Should Communities Force Homeless People Into Shelters?
It’s a tough call. One local jurisdiction in Canada is considering forcing people on the streets to go to shelters when the weather is extremely cold. There is some compassion in this consideration. Should people be allowed to choose to stay outside, even if it could kill them? Or do we force them to go to safety?
Is this, on the other hand, just another “out of sight, out of mind” approach to sweeping homeless people off the streets? Pass an ordinance to force people into shelters so that law enforcement has the authority to clean up the streets?
It’s a call that is certainly controversial.
I compare it to out of control fires. Something that here in Southern California we have been experiencing. When fire gets close to homes, evacuation orders by local officials are issued. But we always see that lone homeowner standing on the roof of his home, grasping a simple garden hose, trying to save his house with a trickle of water. A raging fire is his backdrop.
He obviously doesn’t get arrested. Local officials allow people to choose to risk their lives to save their home.
It also reminds me of the people who choose to stay in their mountain homes when a volcano is imminent to blow. Some even die.
So also, perhaps, we allow homeless people the right to live outside in extreme weather.
Or… we give them appropriate options. Shelter, and more importantly, permanent housing.
New York, with its similar cold weather environment, has a different approach. Give homeless people the right to shelter. So when the weather is cold enough to kill, people forced to live on the streets have the legal right to have a shelter bed.
Frankly, a right to shelter and housing should be an option for all people who end up living on the streets.
(Pic from www.esquire.com)
posted by LA's Homeless Blog at
7:15 AM
3 Comments:
after the flood left our family of 7 people, 2 dogs, 3 birds, 16 cats, and 40+ farm animals homeless - there wasn't a shelter within a 25 mile radius that would take anyone with children, anyone with seniors, anyone with mental illnesses, or anyone with pets. :( we were forced to survive 2 blizzards and Maine's coldest winter on record, under a tarp, as a result. (story here: http://www.squidoo.com/OnBeingHomeless2 )
It is a difficult question. And as a Canadian, I feel close to the story out of Vancouver. I know people have rights, but as a frontline worker with people experiencing homelessness, I'm just tired of my friends dying and going to sad, sparsly attended memorials every winter. It get's down to -40 here (Toronto) with windchills even lower. If the person is of sound mind and has taken cold weather precautions like -40 sleeping bags, extra layers, tarps, wind protection etc, then OK. But not all are so lucky.
Look at it this way, what if that person sleeping on the street was 8 years old? Or 88 and suffering dementia? There must be a point when protecting lives trumps personal freedoms. Sleeping outside in extreme weather is posing an "imminent threat" to your life. This Vancouver, British Columbia issue arose because Tracey died last year, trying to stay warm with a candle under a plastic tarp. She burned to death. She had been offered transportation to a shelter that same night and turned it down. One of my street friends lost both legs to frostbite two years ago. We have to find a better way to help.
Homeless shelters can be more dangerous than the weather. Chances of picking up tuberculosis, flu (this year maybe H1N1), viral pneumonia, head lice, scabies, or crabs are pretty high. Not to mention the danger of human predators that case shelters for victims.
I wrote why I stayed away from homeless shelters at Some Reasons People Avoid Homeless Shelters and gave reasons I saw other people avoid them or not use them, too.
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