.  If they have cigarettes, expensive fishing tackle stuck all over their face, and expensive tattoos, Some with Purebred Dogs, or with Kittens trying to scam the sympathy ploy, of saying God Bless (What a friggin Scam) and of course a lot of them wearing Doc Marten boots costing ($300.00) and are more then fit and able, then they certainly have lots of money for all the above and the ability to find work and housing should not be a problem, when stats say most panhandlers make anywhere from $80.00 to $200.00 dollars a day depending on the location and scam they use.  Plus with Free Soup Kitchens, well they are living "La Vida Loca".  So you see their problem is them, hence they choose not to work, but far from poor when begging is so lucrative.

Hence I have no sympathy. Most of these Kids fall under the  "The World owes me a Living" type who party and  trash their homes on a scale you would not believe and then go crying to the media that the landlord is a slumlord because he refuses to put more money into his housing, that is being constantly destroyed by them who live like pigs.

Drug and Alcohol Addicts Homeless
Yeah, well I didn't shove a needle into your arm, or jam a friggin bottle down your gullet, Governments have spent millions in programs and advertisements warning you about all this, you chose to ignore it.

The more housing you give these people, the more Drug Addicts and others will flock to these cities that offer an easy life.  Most addicts trash their homes on a scale you would not believe and then go crying to the media that the landlord is a slumlord because he refuses to put more money into his housing, that is being constantly destroyed by addicts who live like pigs.

There are programs for rehabilitation, those who refuse to follow in ending their addiction, I have no sympathy for.  

Elderly and Mentally Ill Homeless
Working Families who are working from paycheque to paycheque.

This is what Housing is for, for them, everyone else above are taking housing meant for the truly needy. To me that is a travesty that must end.

 On another note, Parents with one or two kids is fine, I am a strong advocate for Free daycare,  if you choose to have anymore children than you can afford, then you are the inventor of your own environment and elicit no sympathy from me.

Once you tally only those deserving of housing, you will find that in Canada,  Vancouver and the Lower mainland alone that the numbers are far lower than the figures in total of the homeless who are not deserving, and who take advantage of the system.  One solution is to pare housing with a persons annual salary and make it reasonable for those to live in dignity.

After all isn't this what Canada is all about?

My Final Thought
Many here will not agree with my assessment, most likely they have not got off their asses and worked in this environment, certainly there are some exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, this is pretty much a factual occurence happening all over this country.  Will Politicians call a spade a spade in saying what I have just stated in my Opinion piece?  Not if they wish to get re-elected, they won't. As for Poverty advocates for the Homeless, well they have their own agenda now don't they? My solution for them is go back to school, get a trade, then get a job and quit whining and using your lack of education and drive as an excuse for your predicament.

Oh yeah, by the way, I was a single dad raising three kids alone, no mother around, I was dad and mom to them, raising them alone from the tender age of 8, 13, 16 all went to University, except the youngest who still lives at home, One daughter a Nurse, one a policewoman, my youngest in the Reserves and studying for his Police exams. Raising my Kids was hard, I worked two jobs, raised great kids, and never once took a dime I didn't work for.  My Kids were brought up the same. No exceptions.

Just in case those bleeding hearts on here, who feel I haven't walked a mile in difficult times, I have walked thousands.