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Introductory Post

Hi! Welcome to my blog!

This blog was made to end homelessness.

Just kidding (but not really). I really am looking to make a difference, even if it means starting with the people around me, first. The following blog posts are here to talk about the law system, with specifics about the way ticketing works against people experiencing homelessness. People experiencing homelessness is already a major concern and a lot of things that they do can be directly linked to their survival. I want to look more into the issues with ticketing over giving them a real second chance. It may be a rollercoaster to read, but I promise that by the end of it you will have some sort of understanding of what I am trying to share.

I hope this reaches out to everyone who has ever thought that homelessness is a choice - or to anyone who believes that there’s not much we can do. Please, give this a read, and maybe we can help change the world, one person at a time.

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In the short 3-minute video, “Can I see your ID” (O’Grady et al., 2011), we get a glimpse of what tickets were given out and why. The issue with this is that, like Steven Gaetz said, “it produces an incredible amount of debt for people experiencing homelessness.” With someone already struggling to maintain shelter, why are they continuously being ticketed for doing things sometimes for the means of their survival? This video shares some statistics that “only 20% of tickets were given out for aggressive panhandling” (Buccieri, 2011) which meant that 80% of tickets were given out for non-aggressive panhandling. I find it extremely ridiculous that even just minding their own business, police find it necessary to give them tickets which I find doesn’t make any sense because they’re on the streets panhandling for a reason: they need money. So, it raises the question as to why they are subjected to this treatment when they’re also the ones who need the most help?

During a class, we spoke about some policies that may be a reason why officers hand out so many tickets especially to the most vulnerable; perhaps it’s in the policies that need to be worked on. In the article, it discusses how the tickets are affecting the youth: financially, legally, and socially. I just wanted to focus on the social aspects of this: as mentioned in the article, “youth are threatened with jail or other action if the tickets go unpaid” (O’Grady et al., 2011), but what’s interesting is that it kind of seems like a dead-end road for them – for example, they’re on the streets because they don’t have any money and is now being ticketed for doing things in public (like drugs/alcohol) because they don’t have a private space to do it in the first place, this seems like a never ending cycle because they will have accumulated debt that is impossible to pay off. Like mentioned in the video, the tickets that are unpaid essentially follow you until they are – so even when they are able to move into a more stable situation, they can’t because they will have had so much outstanding debt that sucks them right back into the cycle (O’Grady et al, 2011).

Gaetz, S., Buccieri, K. (2011, December 15). Retrieved from 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=L6ObQFGQJAw&index=40&list=PLB33CEB551D4D935C

O'Grady, B., Gaetz, S., & Buccieri, K. (2011). Can I see Your ID? Retrieved from

http://homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/CanISeeYourID_nov9.pdf

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*when you get a $500 ticket for asking for spare change*

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“Where Am I Going to Go?”

           In the book, “Where Am I Going to Go?” (Abramovich & Shelton, 2017), we are looking at a more narrowed population of youth homelessness, those who identify as LGBTQ2S. Even for those who aren’t experiencing homelessness are stigmatized and judged on a daily basis, can we even imagine how much worse it is when they’re homeless? Oftentimes they end up homeless because of the rejection from their families and community, making them even more vulnerable on the streets.

           In a case example, we learn that queer youth struggle a lot with harassments on the streets, but oftentimes do not get into altercations because they don’t want to be involved with the police and falling into more bad credit/debt. However, in this case, the young person is harassed on public transit and ends up losing his job after being charged with assault (Abramovich & Shelton, 2017). Hearing about this case example infuriates me because they have so much to lose – even when they are the victims. It’s also very hard to be harassed and shamed in public and not feel some sort of rage, but I learn that the choices we make in life also reflect the person we are. I wish that we could prevent these from happening in the first place, and to just love and accept people the way that they are.

            Youth are being ticketed “for sleeping outside, trespassing, and loitering. And when they engage in street economies to buy the things that they need, they are arrested.” (Abramovich & Shelton, 2017, p. XI); I find this very frustrating because of the way they are treated while they are figuring out how to survive without any support. Not only are they not being assisted, but in turn, they are being criminalized in the process. Youth are criminalized for sleeping outside or engaging in sex for survival, and this is sometimes the start to their “involvement in the juvenile legal system” (Wheeler, Price & Ellasante, pg 54), which is not uncommon but it shouldn’t start like that because they’re doing things to survive and not necessarily even be harming others.

Abramovich, A., & Shelton, J. (Eds.). (2017). Where Am I Going to Go? Intersectional Approaches to Ending LGBTQ2S Youth Homelessness in Canada & the U.S. Toronto: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press.

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“More Sinned Against than Sinning”

In an article, “More Sinned Against than Sinning? Homeless People as Victims of Crime and Harassment,” we learn that many people experiencing homelessness see “police and the criminal justice system as agents of control, not protection” (Novac; Hermer; Paradis; Kellen; 2009, p. 2). I find that it’s very unfortunate because I find that a lot of the general public can go to the police for help, but if the people experiencing homelessness come in contact with them it is mostly fear and discrimination; many often avoid reaching out to officers because of negative interactions and “anticipated being treated badly” (Novac et. al., p. 6).

           During a street walk, we learned that people experiencing homelessness were often made targets as officers approached and were very dehumanizing. At one point, the facilitator shared with us that someone he knew, was taken into the back of an officer’s car, and was driven out of the city mid-winter, and was then dropped off with his shoes removed and was told to walk back to the city alone as the officers had their laugh. It is very upsetting for them to abuse their power and instead of helping someone find a warm place to stay, they find it humorous to degrade other humans. Another story he told was when he was arrested for assaulting an officer: at the station, they took him to a corner where they knew the cameras could not capture them, and essentially took turns beating him up. Why can’t we live in a world where those who are supposed to protect can do just that? The title of this article speaks a lot because that’s exactly what homelessness is seen as, “sinned against” because quite frankly they are trying to survive while they have the world against them.

Novac, S., Hermer, J., Paradis, E., & Kellen, A. (2009). Homeless Hub. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.

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"Conflict with the Law”

There are many reasons that we can think about when discussing why youth become homeless and why they are criminalized for the things they do; the article, “‘Conflict with the Law’: Regulation & Homeless Youth Trajectories toward Stability” (Quirouette, Frederick, Huges, Karabanow, Kidd, 2016) suggests that the reasons “often have roots in survival and the need to provide for oneself in the face of blocked opportunities and serious deprivation (Hagan and McCarthy 1998; Baron 2008). It’s important for officers to take this into consideration before giving out tickets because they should understand that what they’re doing it for their means of survival. It almost seems like a quiet cry for help – when they’re on the streets working for money, we should want to approach and help them, whether it be housing, money, or if they need the drugs for survival. 

Giving them tickets won’t end the behaviour, they just learn to do it while avoid getting caught. With so many tickets piled up for them, it’s no surprise that they’re still on the streets after making any money. The unpaid tickets show when you are carded, and will also show up when you want to buy a house or accessing any services, thus When you are homeless, you are more likely to be targeted and ticketed by the police and threatened to go to jail (Chesnay, Bellot, and Sylvestre, 2013), which ultimately means that if you don’t pay all the tickets you accumulated while you were homeless, you’re going to stay homeless.

Quirouette, M., Frederick, T., Hughes, J., Karabanow, J., & Kidd, S. (2016). 'Conflict with the Law': Regulation & Homeless Youth Trajectories toward Stability. Retrieved from https://muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/article/644516/pdf

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“You’re Making Our City Look Bad(!!!!)”

In the 2010 Olympics, there was a specific focus and target on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, where they wanted to make the city’s reputation better by getting the people off the streets. In the article, “‘You’re making our city look bad’: Olympic security, neoliberal urbanization, and homeless youth” (Kennelly, 2015) to do this, the area was patrolled more often and people experiencing homeless were ticketing more and more and for very minor offences (jay-walking). In class, we talked about the possibility of officers giving out tickets for the sake of just giving them out – even sometimes when it wasn’t an option.

“And actually, one officer told me his boss demanded that he hand out tickets and he wouldn’t have given me a ticket otherwise but he’s going to lose his job” (Kennelly, 2015, p.9)

This gives us an idea that there may be something wrong with the law systems. Some wouldn’t ticket if they didn’t have to (for necessary reasons) but some had to ticket because they were orders, to avoid losing their jobs. I feel that it shouldn’t come to the cost of people experiencing homelessness to be ticketed. I believe that the whole point during the Olympic Games was to create the picture that homelessness didn’t exist (or at least hidden) and that it was a reputable city in Canada.

           But perhaps that’s the issue – we shouldn’t be getting rid of the problem so that the city looks better, we should actually be bringing the issue to light so that we can fix it. To my understanding, it is more expensive to keep people on the streets than to just solve it. We need to make the general public more aware of this situation and it’s extremely difficult when the systems are only out here to conceal them away, however, it is all in our conscience that homelessness is, in fact, an issue, but most feel that it has become routinized to the point where someone laying on the hot cement doesn’t concern them.

Kennelly, J. (2015). 'You're making our city look bad': Olympic security, neoliberal urbanization, and homeless youth. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/doi/pdf/10.1177/1466138113513526

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“The Real Cost of Homelessness”

In the article, “The Real Cost of Homelessness” (Gaetz, 2012), we get more into the topic of how much more expensive it is to end homelessness; every year we seem to pay “$30,000 – 40,000 to support one homeless person,” (Eberle et al., 2001, p. 4) but if they were housed, it would save “approximately $211 million annually” (Patterson et al., 2008, p. 5). Knowing this information really makes me wonder why there is still homelessness in Toronto, or at all, for that matter. If people are so consumed with the thought that it’s expensive to get rid of homelessness, I think reading these articles could change their mind. I think people acknowledge homelessness, but don’t want to deal with it. If we thought about all the money that was spent towards fixing a problem, why haven’t we looked at how to prevent it in the first place?

           In addition, we learn that it’s costly to issue tickets, specifically spending “$936,019 over the past eleven years” (Gaetz, 2012, p. 11) Like the article states, it seems counterproductive – if we could use that money to house people, we would not be spending so much money every year just issuing tickets that will most likely be unpaid. It seems as if we are wasting a lot of our time and resources trying to find fault with others instead of trying to provide a helping hand.

           Also, when we provide people with proper housing, it seems that they are less likely to be involved in the police and law (Gaetz, 2012). A lot of times people who are discharged still end up becoming homeless, and it seems that it increases the chances they will re-offend (Harrison, 2001; Gowan, 2002; Kushel et al., 2005; Metraux & Culhane, 2004). However, if we were able to have them released into housing, the chances of them reoffending could be lessened.

Gaetz, S. (2012). The Real Cost of Homelessness: Can we save money by doing the right thing?Retrieved from http://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/costofhomelessness_paper21092012.pdf

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“Taming Disorderly People One Ticket at a Time”

In the article, “Taming Disorderly People One Ticket at a Time: The Penalization of Homelessness in Ontario and British Columbia” we learn that a lot of people experiencing homelessness get ticketed for various reasons, squeegeeing and panhandling is most common offences (Chesnay, Bellot, Sylvestre, 2013). In 1997 under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, many of them were ticketed because the general public felt unsafe. Like mentioned many times already, the majority of tickets go unpaid – which means that the debt continues to follow them until they are (Paranaby, 2003). How do these young people make money to pay off the tickets? At first, they were just trying to make money to survive, and now they are criminalized and must use the money they earned to pay off tickets that were issued because they were trying to make money. Seems like a cycle – a never-ending one. I would dare to suggest giving the youth an opportunity to work for the community to pay off their tickets while being able to keep some of the money they make. I think if we all just gave them a chance, they could definitely show us what they’re capable of doing, and we wouldn’t have squeegeeing or panhandling.

          However, it just seems that there is no way of doing that. People fail to see the bigger picture that it could save a lot of money housing and get rid of homelessness than to pay for it (as that seems to be the biggest concern for the public). We tend to look at the homeless population through the judgmental lens and fail to recognize that they are humans just like us. How many times have we made an effort to walk around someone who is sitting on the streets? Do we ever notice that what they’re saying is mostly, “God Bless You,” “Spare some change” “Have a nice day”? But all we seem to think is, “dirty,” “lazy,” “rude” when we walk past them. How many times are we going to ignore someone on the street before one day we walk past them and they are no longer breathing?

Chesnay, C. T., Bellot, C., & Sylvester, M. (2013). Taming Disorderly People One Ticket at a Time: The Penalization of Homelessness in Ontario and British Columbia. Retrieved from https://muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/article/504222/pdf

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Final Thoughts

What are your thoughts now? Are they different? Can a blog as short as this be able to change the way you think about homelessness, even just a little? My goal for this blog was to at least change one person’s thinking about homelessness – a one week class changed mine.

           Throughout the blog, I used “we” a lot to describe the general public, but it was also kind of to describe how I was before. Of course, I felt bad that they were on the streets, but I don’t think I ever gave them any money, although I may have offered them food once or twice. I thought that it was never in my control to do anything about homelessness – it’s such a big issue that me, as an individual, can solve anything for anyone. This blog was a little all over the place because I wanted to focus on the abuse that the police, law, and society have acted upon to the people experiencing homelessness. But I wanted to make it clear that there is a lot more than what we think is happening.

           While writing the blog, I spent a lot of time working, going to school, and being outdoors. All of that is a privilege to have and do. I can acknowledge that I am fortunate enough to afford appropriate clothing for work, to pay for a metro pass when I refuse to walk 20 minutes to my destination. But how about the people who can’t? How about the ones who may have an opportunity for employment but loses it because they can’t afford necessary clothing? I am fortunate to be living under a roof and having the luxury to pick from a closet full of clothes I no longer wear. But how about someone who is judged and dehumanized through the gazes and actions of others when they are stood/sat next to? I don’t know how many times I’ve actually walked around someone because I assumed they “smell” whether of urine, cigarettes, or anything. Thinking back, it was absolutely dehumanizing, degrading, disrespectful and demeaning. I hope there is one less person in this world who is like that after reading this blog.

           After the course ended 2 weeks ago, I realized that I have noticed way more people experiencing homelessness than I thought. I’ve reached out to others whether it be getting someone a drink or offering them five dollars. It may seem like something small to offer, but it could mean a great deal to someone on the receiving end. I really hope that my actions could affect the people around me, and for them to see people experiencing homelessness as a person like us, and not putting their experiences before them.