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This morning a pair of tweakers overdosed on my Yaletown doorstep. Two days ago, early in the AM, a probable schizophrenic attempted to attack my wife and dog. A year ago, this obviously high man attempted to kick in my front door and found his way to my fist multiple times.
As a friend of mine wisely said the other day when hearing about all of this, and eventual police intervention: “The cops are here to keep them away from us, not us away from us, or them away from them.”
This is true. But it ultimately solves nothing. It’s NOT a policing problem
This is true. But it ultimately solves nothing. It’s NOT a policing problem
The trifecta of homelessness, addiction and mental illness cannot be solved just by putting a roof over their heads. It’s become increasingly obvious that it is irresponsible to leave the chronically addicted and mentally ill poor at large in our communities.
Furthermore, this isn’t a civic problem. If the poor, addicted, mentally ill are encouraged to migrate to urban centres this disproportionately burdens those cities. It’s a provincial problem.
It demands a provincial solution. I call on @jjhorgan to stop passing the buck.
It demands a provincial solution. I call on @jjhorgan to stop passing the buck.
We had a community for the mentally ill, Riverview, which we unwisely closed in the early 1990s based on now-debunked faulty social science. We fooled ourselves into believing that this population could be harmless and unharmed mingling among us in “normal” communities. Not true.
Let’s be honest: doing this seemed cheaper.
Or rather: the strategy displaced costs onto policing, insurance, paramedics, hospitals, and other social services in ways which seem invisible but ultimately cost society a great deal more.
Or rather: the strategy displaced costs onto policing, insurance, paramedics, hospitals, and other social services in ways which seem invisible but ultimately cost society a great deal more.
Meanwhile, the dependencies of the mentally ill gave rise to the illicit drug trade. Welfare and other social assistance dollars flow practically directly into the pockets of criminals and their gangs as the ill and addicted turn to cheaper street drugs.
As a result the addiction cycle worsens, property crime grows as addicts must steal and cheat and wreak havoc to feed their need for more drugs. So do our costs for policing, jailing, hospitalizing, and replacing and protecting property. Society, and street drugs, get meaner.
It’s a cycle that feeds upon itself and will not end. So, back to my point: housing these people in former hotels and rapid-build social housing only addresses a small % of the population that are homeless due purely to economic circumstance.
What the vast majority of this population needs is:
A) protection from the ills/temptations of mainstream society
B) in-patient treatment for their mental illness/addiction
C) stable housing & a sense of community/responsibility
D) free/cheap access to suitable pharmaceuticals
A) protection from the ills/temptations of mainstream society
B) in-patient treatment for their mental illness/addiction
C) stable housing & a sense of community/responsibility
D) free/cheap access to suitable pharmaceuticals
... this can’t be done effectively within urban communities. What’s needed are facilities, like the former Riverview campus, where the patients are the norm, the drug dealers are kept away, and psychologists and other therapists are available to help them recover and/or cope.
This is not “shelving the mentally ill”. This is not sweeping a problem under the rug. This is in fact giving them their best chance at recovery and/or survival. We’re building “Dementia Villages” for allegorically similar reasons: https://www.thevillagelangley.com
For BC, what I propose (given that Riverview land has been sold for development) is a whole new community. Built in Merrit, where land of adequate size is cheap, unused, available, and relatively central to the province. Here’s ~290 acres for $4M. https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Vacant-Land-For-Sale/BC/Thompson-Okanagan/Thompson-Nicola/923-MIDDAY-VALLEY-ROAD/85589839.html
... right near the Coquihalla Highway! Build a mental hospital, social housing, community services, recreational educational and entertainment facilities.. all self-contained and gated. Able to house a few thousand. A boon to Merritt’s struggling economy.
.. all for less than the costs of the impacts of mental illness/drugs to the major cities of Vancouver and Victoria.
When people scream “DEFUND THE POLICE” this is the kind of stuff they mean. Not every problem requires a cop. This particular problem requires compassion.
When people scream “DEFUND THE POLICE” this is the kind of stuff they mean. Not every problem requires a cop. This particular problem requires compassion.
So there’s my modest proposal. Let’s get together and talk about this. If not this solution, then what do others have in mind.
Because I think (would-be) mayors like @bradwestpoco @kennedystewart @kensimcity @lisahelps and others can all agree that the status quo ain’t working.
Because I think (would-be) mayors like @bradwestpoco @kennedystewart @kensimcity @lisahelps and others can all agree that the status quo ain’t working.
Prospective benefits of this program:
- Evident crime reduction in BC’s major cities
- Drop the bottom out of the illicit drug economy
- Quality of life for chronic sufferers of mental illness
- Freeing more people from long-term addiction
- Reduced overall social costs
- Evident crime reduction in BC’s major cities
- Drop the bottom out of the illicit drug economy
- Quality of life for chronic sufferers of mental illness
- Freeing more people from long-term addiction
- Reduced overall social costs
A good friend pointed out this approach would require changes to the Mental Health Act and a much less laissez-faire approach regarding how we get the ill off of the streets.
Here there be dragons. However we must balance the freedom of the ill with harm reduction/restoration.
Here there be dragons. However we must balance the freedom of the ill with harm reduction/restoration.
... even if participation in such a program is voluntary or done with family participation, such a hospital will clearly deliver better outcomes than group homes and urban housing without mental health care.
The consensus in mental health is that deinstitutionalization failed.
The consensus in mental health is that deinstitutionalization failed.
