Bungled response on shelters undermines search for solution to homelessness, editorial, Jan. 23

This editorial misses some important issues and misleads.

First, it suggests that the shelter crisis is simply one of heightened attention due to the cold weather. Not true. The situation has been so bad for several years that what was once one or two warming centres that would open for overnight hours morphed into 24-hour centres. That morphed into sites opening for the duration of the entire winter. In addition, two 24-hour drop-ins now sleep women (on floors and chairs) because that shelter system has been at 99-100 per cent capacity for years.

Last year, the 24-hour warming centres got ironically renamed as ‘respite’ sites and, in an unprecedented development, did not close come spring. They were forced to expand and remain open through the spring, summer and fall.

A year later, after the rocky fight to get the armoury open, there are now nine 24-hour respite sites. Why? Because homelessness numbers are exploding.

There are now on average 950 to 1,050 people unable to get into the real shelter system, so they are forced to resort to overnight drop-ins, respites and the volunteer based Out of the Cold program. Respites are now a permanent and second-tier shelter system, evidenced by the secret film footage released this week by activists showing conditions akin to shelters thrown open after a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina.

Yes, the city did some planning. Yes, they also bungled it.

Secondly, the Star is 100 per cent wrong that declaring an emergency would not make a difference. This is a social welfare disaster. The city’s emergency planning program committee could act, they could leverage resources from other city departments, they could expropriate properties, they could allocate city buildings for shelter, they could ask for help from the Red Cross, and most importantly they would have the authority to officially ask for resources from the province under the Emergency Response and Civil Protection Act.

The mayor and city council should say “we need help.”