‘We don’t want charity but we need charity. We don’t want to feel like you feel sorry for us but we want to feel like you feel for us’
This is the final instalment in a four-part series of articles allowing local homeless people to discuss their experiences in the community. For their protection aliases are being used. In this instalment, people dealing with homelessness and precarious housing discussed possible solutions to some of the issues they face day-to-day. This article contains language some readers may find offensive.
As the population of North Perth grows, issues many residents associate with urban centres are starting to be noticed close to home. Homelessness is an issue which is not new to Listowel but until recently it was easier to overlook. It is now a visible aspect of the community, even if some of the homeless living here wish they could remain invisible.
Andrea Charest, executive director of It Takes A Village, the free store in the heart of Listowel, arranged a gathering of some of the people dealing with homelessness. Sitting around a large table in the back of the store, they enjoyed pizza and talked about their perspective of what is referred to as the “homelessness problem.”
When the conversation turned to solutions to the problems leading to homelessness in North Perth the thing which was on the tip of everyone’s tongue around the table was the lack of affordable housing in Listowel.
“The lack of affordable housing is a problem and that is something town council should address and good luck to them because I would not want to deal with that problem,” said Ichabod.
Related Articles
- The homeless experience in North Perth, Part 1: An introduction
- The homeless experience in North Perth, Part 2: Access to health supports
- The homeless experience in North Perth, Part 3: Encounters with the police
He feels the people living outside are in the same boat as everyone else who is looking for a solution to homelessness. They are at a loss for a single solution to solve the issue. There is a wide variety of reasons people end up living outside.
“What do you do?” he asked. He suggested leaving people alone as one solution.
The people living in camps in North Perth feel their tents are as much a home as anyone’s brick and mortar dwelling. One morning Ichabod was woken up by a social worker who was unzipping his tent to look inside. The social worker had called out Ichabod’s name a few times and when he did not get a reply promptly he was just going to open his tent “and have a snoop around all (his) stuff.”
“They need to figure out how you go about monitoring someone but not encroaching on their existence either,” said Ichabod.
“Usually every month, whether you have a place or not they give you $395 for street allowance for food,” said Red.
Recently several people living precariously in North Perth had their allowance cut off.
“For two months I had to fight tooth and nail for it,” said Red.
Addiction is an issue which many people in the community are dealing with so access to harm reduction packages is important, even to people outside of the homeless community.
“Those girls over at Public Health are awesome,” said Ichabod. “You go in there and you don’t feel judged.”
Charest reminded everybody she has signed an agreement with Public Health and now harm reduction packages are available at It Takes A Village.
“They’re excited to have someone else doing it and at a place where people don’t feel judged,” she said. “I am so honoured they are willing to do it with us because we can go from them being open a couple of hours one day to Tuesday to Friday.”
“That was the worst part of it because if you slept in that day you were screwed for a week,” said Ichabod.
It’s easy to lose track of the time or the day when sleeping in the woods. It’s not a place with easy access to electricity or Wi-Fi.
Ichabod said Listowel already has one of the things they need to get by. He said a place like It Takes A Village is the type of thing they want.
“A place where people can come without fear of judgment, even if it’s just to touch base with other people to say I am still alive,” he said.
If Charest does not see one of the regulars dropping by the Village for a few days she puts the word out to make sure they are OK.
“The reality is, how do you know someone is missing if you don’t know they are missing,” she said. “When we look at issues like the missing and murdered Indigenous women, so many women went missing because nobody knew they were missing.”
“Nobody cared to look,” said Ichabod.
“There’s a lot of things you can do with a tarp. It’s a handy thing. A rope is not something most people can make by themselves but it’s a requirement for setting up a camp.”
– Ichabod
If people have a desire to help it was suggested they make donations of gear, warm clothes and dry socks.
“A $12 tarp, that goes a long way because you can make a roof out of that,” said Ichabod. “There’s a lot of things you can do with a tarp. It’s a handy thing. A rope is not something most people can make by themselves but it’s a requirement for setting up a camp.”
Hygiene packages are another item they said they like to receive.
“That is one thing I do like that those outreach workers brought,” said Ichabod. “A little hygiene pack with some soap, a razor – those things are awesome.”
The next suggestion was one everyone sitting at the table agreed would be helpful.
“Somewhere to take the garbage,” said Ichabod.
“No doubt because we can get in shit when you try to put it anywhere,” said Red.
They said finding a place to dispose of garbage is a major issue they face all the time.
“You can’t burn it,” said Ichabod. “You don’t want to leave it in a big old garbage pile because it looks like hell and I’m out there because I enjoy nature but if I take a bag of my garbage and I put it in one of the garbage cans along the trail they take the can away.”
They suggested having a couple of unlocked dumpsters or garbage cans which the public can access.
“We have to search around to find dumpsters that aren’t chained down and it’s because of what people do out here with this one,” said Ichabod.
He was referring to the overflowing dumpster in the parking lot at the corner of Argyle Avenue and Inkerman Street in downtown Listowel.
“This is not your fucking garbage dumpster,” he said. “People are driving across town to dump their garbage in that dumpster. It’s constantly overflowing. It looks like hell. Then people complain about that and act like it’s (Charest’s) fault.
Charest recently made a post on Facebook about people using the downtown dumpster for personal garbage and she addressed the accusation that the excess garbage is coming from It Takes A Village, letting people know the free store is not the source of the problem.
Warming stations were suggested next. Red said there would be people using them instead of trying to hang out at other people’s houses. They said they need options to stay warm during the cold snaps of winter.
“Most of us don’t have any other options so we are jumping from place to place, staying there until we are getting kicked out,” he said.
Charest asked them why they don’t go to Stratford or a larger city where options like warming stations are already available.
“For me, it’s to be around my kids,” said Red. “That’s the reason I stay here.”
Charest said the Mayor of North Perth, Todd Kasenberg, contacted her to let her know municipal washrooms are closing for the winter and he asked if she thought it would affect anyone living outside. She told him it would be best to let people who are living outside answer that question so at the latest discussion in It Takes A Village, she asked Josey what it is like as a woman dealing with matters like menstruation.
“I’m knee-deep in the thick of it right now actually,” she said. “We need mirrors. We need washrooms. We need running water. I thought electricity was going to be the thing I missed most being outside, it’s not, it’s running water.”
She said she has two friends in town who let her shower, but she doesn’t want to be a burden.
“I like to have a shower every day but do I want to go to my girlfriend’s house every day and make her take an hour out of her day so she can sit there while I shower?” said Josey. “No, I don’t want to do that. So I use any public washroom I can get into.”
Using washrooms in businesses is not always an easy thing for her to do. She gave an example of a time she went into Domino’s Pizza last winter to put on extra layers of clothing to deal with the cold weather and the manager chased her out of the washroom.
“He said I was getting high in his bathroom,” said Josey. “That’s a family bathroom. Kids use that bathroom. I might be homeless but I have a moral compass and I will never smoke dope in a bathroom where kids can potentially go in right after me. Are you nuts?”
“If you take more than a three-minute pee break in a bathroom people think you are getting high.”
– Josey
Charest asked if they think there is a misconception about homeless people doing drugs in public washrooms.
“Absolutely, yes,” exclaimed Josey. “If you take more than a three-minute pee break in a bathroom people think you are getting high.”
This is an experience they said happens when they use most washrooms in businesses.
“Across the board,” said Josey. “If you take more than a few minutes you are a junkie and you are getting high.”
Red said when he had the opportunity to speak to Kasenberg he asked if washroom facilities are made available, would they be able to withstand freezing temperatures.
“It was minus-52 out there one day last year,” said Ichabod.
According to Charest one of the gyms in town has given people access to showers on Wednesdays. It was something which was appreciated but it is not easy to organize. She would have to rally people up because they lost track of the day and time.
It was suggested that they be allowed to shower at the community centre at least one day a week.
Charest asked how they would respond to people who worry about letting them into a public building when they are dealing with issues like meth addiction.
“Give us a chance to prove we are worth a chance,” said Josey. “Don’t write us off.”
“The unfortunate part is if you open it to some you have to open it to all,” said Ichabod.
“I understand that but we have to be in charge of our walk of life,” said Josey. “We can band together and go forward, why do we always have to band together and go back? Why can’t we get on each other’s asses and be like, ‘yo listen, if you can’t respect it, hit the bricks.’ Why can’t we be in charge of our destiny?”
Charest mentioned that liability would be a key issue when asking for a building to be opened for use as a warming station.
“For example, let’s say someone had a profound mental health crisis in the arena, started smashing their head off the glass or whatever,” she said. “So now it’s a liability issue. So you see the different perspectives?”
“Absolutely, yes,” said Josey.
“So we need to show some people some viable options,” said Charest. “Show them why this is worth it.”
“Help them to think a little differently so that you guys are the agents of change instead of being the recipients of decisions other people made.”
“Instead of the victims we are the survivors,” said Josey.
“So people are seeing something which makes them uncomfortable and when people are uncomfortable it motivates a change, not always a good one but it gets the conversation going.”
– Andrea Charest, It Takes A Village
Charest told them this series of newspaper articles is an opportunity to be the educators and teach people about their situation. Residents of North Perth are starting to become aware of homeless people dealing with mental health issues publicly and it’s something that makes them uncomfortable. She hopes awareness will have some positive repercussions and there will be a rallying cry to help people before they end up on the street.
“So people are seeing something which makes them uncomfortable and when people are uncomfortable it motivates a change, not always a good one but it gets the conversation going,” she said.
Along with the discussion of warming centres, Charest asked if they would appreciate community meals and hot soup.
“There are all kinds of them in Stratford,” said Red. “Every day you can get something.”
There are plans to offer meals in Listowel. Charest said COVID sidelined those plans but they are getting back on track now.
When asked how comfortable people are attending community meals, Josey said there is a variety of opinions because it depends on the person’s situation. She said some people may not attend community meals or use a warming centre because of their insecurities and hang-ups about their situation, whether it is being homeless or just going through a rough time and needing assistance.
“The first couple of times it’s nerve-racking,” said Ichabod. “After a while, you get to see the same faces there. There is a camaraderie.”
Charest raised concerns some people may have and asked whether people have to use drugs to participate in things like that.
“If someone is struggling does using help them get through those things?” she asked.
“I know with some drugs that is one of the major hook factors that it… removes any inhibitions,” said Ichabod.
Charest repeated her point that she wanted members of the homeless community to take a leadership role. She has seen them get involved in It Takes A Village and they also want to be involved in the solutions to problems they face.
“You don’t want to just sit there and have someone dole out things and take pity,” she said.
“We want to be involved absolutely,” said Josey. “Even in a little way.”
“We just want to feel like we earned what we’re getting,” said Ichabod.
“We don’t want charity but we need charity,” said Josey. “We don’t want to feel like you feel sorry for us but we want to feel like you feel for us.”
***
The participants in the conversations documented in this series of articles are people who have ties to this community. They have families, friends, and children in North Perth they care about.
The question has been repeatedly raised by residents and by councillors during North Perth council meetings of where these people came from. The answer to that question is easy. They came from within this community.
How they got where they are today and what can be done to make sure the homeless community does not continue to grow? Those are much tougher questions to contend with.
Colin Burrows is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with the Listowel Banner. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
