GuelphToday received the following letter to the editor from Annika Maldonado:
Homeless people aren't an eyesore, they are people
With the new public use bylaw in effect, there has been a wave of opinions about where homeless people should (or more accurately, SHOULDN'T) go. Too unsightly to be left downtown and now, apparently too unsightly for "family" areas, it feels like the people of Guelph need a reminder. The homeless population isn't an eyesore to be swept away where we can't see it. They are people. They are part of our community, and they have as much right to use our public spaces as anyone else. In fact, they need those spaces more than we do.
At the end of last year, the very last apartment building that offered low-income housing in Downtown Guelph was quietly sold to the highest bidder. The people who lived there were promptly evicted, and (unsurprisingly) were unable to secure other housing because the going rate for an apartment in this city is more than double what most were paying at their former place of residence. A short while after the sale of that building, "Tent City" was set up in the square, and almost no time passed before complaints started flooding in.
"They're scaring away our customers."
Are they scaring them away, or are your customers simply scared? The homeless population in Guelph has never harassed me. They have never intimidated me or tried to scare me away. They sit peacefully by the fountain, interacting with each other, without access to food, or heat, or showers, or clean clothes. The worst thing they will do is ask you for spare change. They are not scaring anybody away. You are simply scared of them.
"But what will I say to my kids if they can see the tents while they walk to school?" Tell them our city, province, and country has failed these people. Tell them they need help, but nobody is there to give it to them. Tell them how very lucky you are to have fresh water and food, and a cozy bed to sleep in.
In some ways I understand the compulsion to look away; it's uncomfortable to see people who are suffering. But that suffering is made worse by the judgment they receive from people who don't even take the time to ask their name.
If you have no change to offer, a smile and a nod is plenty. Eye contact. An acknowledgement. Some sort of sign that says, "I see you, and I wish you well."
I know at least three people who either currently live or have lived in Tent City. One I have known since early childhood, and the other two, I met in junior high and high school respectively. Each suffering from mental health issues, but not wealthy enough to afford the counselling and medication they require, they have struggled for so long that they have burnt through the good will and physical capacity for their friends and family to support them.
Though I can't speak to each of their struggles, I know two of the three well enough to know they received formal diagnoses when they were young adults. One diagnosed with severe OCD, one diagnosed with schizophrenia, each of them are beautiful humans who are labouring under a mountain of inner turmoil and strife.
My friends, who I will not name out of respect for them and their loved ones, are much more than you see.
These people and many others that I do not know--with lives and loved ones and hopes and talents--are the people that you are trying to hide from. These are the people you fear. Even if you do not want to see them.
They are human; they are worthy of care. They are worthy of consideration. They are worthy of public space.
Let me be clear, I don't think that "Tent City" should stay where it is. The people living in tents everywhere in this city need affordable housing near the facilities that provide whatever (increasingly sparse) support is available to them. These issues are real, and they need to be dealt with, but that is a subject for a different piece.
We have an opportunity here to be a community that supports those of us who are struggling. At the very least, we can start by treating the homeless population with the same amount of basic respect that we would give anybody else.
Annika Maldonado
Guelph
