Let me invite you to our town.
As a visitor coming to our community you would see, our town is just like any number of communities in Ontario.
Situated on the shores of one of the great lakes, we have nice beaches, amazing sunsets, swimming, fishing, museums, a library, and other attractions. Our sporting events are entertaining and well-attended at all levels; we have schools and a good college, people come here to work, to play, and to be entertained. We have a police department, a fire department, and a regional hospital.
There is real wealth here, unemployment is less than five percent, and many find it a desirable place to live and even for vacations.
That’s all I used to see too.
Look closer.
What do you see?
One in seven of us don’t have enough food to eat. Many of them are spending more than 80% of their income on housing.
Come with me and let’s take a walk together.
Let’s look in the corners, let’s take a walk deeper into the town, away from the harbor and the touristy things. We might see a lineup at a repurposed building downtown, each month more than 10,000 meals are provided to children, adults, and seniors. You might ask who they are; they are families, single parents, and people you would not expect. Some are homeless, some are on government assistance, some have a mental illness, some are seniors, some are working at minimum wage, and others are friends and strangers who could be you. People who never thought they would ever need this kind of help. They are the visible ones; national statistics show that they are part of the one in four people who seek help from food banks. The other 75% who need help struggle alone and might as well be invisible.
Look closer.
What do you see?
More of us than you would think have to decide on whether to eat or pay the rent. Housing prices have increased by more than 50% in two years and there is a five-year wait for geared-to-income housing. You have heard some municipal leaders say our current generation of seniors is the wealthiest in Canadian history, which generally is true. The reality is many of our seniors are falling through the gaps. Even more seniors will be threatened by an approaching hidden wave that will also impact farmers and what was once called the “middle-class.”
You ask, “What could threaten the prosperity that comes with rising property values?”
Rising housing values is creating wealth that exists on paper but not in wallets. Those rising prices will be followed by a corresponding increase in property taxes as market value assessment catches up. The lack of affordable and safe housing not only contributes to food insecurity, but soon, those “on-paper” wealthy seniors living on fixed incomes may not be able to afford to pay their property tax as it doubles to reflect the “new” market pricing. Our town’s lack of mixed density housing doesn’t give seniors anywhere to “down-size” to because developers have no incentive to build smaller homes and apartments.
Let’s keep walking.
Look closer.
What do you see?
A park. Donated by one of the town’s families, it is beautiful. A river cuts through it, there are trees, hills, and playground equipment. By the way, don’t take off your shoes. It’s better than it was, but you can never be too careful. It is very possible you could see a used syringe. A local initiative now offers a gift card for groceries in return for containers of used needles. In the first 6 months of 2021, more than 38,000 “sharps” were removed from our town, many by some of those people suffering from substance use.
You thought drugs were only a problem in the big cities.
Let’s keep walking.
What do you see?
The opiate problem has killed more people in our community than covid-19, but most in our community are either blind to the problem or unaware of the issue. Local law enforcement does a good job enforcing our current laws. Leaders need to ask themselves, “Why do we have police dealing a public health issue? Many of the people suffering from substance issues need help not the threat of being arrested. Each time “accessible” drugs are removed from the street, those suffering from drug addictions have to seek increasingly dangerous sources of supply, victimizing those people even more. Imagine how our “law and order” zealots, some of whom have fought against community gardens, would react if we had safe injection sites and/or a prescribed safe drug supply to really make a difference in harm reduction. Yet to really solve the problem, virtually every expert says that is exactly what is necessary.
Let’s keep walking; we’ll head back by taking a shortcut down this alley.
Look closer.
What do you see?
In the early morning hours or late at night, look for feet sticking out of a blanket or sleeping bag, or a lean-to made from cardboard. On any given night, you might see the more vulnerable people and families of our community trying to shelter where they can. Runaways, migrants, seniors, families, people with mental illness, diagnosed or not. For these people summer is difficult, winter is almost impossible.
Some in our community want this problem “cleaned up,” they call it a “disgrace.” Barricades are built to protect investments but the underlying causes of poverty and the chronic lack of affordable and safe housing seem too expensive and take too long to build. Many say those people suffering from homelessness or precarious housing, just need to get a job. “How do you go for a job interview when you suffer from mental or physical limitations or live in a doorway in an alley?”
You say to hurry because you need to use a public washroom.
“Sorry, there aren’t any.” You ask, “What about the people suffering from homelessness, where do they go?” I shrug.
We keep walking; we emerge back onto Main Street.
Keep looking.
What do you see?
An election sign. A closed business and government office. Cutbacks, downsizing, the drive for efficiencies, false promises, and the demands for innovation have all played a role. Years of government’s “cutting the fat” or striving for “zero percent”, tax increases have left organizations and charities juggling very limited resources to patch the holes. Governments shuffle the same money from one program to another as the problems increase in size and severity. Allowing for inflation is unheard of. Too many voters live in blissful ignorance about the social costs. It has taken decades of cuts and ignorance to get here and the cost of really fixing the problems is something nobody wants to see.
Support for the charities is handicapped by the misplaced view of many donors that administrative costs are somehow a sign that the organization is mismanaged. Imagine a private sector business listed on the stock market penalized for spending money on their executives or infrastructure. Why are charities different?
We walk back to where we started.
What do you see?
The sun is shining. Someone is playing with their dog. An expensive boat passes on its way out of the harbor.
Ours is just one small town. Our problems are real and getting worse. People care but they don’t see. While our communities appear wealthy and many people seem to be enjoying an enviable high standard of living, an increasing number of us are not.
What did you learn while walking through our community? What difference can you make? You are one person, it’s too big for you to solve. Becoming aware is the first step and making more people aware is the next, making more people aware and our leaders as well will make a difference.
We just need to make sure that once we see; that we don’t unsee.
Paul.