Documenting Homelessness

More rain is translating into more reading for me. Among my reading is the Calgary Herald and I found an article entitled “Blogger on tour to document homelessness” interesting. According to this article the Canadian leg of a tour by Mark Horvath, a blogger and vieographer who is trying to raise awareness about homelessness, is being co-ordinated by the  Calgary Homeless Foundation   Calgary Homeless Foundation in partnership with the Community Action Committee.

This article was interesting to me because, however short it was, I did spend some time homeless in the middle of a Calgary winter, which is documented in the early versions of this blog. I looked at Mark Horvath's website, invisiblepeople.tv and found some interesting pieces. It is unfortunately not surprising to me just how little it takes for good people to go from having a roof over their head to living in the streets or in their car, with no place to call home.

As I looked more into this newspaper story I ended up at the Calgary Homeless Foundation website and the websites of other groups and organizations who are working on Homelessness in Calgary and other areas. All of these groups do go work I am sure, but I can't help but wonder if on some level the cart isn't being put before the horse. Why do I have this criticism? Well it just seems to me that if someone like me, who is quite skilled in finding information and had access to the resources to find this information, was not able to find programs that would help get someone of the street in the middle of winter (see my early blog posts), than how are others finding that information and help. Does there need to be more effort put into getting the information out to the right people rather than documenting the plight of the homeless?

There are many homeless people that are homeless, not because of drug, alcohol, addictions, or mental problems, but simply because some situation resulted in them being out of their home and, despite currently working, they just can not get ahead enough to get another roof over their head for themselves, and in some cases their family as well. I have heard many question how someone who is working without the expenses of housing can't set aside money. The simple fact is that living on the streets, especially during the winter months, can be just as expensive if not more so than living in a home. Without the ability to store and prepare food meals cost more. In foul and inclement weather, when shelters are filled, finding a place to keep dry and warm costs money. A daily income becomes a daily support structure, which means setting aside the money needed to get back into a home is next to impossible.

I don't know if there is a program like this in Calgary, or Alberta, but a simple, easily accessible loan program (low interest or no interest) that can provide the damage deposit and first months rent, to working homeless would probably go a long way to help many get off the streets.