Affordable housing activists everywhere are faced with an exasperating truth: only they, as well as people experiencing homelessness, understand that harassment solves no problems. Predictable cause and effect works only if you are rich with options. For example, knock down a tent belonging to someone who is homeless and throw it in the garbage. A logical assumption would be that the person is now forced to move somewhere else. But for some reason, they don’t.
Install a toilet for people who are homeless to use. Now remove it. A logical assumption would be that they are now forced to shit somewhere else.
Spare a moment to dig a little deeper here. Like . . . where else? Don’t waste your time imagining all the possible options. A local coffee shop with friendly management? Ha! That should nicely express virtually every possible unlikely option for the homeless.
When it comes to shitting, humans in general are not rich with options. When you gotta go, you gotta go. How about where that nice clean portable toilet was recently sitting, but now has been removed? Sounds good. Let’s shit there.
When it comes to people who are homeless, they are not rich in any of a range of possible options to achieve almost anything that better-off citizenry and their government believe will make them vanish. It is particularly difficult when a community continuously removes resources instead of adding them. Nailing one foot to the floor doesn’t work? Then why not nail the other one, too?
And so a recent battle between housing activists and local government in Regina, Saskatchewan nicely sums up the scope of a problem playing out worldwide. Activists and local government need to work together to add resources to support the homeless, not remove them, at least until the human right to adequate housing shows some meaningful progress. Read more at CTV News: Regina toilets for homeless removed because they didn’t have permits, city says
