For the homeless population of Medicine Hat, Alberta, the right dose of the perfect solution has led to an amazing revolution.
Tonight, every one of the city’s 60,000 people are sleeping with a roof over their heads, thanks to the Canadian city’s new policy that mandates housing for anyone who has spent 10 days in a shelter or on the streets.
When city officials learn of a person living in these circumstances, they move the individual (or family) into a house or apartment. In fact, Mayor Ted Clugston says 10 days is the absolute limit—the city usually finds housing for homeless people even quicker than that.
Los Angeles Officials Vow to Spend $200Mil on Helping Homeless
The first city in Canada to officially end homelessness, Medicine Hat adopted the “Housing First” plan, where the homeless are given a place to live first before tackling the underlying causes of their homelessness. Utah used this model to reduce its homelessness by 91% in ten years.
“Housing First puts everything on its head. It used to be, ‘You want a home, get off the drugs or deal with your mental health issues,’” Clugston told CBC News. “If you’re addicted to drugs, it’s going to be pretty hard to get off them, if you’re sleeping under a park bench.”
Once Homeless She’s Now the Boss of Her Own Construction Business
The city started building new homes for the homeless in 2009 and has moved nearly 900 people off the streets since then. It costs the city about $20,000 a year to house a homeless person — but $100,000 a year if they are living on the streets.
Since Medicine Hat adopted Housing First, police calls about homeless people and emergency room visits have plummeted.
(Photo of homeless native couple by Doug Brown, CC — Story tip: Murray Lindsay)
Send This Story Home To Your Friends, Share It…
“Since Medicine Hat adopted Housing First, police calls about homeless people and emergency room visits have plummeted.” Emergency room visits alone are pretty expensive. Even when you aren’t talking about the subject of homelessness, I hear no end of people wanting to prevent emergency room visits by tackling health problems in advance because they’re just so darn expensive. I don’t think Medicine Hat is making up the numbers, but I definitely agree that they aren’t intuitive.
I might not sound like it, but even I find it difficult to reconcile between someone like you working hard to keep a home and another person being given one for free. I don’t have any satisfying answer to that. But I also can’t reconcile living in a rich first-world country that celebrates progress yet sees ill people living on its streets.
id say reconcile with the fact that makes you look humane. N makes Canada a shining example of Being your brothers keeper. n Canada is actually doing something Worthwhile. Caring for our own is a noble thing. What an awesome place Canada is. n what awesome ppl. Canada still has a soul. Look at your zombie nation next door. That place is fast losing its humanity. That should worry you. Don`t be like that. Your a humane person. HOLD ON TO THAT. Thats what makes you wroth it. Peace GOD BLESS CANADA. From a Scot.
It’s not a competition. And the difference between you and a homeless person is not that you work hard and they don’t.
If I had a son or daughter who was homeless, I would certainly appreciate how Canadian taxpayers chip in to help me keep a roof over his or her head. If we look at our country (or our world) as a family, we won’t feel that someone who isn’t able to look after themselves because of mental health or addiction is a parasite. We’ll see them as someone who needs our help. This is almost always a temporary situation. No one is bragging about living off of the taxpayer, and I suspect most are extremely appreciative our help and support.
Very good. An even better solution would be to embrace Capitalism in Canada, vs an increasingly Socialist model, which hurts everyone.
I’m genuinely curious as to how increased Capitalism benefits the homeless. Can you expand on that?