“What we need in this city is not just affordable housing, as in housing that’s 80 per cent of market value,” said Strikwerda. “We need social housing that’s geared to income.”
I took a drive downtown yesterday during the day. Homeless are laid down on the concrete sidewalks with blankets. There were some nasty -20C and worse days in Edmonton. The UCP don’t care, neither did EPS under McFee, and I point out the silence from Edmonton Police on the subject.
There are many reasons why people may not go to a shelter even when space is available, such as feeling unsafe due to past experience.
A controversial practice in both Edmonton and Calgary has been to dismantle tents and homeless encampments. Both cities confirmed that policy will continue this winter, citing safety concerns.
“When the city responds to an encampment, we do not simply ‘take it down,’” said a statement from a City of Calgary spokesperson.
“Our teams engage directly with occupants and ensure they are offered safe, warm alternatives before any structure is removed. No encampment is dismantled without providing support and connections to appropriate services and shelter options. The goal is always to reduce harm, prevent exposure to the elements, and create a safer outcome than if someone remained outdoors.”
I appreciate the information here. I just wish to point out if we’re talking about human displacement, Canada and the US can be accused of the same upon its indigenous populations, the practice of slavery, and a history of segregation/apartheid.
If one is highlighting this mechanism/issue to discuss the real costs of industry and economic development, I think it’s a worthy issue. Were there better alternatives to what the European and Western powers ended up doing to others? I certainly hope so.
But if one frames this so called displacement as a moral issue to pretend a better or superior position, then this is delusional. I’d rather defer to the UN Declaration of Human Rights and suggest that the world should aspire to do more.