Edward Keenan: There’s money for police and the World Cup. So why did council give the cold shoulder to warming centres?
I want to rant about the approach to dealing with homelessness displayed at this week’s city council meeting, but first, an observation about hockey commentary.
In the end, what they are often implying is that it looks to them like a basically competent goalie needs to be able to stop a puck like the one they’re looking at. Which brings me to the case of this week’s motion before city council that asked that so-called “warming centres” for homeless people be opened every day — and more importantly every night — through the rest of this winter.
Of course, as we heard at length from allies of the mayor who supported a competing motion from Coun. Michael Thompson, it isn’t quite so simple: you need staff to supervise, and there are standards for such buildings, and so on and so forth. But seriously: this is Canada, and it is winter, and there are people with nowhere else to go to get out of the cold and the wet and the wind. They will be out there tonight. And tomorrow. And the day after that.
Yes, the city needs to also build out its longer-term housing strategy, as it is doing. Yes, there is more that could be done to help with life skills and addiction and mental health support to prevent some of the conditions that contribute to homelessness. Yes, the provincial and federal governments provide shamefully little to help out. The bigger issues aren’t simple.
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