Micro-housing in Fredericton will be great news for so many people, most of all for those who are in need of safe, healthy housing. Why is it then that there’s always that ‘someone’ who, straight out of the gate makes a pronouncement that it will fail, that it will draw the wrong crowd and that people really don’t want to get off welfare? How do they know? Do they possess a crystal ball that allows them to predict outcomes of people they don’t know? Those attitudinal barriers must be broken down if people in need of a hand up are going to appreciate any sort of peace and harmony in the lives they’re trying to establish for themselves.
One online comment about the story, as it appeared in this paper, was both surprising and sad — “good concept if the people are quiet and behave. My bet and common sense says the cops will be visiting there every day. And they have better things to do.”
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s comments like these that serve only to diminish the positive/good aspects of initiatives that are geared to help those in need to better help themselves.
Micro-houses by virtue of design are not meant to be permanent homes. They should be viewed as a stepping stone to permanent housing. That being so, the powers that be, the purse string holders, could make significant impact on the homelessness situation by rethinking the meaning of ‘family composition’ when it comes to adjusting monthly allotment of financial assistance. Why are unrelated persons in the same apartment, both receiving assistance, considered economic unit? Why can they not be viewed simply two people living under one roof who happen to be recipients of financial assistance, whether in the short- or long-term? In their unity is their emotional and physical survival, out of the reach of homelessness. The system, thought to be unfeeling, sets the stage for the crash and burn as the financial bottom falls out of their world, when they’re essentially penalized for helping each other overcome or avert an emotional or physical crisis.
Landlords may be eligible for rental conversion programs which provide financial assistance to owners/landlords to convert non-residential properties into affordable self-contained rental housing units and/or bed-units to be occupied by low income households. Yet another mechanism that contributes to breaking the cycle of homelessness.
Many of us take housing for granted — a place to call our own, whether we rent it or own it, is often seen as a measure of a life on track; that we’re doing well since we have a roof over our heads. Under the roof and behind the doors, are different stories of people and their challenges. Lots of adults in Fredericton and around the country have never had a place of their own — circumstances of life tripped them up and they fell down. Some got back up but still struggle. So many others never got back up again. Some are living out years and decades behind bars because the challenges of life didn’t quite fit with their abilities to cope in societally acceptable ways.
We are governed by laws — checks and balances. Initatives such as micro-housing, which is very much needed, contribute to creating a balance.
Melanie Laviolette and Emily Tingley, nursing students at UNB, addressed the issue of homelessness and its impact on health and wellness, reporting that people they see at clinic have issues that could be resolved were they to have a roof over their head; a shelter in the short term, but a place to call home in the long term is the ideal. It should be a goal that the powers that that be more fully expand, particularly as a physical address is a requirement to access government financial supports.
The Out-of-the-Cold Shelter and other such housing accommodations provide a valuable service to the disenfranchised and every effort should be made to keep them open for the support of people in crisis. As those being helped get a solid footing in a new and healthier life, a fresh start, they invariably see it as their obligation to help others along that same path. The reality is, though, that mental health issues compromise success; for that reason it’s imperative that we open minds and resist the urge to paint all with the same brush.
Those of us who’ve never had to struggle day to day and who have always had enough of the necessities of life actually insult those who don’t by suggesting that they will abuse the system - that they don’t need to be homeless at all, that they abuse the shelters and that they don’t deserve subsidized housing such as the micro-housing schemes would provide.
To them I say - open your eyes. In a single moment, you could be where ‘they’ are.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca
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