Homelessness needs a national approach

Kamloops Daily News October 1st - 2012
We Say editorials represent the position of The Daily News and are unsigned. The editorial board of the newspaper includes publisher Tim Shoults, editor Mel Rothenburger, city editor Tracy Gilchrist, news editor Mike Cornell, sports editor Gregg Drinnan, and associate news editors Mark Rogers, Stewart Duncan, Catherine Litt and Dan Spark. 


Ask any doctor or nurse who has spent some time in a hospital emergency department and they’ll tell you a thing or two about the mentally ill and the homeless.

One of the first things they’ll tell you about is the inordinate amount of time spent with people who for one reason or another opt to live on the outer margins of society — and they’ll tell you that many of them are the equivalent of emergency room frequent fliers, people who come back time and again due to real or imagined ailments that are somehow connected to their lives on the street.

They won’t pass judgment, however.

Most are by now resigned to the fact that they’ve pretty much become Ground Zero when it comes to responding to the needs of the homeless when much of the rest of society appears to have thrown in the towel.

But they may provide an opinion or two on the subject of cost and whether taxpayers are getting the best bang for their buck treating a problem as opposed to preventing one.

A study recently released by the Canadian Homelessness Research Network points out that it’s much less expensive to provide a place to live than it is to tend to the aftermath of homelessness.

According to the study’s author, Stephen Gaetz, governments spend more than $4 billion a year dealing with homeless people — money that could be better spent if there was a more unified approach to the problem.

He sites recent research by the Mental Health Commission of Canada that shows by providing support and housing to the chronically homeless, taxpayers can save up to 54 cents on the dollar as opposed to the current patchwork approach that involves various levels of government, social agencies, the private sector and church groups.

What’s needed, Gaetz argues, is a national strategy that would require federal, provincial and municipal governments as well as grassroots aid organizations to work together to address the issue, providing a solution and saving money at the same time.

To be clear, there are a certain number of people who will always be homeless, preferring to look out for themselves on the street no matter what aid is available. But there are those who would benefit from a national program that provides adequate housing for those who want it.
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government should take a lead role in establishing an implementing a nationwide strategy to take people off the streets and keep them out of Canada’s prisons.

For a government bent on trimming costs and ferreting out efficiencies, getting a handle on homelessness seems like a no-brainer. It has the potential to save taxpayer dollars and makes long-term financial sense.