I just wanted to relay some thoughts to the homelessness crisis currently affecting our city.
I do understand the situation is dynamic and involves many people working hard to improve living conditions amongst our homeless. While people seem to understand the need for access to housing and are working hard, I do feel that service delivery needs to challenge itself in order to overcome needs. My thoughts are not so much a critique but a challenging suggestion that may be helpful.
The majority of services provided occur during regular working hours generally. Unfortunately, many of the people needing services require them on a 24-hour basis. The homeless community is vibrant and does not just stop at 5 p.m. when the bureaucracy involved goes home.
During a visit several months ago for a medical emergency at University Hospital, it was evident to me that many people in there were not there for medical reasons. They were there looking for services that were unavailable during those hours. Many of these people overwhelm our medical, police and emergency service, which affects the financial bottom line of the taxpayer and the ability of these places to properly exact their mandated responsibilities. We have no after-hour services to assist a community that is quite active after hours.
Perhaps the appetite is not there amongst the agencies involved to be involved. I don't know. It does surprise that with all of the agencies and levels of government involved this hasn't been discussed as a possible remedy. Not to fix everything completely but make things manageable to those working hard during the days. Perhaps referral services being included for the daytime agencies with specialized expertise.
Of course, this could not occur without financial commitments and identifying individuals willing to be involved off hours. Batons for bylaw enforcement officers and temporary shelters are but stop gap measures. We must be willing to think globally and outside of the box which would involve innovative ideas. Maybe this is happening but I'm not seeing it nor hearing of it.
We need to be innovative. As the saying goes if you can't bring Mohammed to the mountain maybe we need to bring the mountain to Mohammed.
Harley Desjarlais
Prince George
