Reconsider the Reasons Why You Choose Not to Help People Experiencing Homelessness
The culture we live in tends to downplay addiction. How many times have you seen Facebook posts, or even mugs and T-shirts displaying phrases like “Don’t talk to me before I’ve had my morning coffee,” or, “I only drink on days that end with ‘Y?’ There’s a cannabis store on every corner, and finding a coffee shop is like finding snow on the ground in December. Even our Premier had $1 beer as a part of his platform. Drugs and alcohol are glorified on TV, social media and movies; Costco even sells giant, three-foot-tall wine glasses as home-decor. Most people use one or more of these substances daily, yet the culture we live in assures us that it’s normal to need them to wake up in the morning or wind-down after work.
Why is it that we make light of our own addictions but use addiction as an excuse to deny help to our unhoused population? Too often, we hear things like “people should only get housing if they’re sober,” and “they’ll just spend any money that I give them on drugs or alcohol.” Addiction is serious. It’s a disease that affects approximately 21 per cent of the Canadian population. Not every unhoused person struggles with addiction; however, people experiencing homelessness are at a higher risk of substance abuse problems and addiction. The risk is higher for a variety of different reasons: coping with the mental and emotional struggle of living in poverty, mental illness, lack of proper physical and mental health services and more.
Providing unhoused people with addiction treatment seems like a simple fix to the issue; however, this solution isn’t as easy as it sounds. In many cases, a person will receive treatment and then be sent back to a shelter or to the street. Being back in the environments where they previously used substances, among people who they used with, can put a person’s recovery in jeopardy. In addition to this, treatment is not widely available and can be expensive and difficult to access. Recovering from addiction is a long and difficult road, and the first step should be access to a safe place to live that supports recovery.
Nobody chooses to struggle with substance abuse, but a choice that everyone does make every day is how we treat other people. Prevent stigma by treating people with dignity, avoid defining people by their addiction and educate yourself and others. Stigma can lead to frustration, fear and self-doubt. It can be a reason why addicts choose not to get help or speak about their struggles. It’s an added burden to the disease of addiction and can create shame and embarrassment. Drop any stigmas that you hold about homelessness and addiction and change your mindset to one that sees addiction as a reason to help someone instead of a reason to deny it.
People experiencing homelessness are are deserving of warmth, shelter, dignity and compassion, regardless of whether they struggle with substance abuse or mental health issues. Sometimes, it’s easier to make up an excuse not to help than it is to face the fact that there are people struggling in your community, but turning a blind eye only adds to the issue. Next time you find yourself thinking “I can’t give that person money because they might spend it on drugs or alcohol,” I challenge you to answer this question: “how much money do you spend fueling your own addictions?”
