Police have a Divine Plan for the Homeless By Peter Elliott An important meeting was held in the Calcutta Room in the basement of St. Andrew’s Cathedral between the Downtown Churches Association of Victoria and two members of the City of Victoria Police Department, on Tuesday, 14th November. Homelessness, addiction and poverty were the topics for discussion and Inspector Duckett who leads the police response team for the City declared that the situation in our streets with regard to homelessness “is a national disaster and a national embarrassment.” In his twenty-seven years on the force he has never seen the drain on polices resources so severe. The police, who are looking for partners to help solve this challenge, went on to give statistics to show the gravity of the situation. In 45 days, 315 persons were checked as shelterless, 152 at the Salvation Army and at St. John the Divine Anglican Church. Another 163 lived on the streets and “felt that they had a right to live there as they so wished.” Of these homeless, 30 per cent come from elsewhere than the downtown core of Victoria; the youngest was 14 years of age, and the eldest 62; he also noted that of the total, 16 were women. Sgt. Darren Laur continued the presentation by focusing on addiction, mental health and poverty. Of the over three thousand intravenous drug users, forty to fifty he categorized as heavy users (that is, they need to take their drugs every few hours). The drugs of choice are cocaine, crack, and heroin. With only 12 to 17 long-term treatment beds available in the City this situation is critical. “My addiction is killing me, thank you for arresting me”, was the cry of one of the most recent addicts. There is no place to put those who want to be clean on a long-term basis, they go back on to the streets and the cycle begins all over again. For those who also have mental health problems, even the medications they take often have contra-indications such as weight-gain, and to lose weight they will start looking to heroin, and thus begin another negative cycle. If a street person is only receiving the $325 welfare cheque per month, that person, according to Sgt. Laur, is living at or below the poverty level. This is a social issue and the police department is but a small part of the puzzle. However, “by default, we in the police department are having to deal with these issues, and as a result, are not doing the other important police work such as preventing crime.” With social services being situated in the downtown core, he went on to make a forceful point of describing the dangers of ghettoizing as a situation he wanted to see changed to a more positive decentralization with communities working together. Churches, neighbourhoods, citizens and businesses all combining their various talents, and by building a sense of community around the churches all the stake holders will see that there is indeed, a win-win situation for everybody. The congregation at St. John the Divine used a Good Neighbour Template when they opened up the resources in the basement of their church for forty homeless for a six-week period. The church worked with local businesses, the City Police Department, City Hall, B.C. Housing Association and the Cool Aid Society. This latter Society provided professional help with a ten-hour shift every night for six weeks. The police sent additional personnel to the area and the city provided plenty of garbage bins and extra cleaning of the streets, because the litter and garbage was a major concern for the citizens living in the Balmoral Road area. The final word goes to Inspector Duckett, “We don’t need more studies as we know what the issues are, we are a community and we have common goals. The homeless need a hand up, not a handout.”