25959 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

i wonder if the increase in homelessness has much to do with the increase in welfare rates in 2017.  at that time most recipients received roughly a 33% increase (+$100) in the non-shelter portion of their take-home pay.  that might well have been an incentive not to work.  couple with that in increase in our place hours and days of service (increased hours and days availability of free food). 

[rmpeers]

Not quite sure what the story is, in terms of why Pacifica plans to give these people the boot. The rationale that the building is "not conducive" to the residents' needs seems a little vague. Agree with Jeremy L on this.

Also, I fondly remember one of the interviewed residents, Ted, as the guy who would tell you a joke in exchange for some spare change.

https://www.cheknews...housing-617427/

[Victoria Watcher]

san fran:

 

 

 

For the last three decades, San Francisco has conducted a real-life experiment in what happens when a society stops enforcing bourgeois norms of behavior. The city has done so in the name of compassion toward the homeless. The results have been the opposite: street squalor and misery have increased, even as government expenditures have ballooned. Yet the principles that have guided the city’s homelessness policy remain inviolate: homelessness is a housing problem; it is involuntary; and its persistence is the result of inadequate public spending. These propositions are readily disproved by talking to people living on the streets.

Shaku’s assessment of drug use among the homeless is widely shared. Asked if she does drugs, a formerly homeless woman, just placed in a city-subsidized single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotel, responds incredulously: “Is that a trick question?” A 33-year-old woman from Alabama, who now lives in a tent in an industrial area outside downtown, says: “Everyone out here has done something—drugs, you name it.” On Sutter Avenue, a wizened 50-year-old named Jeff slumps over his coffee cup at 7:30 AM, one hand holding a sweet roll, the other playing with his beard. A half-eaten muffin sits next to him on a filthy blanket. “I use drugs, alcohol, all of it,” he tells me, his eyes closed, as a pair of smiling German tourists deposit a peach on his blanket. Last night it was speed, he says, which has left him just a “little bit high” this morning. “The whole Tenderloin is for drugs,” Jeff observes, before nodding off again.

An inadequate supply of affordable housing is not the first thing that comes to mind when conversing with San Francisco’s street denizens. Their behavioral problems—above all, addiction and mental illness—are too obvious. Forty-two percent of respondents in the city’s 2019 street poll of the homeless reported chronic drug or alcohol use; the actual percentage is likely higher. The city relentlessly sends the message that drug use is not only acceptable but fully expected. Users dig for veins in plain view on the sidewalk; health authorities distribute more than 4.5 million syringes a year, along with Vitamin C to dissolve heroin and crack, alcohol swabs, and instructions on how to best tie one’s arm for a “hit.” Needle disposal boxes have been erected outside the city’s public toilets, signaling to children that drug use is a normal part of adult life. Only 60 percent of the city’s free needles get returned; many of the rest litter the sidewalks and streets or are flushed down toilets.

 

 

https://www.city-jou...FHDib5E.twitter

[Victoria Watcher]

youtube video today:   https://youtu.be/C2wIYhk-m9Y

 

 

 

What happens when you double the deposits on cans

 

Someone inside the (Our Place bottle/can) donation box, stealing from it. Stay classy Victoria.

 

 

outside the dominion rocket liquor store looks like.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 November 2019 - 01:09 PM.

[Rob Randall]

“A lot of people we deal with don’t like any rules or rigidity and unfortunately they can put themselves at risk for a few dollars,” says McKenzie.

 

 

https://www.saanichn...bYS7YlUmmP2sAYA

 

Nobody likes rules.

[Nparker]

...Nobody likes rules.

You've clearly never met a grammar nazi.

[Victoria Watcher]

The donation bin has two ways of getting inside, according to a Bottle Depot spokesperson, through the shoot where the bottles go in and a door on the other side that is kept locked shut.

 

It is unclear how the person got inside the bin.

 

 

 

how do we even know that was a person in there?  

 

 

 

The user who posted the video points out that empty can deposits, which doubled for all non-alcoholic beverage containers starting on Nov. 1, may be to blame for the dangerous move.

 

Grant McKenzie, communications manager with Our Place, says he doesn’t believe that’s the case at all.

 

“For a lot of people collecting cans, it’s their income and the doubling of the return will hopefully help them more,” he says. “But it would make no difference when people are this desperate to pay their rent or to get food – it doesn’t really matter.”

 

 

 

no reason to be all defensive grant.  it was just a valid suggestion.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 November 2019 - 04:09 PM.

[Rob Randall]

It's not a huge leap from defending someone taking things from a donation bin to defending shoplifting.

[Victoria Watcher]

“But it would make no difference when people are this desperate to pay their rent or to get food – it doesn’t really matter.”

 

 

 

how much you want to bet that entity in there neither pays rent nor buys food.  i suspect us taxpayers provide both.

[AllseeingEye]

The sad state and plight of the street element was on full display yet again this morning as I went out for a stroll on a coffee break; our office is on mid-block Yates and what I encountered at the corner of View and Blanshard of all places really illustrated and drove home for me just how_bad things are getting.

 

Everyone knows about the s*** show on Pandora, and that Centennial Square can be pretty dodgy at night or weekends but at View/Vancouver today I saw a middle-aged woman lying prone in a sleeping bag right on the edge of the curb; if she'd rolled even 3-4" to her right she would've landed smack onto Blanshard and in the line of traffic. In her right hand she had a lit butt, her left was holding out a baseball cap for 'spare change' and there was a needle perched on her chest.

 

Directly across the crosswalk on the other side of View were two more guys, one in a sleeping bag the other under a makeshift blanket, both reeked of booze and one had puked all over the sidewalk in front of a small business. Wandering in a zombie-like state near them was yet another guy who I've seen in the area many times recently; he's about 6'5" and his clothes are little more than rags and practically falling off his body.

 

He 'quick times' drags off whatever cigarette butt he can scavenge off the street, repeatedly sucking on them literally every 2-3 seconds, all the while wandering aimlessly into traffic and against red light and Do Not Walk signs. When he's not doing that he seems to content himself with scaring the hell mostly out of women pedestrians by approaching them for money, cigarettes, or both. I'm 6' and 280 pounds and my spidey sense is always on whenever I see this person. I can't imagine what women or especially older people are thinking when he gets in their face....

 

It seems downtown homelessness is deteriorating literally before our eyes; Pandora, Johnson, Yates and now further south to Fort Street are all crawling with beggars, homeless, sick and in some cases violent people.

 

Rather than turning homelessness into a cottage industry - which appears to the 'strategy' of the local Left - I suggest the city make it an urgent priority to forget about suing Big Oil companies or writing letters to Vladimir Putin on behalf of Russian LGBT people, and instead make it Priority One to engage with senior government(s) in order to secure some sort of funding assistance for treatment including housing - and by the latter I don't mean in the conventional sense, I mean institutional housing with medical and security staff and where if necessary these poor souls are physically restrained and weaned completely off the drugs that are destroying their lives. This 'enablement' strategy nonsense has got to stop because it is failing - and its failing big time.

[phx]

This 'enablement' strategy nonsense has got to stop because it is failing - and its failing big time.

 

It's tempting to think that the city is about as low is it can get, but I'm not sure there is a limit.

 

Dystopia isn't just the stuff of fiction anymore.

 

[rmpeers]

The sad state and plight of the street element was on full display yet again this morning as I went out for a stroll on a coffee break; our office is on mid-block Yates and what I encountered at the corner of View and Blanshard of all places really illustrated and drove home for me just how_bad things are getting.

Everyone knows about the s*** show on Pandora, and that Centennial Square can be pretty dodgy at night or weekends but at View/Vancouver today I saw a middle-aged woman lying prone in a sleeping bag right on the edge of the curb; if she'd rolled even 3-4" to her right she would've landed smack onto Blanshard and in the line of traffic. In her right hand she had a lit butt, her left was holding out a baseball cap for 'spare change' and there was a needle perched on her chest.

Directly across the crosswalk on the other side of View were two more guys, one in a sleeping bag the other under a makeshift blanket, both reeked of booze and one had puked all over the sidewalk in front of a small business. Wandering in a zombie-like state near them was yet another guy who I've seen in the area many times recently; he's about 6'5" and his clothes are little more than rags and practically falling off his body.

He 'quick times' drags off whatever cigarette butt he can scavenge off the street, repeatedly sucking on them literally every 2-3 seconds, all the while wandering aimlessly into traffic and against red light and Do Not Walk signs. When he's not doing that he seems to content himself with scaring the hell mostly out of women pedestrians by approaching them for money, cigarettes, or both. I'm 6' and 280 pounds and my spidey sense is always on whenever I see this person. I can't imagine what women or especially older people are thinking when he gets in their face....

It seems downtown homelessness is deteriorating literally before our eyes; Pandora, Johnson, Yates and now further south to Fort Street are all crawling with beggars, homeless, sick and in some cases violent people.

Rather than turning homelessness into a cottage industry - which appears to the 'strategy' of the local Left - I suggest the city make it an urgent priority to forget about suing Big Oil companies or writing letters to Vladimir Putin on behalf of Russian LGBT people, and instead make it Priority One to engage with senior government(s) in order to secure some sort of funding assistance for treatment including housing - and by the latter I don't mean in the conventional sense, I mean institutional housing with medical and security staff and where if necessary these poor souls are physically restrained and weaned completely off the drugs that are destroying their lives. This 'enablement' strategy nonsense has got to stop because it is failing - and its failing big time.

It's not working. That's obvious to anyone who spends any amount of time downtown. And it's not working for the street people either. What a tragic existence, in part because a bunch of "activists" and politicians decided it would be a great idea to cram as many people as possible with addictions and mental health challenges into one small urban area. And then make sure drug dealers are able to run amok and ply their trade unhindered by law enforcement. Brilliant.

[Midnightly]

The sad state and plight of the street element was on full display yet again this morning as I went out for a stroll on a coffee break; our office is on mid-block Yates and what I encountered at the corner of View and Blanshard of all places really illustrated and drove home for me just how_bad things are getting.

 

Everyone knows about the s*** show on Pandora, and that Centennial Square can be pretty dodgy at night or weekends but at View/Vancouver today I saw a middle-aged woman lying prone in a sleeping bag right on the edge of the curb; if she'd rolled even 3-4" to her right she would've landed smack onto Blanshard and in the line of traffic. In her right hand she had a lit butt, her left was holding out a baseball cap for 'spare change' and there was a needle perched on her chest.

 

Directly across the crosswalk on the other side of View were two more guys, one in a sleeping bag the other under a makeshift blanket, both reeked of booze and one had puked all over the sidewalk in front of a small business. Wandering in a zombie-like state near them was yet another guy who I've seen in the area many times recently; he's about 6'5" and his clothes are little more than rags and practically falling off his body.

 

He 'quick times' drags off whatever cigarette butt he can scavenge off the street, repeatedly sucking on them literally every 2-3 seconds, all the while wandering aimlessly into traffic and against red light and Do Not Walk signs. When he's not doing that he seems to content himself with scaring the hell mostly out of women pedestrians by approaching them for money, cigarettes, or both. I'm 6' and 280 pounds and my spidey sense is always on whenever I see this person. I can't imagine what women or especially older people are thinking when he gets in their face....

 

It seems downtown homelessness is deteriorating literally before our eyes; Pandora, Johnson, Yates and now further south to Fort Street are all crawling with beggars, homeless, sick and in some cases violent people.

 

Rather than turning homelessness into a cottage industry - which appears to the 'strategy' of the local Left - I suggest the city make it an urgent priority to forget about suing Big Oil companies or writing letters to Vladimir Putin on behalf of Russian LGBT people, and instead make it Priority One to engage with senior government(s) in order to secure some sort of funding assistance for treatment including housing - and by the latter I don't mean in the conventional sense, I mean institutional housing with medical and security staff and where if necessary these poor souls are physically restrained and weaned completely off the drugs that are destroying their lives. This 'enablement' strategy nonsense has got to stop because it is failing - and its failing big time.

 

 

i almost think it's time to start taking pictures of this every time it's seen and post it on the city's facebook page and twitter page.. maybe just maybe it would get them to open their eyes when it is consistently infront of them (like a few yrs back when there was open drug deals happening on city sidewalks and it took a person videoing them and posting online for the police/city to finally step up)  maybe a bit of shame will get the city to step up and see the current plan isn't working (not likely but we can hope!)

[Victoria Watcher]

what’s the new plan if they agree this one is not working? there is none so why bother? look at downtown east side. no change in 20 years.

[A Girl is No one]

I would say “no improvement”, as word on the street is that it has gotten much worse, much more violent and unsafe.

Edited by A Girl is No one, 10 November 2019 - 08:48 AM.

[VIResident]

Have friends who moved out of beautiful new condo in general area at end of Oct. couldn't stand what they saw every single day.  Not that they didn't care, they did care and that was the problem, they didn't have enough personal resources to be able to care more.  No these were not Senior's these were 30 somethings, singles.  Can't imagine what buyers must think when they are viewing 'for sale' - what is going through their heads when they are considering moving into the area?

[rmpeers]

I would say “no improvement”, as word on the street is that it has gotten much worse, much more violent and unsafe.

Suspect the attitude of local govt officials is, "as long as it doesn't affect me, who cares if other people don't feel safe walking home etc."

It can only get worst when Ben becomes chancellor 2 years from now.

[LJ]

Have friends who moved out of beautiful new condo in general area at end of Oct. couldn't stand what they saw every single day.  Not that they didn't care, they did care and that was the problem, they didn't have enough personal resources to be able to care more.  No these were not Senior's these were 30 somethings, singles.  Can't imagine what buyers must think when they are viewing 'for sale' - what is going through their heads when they are considering moving into the area?

The COV is counting on this as part of their affordable housing strategy.

[LJ]

At the intersection of two fairly main roads there is "homeless" person sitting on his ass holding up a sign saying "homeless  please help"

 

Not twenty yards away from him on another median is a guy spinning a sign advertising a housing development making xx dollars an hour.

 

You would think the homeless guy would go, "hey I'm sitting here anyway I could make some money by doing a little work," but in reality he is probably thinking "jeez, look at that guy over there working for chump change."

[spanky123]

^ In fact the guy is probably thinking that he could work for $15 an hour but then he wouldn't get free food, a free place to live, free medical and dental, free massages, and free haircuts so it makes far more sense for him to sit on his butt and do nothing. The guy with the sign is probably thinking that he can't wait until the socialists implement a guaranteed minimum wage and then he won't have to wave a silly sign.

 

You can travel the world and you would be very hard pressed to find too many places outside of Canada (and to a lesser extent the US) where fully able young people just sit around all day with their hands out asking for money. 

Edited by spanky123, 11 November 2019 - 03:18 PM.