Homelessness is more visible than ever in mid-size communities like Guelph, Cambridge and Brantford.
Tents are popping up more and more in public spaces, and rules around encampments are frequently becoming part of policy discussions.
So what can we do about it?
Open communication, compassion, and a listening ear can go a long way.
That was the message of local experts and a new documentary Bridging Divides: Voices and Visions About Homelessness in Midsize Cities after a packed screening at the Guelph Farmers’ Market Tuesday.
Focused on the increasing visibility of the unhoused, the documentary features interviews over a period of time with a bylaw officer, a coffee shop owner, a service provider, and people with lived experience being unhoused or in precarious housing.
It was a culmination of a four year project by local researchers in partnership with Cambridge, Brantford and Wellington County, looking at the increase of visible homelessness in mid-size cities and what responses to it have been.
Conversation was facilitated between them through researchers, “so that people who might not ordinarily speak to one another could hear from each other and reflect on their perspectives,” said Ryan Broll, a member of the research team.
“The purpose of the documentary was to find common ground among people who, on the surface, might appear to disagree,” said Erin Dej, also a member of the research team.
“The documentary showed us that with open communication and respect, we can learn from one another.”
Dej moderated a panel discussion afterwards, focused on the challenges and complexity of responding to the homelessness crisis.
Panelists included local advocate Barb McPhee, Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition executive director Brendan Johnson, retired U of G professor Bill O’Grady, and political science professor Laura Pin.
Asked what they believe to be the biggest obstacles when it comes to addressing homelessness in their communities, the most common answers were a lack of affordable, supportive and government-funded housing and having a basic understanding of what it’s like to be unhoused.
“I think we’re making policy decisions with this assumption that homelessness is somehow more dangerous for the people who are housed than for people who are homeless,” Pin said, adding that there are systemic impacts in doing so.
“Housing is a solution, but it’s also about love and connection,” Johnson said. “The folks who get housing need to feel part of a community. They need to be cared for, they need to be loved, and they need to have a purpose and be embraced by our community.”
Pin, who does a lot of work around municipal responses to encampments, said since solutions like deeply affordable housing aren’t going to materialize overnight, that relationships and community building needs to be prioritized.
“(If) we don’t have relationships with our unhoused neighbours, if we don’t know what they’re going through, I think that contributes to a lack of community response,” she said.
McPhee, too, said those in the unhoused community need to be built up “in a good way to tell their stories.”
Pin added enforcement-first responses don’t work well, as the rules typically being enforced “were not designed for people experiencing homelessness, and often criminalize survival behaviours.”
Johnson said the language we use is important as it can be alienating and punishing “and intentional to make people care less and blame the wrong people.”
“Challenge when people use words that put the blame on people who are being harmed,” he said. “Push back. Speak up when you can.”
Dej said the research team is looking for grant funding to turn the documentary and all the learnings from it into a curriculum for high school students, “to get that message out to as many people as possible.”
