Count Your Blessings

fr3orb: 13th Mar 2006 - 04:11 GMT

on one side, my smart ass wants to say, "why don't they just get a job", on the other side, I'm all, what the hell? why do we let this kind of thing go on?

jeff: 13th Mar 2006 - 06:44 GMT

On one side, I want to say, why are you so god damn ignorant. On the other side, I want too say, have you had a personal experience with someone who suffers from alcoholism/ self-defeatism as a result of loosing everything, including a prosperous life they might have had prior. 'We' let this go on because people like you speak out with such a pessimistic intuitive response. Do something, or think before you post such a response.

olha: 13th Mar 2006 - 15:01 GMT

unfortunately jeff, too many people don't know these things, and even the social system abandons them, because ignorant people work as 'social workers'. it's going to get even worse with a conservative leader...

Elicar: 13th Mar 2006 - 17:44 GMT

www.nupge.ca/news_2006/n17ja06a.htm

"However, the most striking point about homelessness is the misconception that people “choose” to be homeless. This is heard all the time; people saying that the “street people” make the choice to be homeless. It is something I do not believe. The people we work with didn’t grow up dreaming “Wow, someday, I hope I sleep on a park bench and pan handle each day”. True some people choose to sleep outside versus stay in shelters where they may be at risk of theft or assault. Many people have become very hesitant to accept help; most people have poor experiences with the “system” and find it very difficult to trust others, particularly mental health professionals! However, when you offer these people the opportunity to have their own place, they will take it. They would choose to be housed if the option was there."

olha: 13th Mar 2006 - 18:20 GMT

lack of trust and motivation are definitely on the top of the list of the homeless people's mental problems.
http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/01/homeless.html
here is, i think, a bit of inside info on the mentality of homless people.

jack: 14th Mar 2006 - 17:13 GMT

i worked in manhattan from 1960 till 1978 and then on the island. in 87 i went back to manhattan to work down on maiden lane and what to my unbelieveing eyes did i see but homeless men begging on the corners. i was shocked because i had not been in the city for awhile and then to see beggars. there never were beggars in the 60's but things changed. then i saw a man and women fixing their bed on the sidewalk by port authority and i was amazed at the way they fixed their bed and neatly placed the blankets on themselves as if they were in their bedroom and then i realized, they were. we are back in the middle ages. the city is not addressing this matter in the right manner. these people need our help. but who, really, wants to bring these people home with themselves. you would think that with all the empty buildings in the city that we could change them into small apartments and rooms for the homeless. that we could set up a food room for them in these buildings and have some of them work as security for the others. we should stop tearing down good solid buildings and get the army corps of engineers to transform them into free living space for these people.

S: 14th Mar 2006 - 23:59 GMT

Toronto has a real problem on their hands with the homeless. They've dumped loads of money into the situation and it never seems to get any better.

I can't remember the exact numbers, but there was a documentry on Television recently which claimed the "majority" of the homeless people in Toronto were actually from other parts of this country. Very few of them were born and raised in Toronto. So why exactly do they choose Toronto?.

jeeff: 15th Mar 2006 - 15:29 GMT

s: sure toronto may have thrown a few dollars at the homeless problem, but toronto is cash-strapped and will near the point of bankruptcy if this "new deal for cities" doesn't pan out. the real problem with homelessness is that the federal gov't and particularly the province of ontario have both completely gotten out of social housing. not to mention the province shutting down a large number of mental hospitals and setting all the patients loose. this is all a legacy of mike harris in 1997. but the current provincial gov't also hasn't done much to fix it.

Elicar: 16th Mar 2006 - 03:35 GMT

My friend just received an offer to his house. They are closing May 12. His house is at Gerrard and Coxwell, was built in the 1920's, a three bedroom very small semi-detached (I believe that's duplex at the south of the border)at 1200 sq. ft., with knob and tube electical wiring, oil heater, only one bathroom with unfinished basement. He bought it in 2001 for $206,000. The only real upgrade he did was to partially renovate the kitchen.

He had it listed for $349,000 and he accepted an offer for $320,000. That's obscene. especially for a house not fully modernized. (The owners to be could only get a one month insurance because of the knob and tube wiring. Full electical wiring could cost up to $12,000)

Make your calculation, folks. Even with a 25% downpayment (who has that money anyway, especially if you add the closing costs?), the mortgage and taxes will be at around $1800-$2000 a month. Add the utilities and you are looking at an approximate of $2,500 a month. That's the cost of housing alone.

And this situation is not exclusive to Toronto. It happens in every city in North America at varying degrees.

S: 16th Mar 2006 - 03:58 GMT

Elicar, if you think those prices outrageous check out some of the prices in other parts of the city. I have a family member living in the Annex. He bought the house 25 years ago for pennies. Now it's worth at least a million bucks simply because of it's location (taxes are also WAY up too). There's nothing special about the building itself. There's hardly any space for parking, it's poorly insulated, and it's pretty much falling apart.

Even the homes in Scarborough are jumping in value. There's 3-4 homes on Galloway (Kingston Rd & Lawrence area) that are valued at almost a million bucks!. You sure wouldn't be able to tell that by their appearance. The Fallingbrook area is another great example (Kingston Rd & Victoria Park area). I can't believe people would actually pay nearly a million bucks for some of these places. You could buy a larger home outside the city for a fraction of the price.

Elicar: 16th Mar 2006 - 04:28 GMT

That's wxactly my point S. It's not even in the best area!

torontofreelance: 19th Mar 2006 - 05:03 GMT

The poverty problem has become an industry. On an annual basis they spend over 600 million dollars on the issue. Instead of paying groups, consultants, etc. build housing. But if that happenend and the homeless had a place to live, there would be a lot of people out of work. The sad fact is people make a living of the backs of the homeless.