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Effective Social Service Policy
An Open Letter
Part 3
What about the Neighbourhood?
One night as I was walking away from the Seaton House down George Street the 1/2 block to Dundas Street East, I heard a woman sobbing on the porch of an older rooming house. She was telling her boyfriend or husband:
- "I'm afraid for my baby. The women (in the next building) are all whores. The men are always coming on to me and trying to get me into bed. A person shouldn't have to live like this!"
Within a block or two of every hostel there is one or two taverns and possibly a strip bar. Whorehouses are nearby, prostitutes patrol the streets, drug pushers are in front of some --- all to serve the hopeless and despairing created by an unjust society and encouraged by an ineffective political and Social Service system. A bootlegger is located across from one of the hostels that permits the use of alcohol on the premises. Persons who cannot wait until the liquor or beer stores open at 10:00 AM can walk across and get an early start to their day. I have met persons who have been going back to the same hostel for 8 years. Obviously, they have not been helped much by the system. If you are waiting for a revolution (like the French Revolution) or a march to raise political awareness --- you will have a long wait.
The spirit and self-esteem of most of these men have been broken. It is the subtle things which will threaten to destroy our society. Constant demands for higher budgets to cope with child abuse, sexual assault, drug addiction, marital breakdown, nicotine dependency and chronic illnesses, higher crime rates, rising welfare roles, will continue until effective policies are adopted. The straw which may break the back of our civilization could be a deadly and contagious virus spawned in the gutters inhabited by homeless peoples.
One possible solution, with benefits for ALL concerned is to encourage some of the shelters to relocate closer to light industry. A dialogue could even be established between the shelters and some industries. A standard of responsibility could be put into place between the would-be employer and the social service applicant such as arriving on time for work and in a state ready for work.
Moving the shelter/hostel to this lower cost real estate could pay for itself. On the lower end of George Street, townhouses are selling for $250,000. We all know that most of that is the cost of the land. Hostels in the area could sell their property and erect new hostels with modern facilities in areas near to small industry, and, have money left over for quality wages and services.
All this could be achieved at NO COST to the taxpayer or government. People would have better services and opportunities. More people would get off Social Service Benefits faster and more permanently. Transportation passes or decentralized services could be provided for those who require special treatment for addiction. And that treatment would be more effective because they would be removed from an area which has a concentration of sources for the addict. All that politicians need to do is facilitate the process by providing zoning changes quickly, were required, and seeing the potential benefit for their region and society.
Please consider.
A lack of standards often abuses everyone.
It often makes a big difference as to which floor you get a bed on in which hostel. At the Schoolhouse Hostel there are signs stating that smoking is not permitted in the building except in the basement lounge. Yet smoking is frequently done in the second floor washroom. Still this is better than the conditions at Seaton House Hostel.
Drinking is allowed at the Schoolhouse Hostel.
Signs define that persons who are unruly or drunk will be barred from the hostel. Yet there are times when literally falling down drunk persons are allowed to stay ... with great distress to some other residents and with a great deal of added strain on the supervisor. While a curfew is placed on the TV lounge by the removal of the TV before midnight, it has become a habit for some persons to remain in the basement drinking to drunkenness and making a lot of noise. Persons in the three first floor dorms may have disturbed sleep or little sleep until 3:00 AM. Some persons get up at 6:00 AM or before to go to work. Clearly, sleep is more dependable in either of the second floor dorms.
The quality of one's sleep produces a parallel in one's health.
There have been studies conducted for decades that prove this for the sceptic. Few persons who value their health would chose to live for any period in Toronto hostels or shelters if they believed they had other alternatives. Poor sleep has been shown to result in:
- loss of concentration;
- greater dependency on caffeine and alcohol;
- greater frequency of colds and other viruses;
- more days off work for sickness;
- more accidents.
Sleep disturbances in shelters and hostels can arise from any, some or all of the following:
- snoring;
- coughing;
- belching;
- gulping;
- talking;
- rustling;
- farting;
- can crushing;
- singing;
- vomiting.
Imagine trying to sleep in a dorm where ALL of this is happening! Most of these noises cannot be prevented. They are simply a fact of communal living, poor diet, and bad habits.
If abusers are allowed to continue abusing others how can a victim ever recover from abuse and the emotional trauma that destroys their self-esteem and limits their self-directedness? It only takes one egocentric childish adult to victimize a dozen other adults in this society. I have seen this in every shelter, every soup kitchen, and on the streets in the area.
We all know the description of the person's behavior. It is like an adult having a temper tantrum because they can't have their way. They start talking loud, voicing threats, calling people demeaning names, swearing, telling everyone what they want, heaping irrelevant and hypocritical shame and guilt on those around by telling them that they should give him his way because that is only polite or considerate. Anyone who has been in a modern institutional environment knows the usual response to this bully that never was disciplined by his mother.
In institutions, responses to threats must be handled according to policy.
If the threats and victimization of others cannot be defended against with violence by the victim or by censure by the institution ... the victim must accept the position of a victim and passively allow the bully to become a bigger bully. Reporting the incident to the "authorities" only results in the victim's statement being placed against the lies of the bully. No Action.
If a verbal defense is taken, even when assertive sometimes, no impact is made against the adult's 2-year-old-behaviour. Violence is out of the question unless the victim wishes to be thrown out along with the abuser. Institutional policy everywhere makes this clear. So the abuser is empowered to abuse more. This is sometimes an experience in a public TV room when one individual takes control of it as if it were his. Everyone else either leaves, or stays passive ... giving the bully what he wants. The placement of microphones in the TV rooms and some other areas for monitoring by the staff could eliminate this problem.
Those who are there know the score.
The Good Shepherd Refuge is the best hostel I have been in yet it has a bad reputation. As I was standing in the line waiting for supper, a fellow near me was telling his friend:
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"I hope that I get a bed on the second floor. It's quiet there. The third floor is the noisy one."
He was right. I got a bed on the third floor. There are two TV rooms on that floor. One allows smoking and the other one is for non-smokers. During the nights that I was there, the door to the smoking-allowed room was ALWAYS open and the volume was ALWAYS turned up loud. Conversely, the door to the non-smoking TV room was always closed and no sound from it bothered anyone. Is there some correlation between smoking, deafness, and lack of respect for others? The TV could be clearly heard everywhere on the floor ... up to as late as 4:00 am.
Since smokers cherish their smoke, why have the door open. With it closed, they will get the benefit of their own second-hand smoke at no cost. A small continuous-flow ventilation fan could be installed in the exterior wall at minimal cost. Headphones for deaf persons could be supplied also --- for very low cost. Fortunately, I had and used earplugs ... and got some sleep. For those having to use any hostel, reusable earplugs can be obtained from most safety supply companies for less than $1.00 Even so, why is everyone being penalized for the health endangering personal preferences of the few: second-hand smoke, overly loud noise, disturbed sleep?
Deciding on the rights of the majority and on the promotion on non-abusive behavior
seems to have been a position of denial for North American institutions. Like in any bureaucracy, too often the idealistic theorizers set policy for the real-life experiences.
It is easier to view the homeless with pity and give them their way. Unfortunately, the aggressive elements in the homeless community are committed to feeling sorry for themselves and of reliving their past abuse on everyone else. Treat adults like adults and they will respond like adults. Treat them like children and they will regress to childhood. So why treat them like children?
Set standards, AND, enforce them.
Trying to save everyone ends up with everyone being hurt and lost. A standard of respect is fundamental and it is stated in some places, like The Good Neighbour's Club. Unless I am selling drugs or abusing another person, I have no problem with intermittent supervision by microphone monitoring of any area, save toilets, in any institution. Any private conversation can be carried on outside the institution, or, written on a piece of paper. Wireless ceiling microphones are easy and inexpensive to install. A small cost can make these refuges less abusive.
Computerized records are kept of applicants at many hostels. Skill inventories could easily be taken and computerized at the hostel intakes along with all the other info. This would provide planners with a REAL set of data to approach would-be employers with. A commitment could be required between prospective employers and workers that would set fair and responsible standards for each with penalties for each. In this manner both employer and employee could have a true sense of stability.
At the present no standard exists and neither party trusts the other. Employers often do not believe that homeless or unemployed persons can be responsible. Potential employees don't believe that employers will pay them a fair wage or that they will employ them with any consistency. Without this stability, any planning undertaken by either party is short-term and verges on the level of desperation and last minute judgement. Such an environment promotes the development of addictions, self-centredness, greed, depression, and low self-esteem --- exactly the opposite of what a good citizen needs.
Telling homeless people that they can or should do options reserved for the status quo is depressing. Witness a fellow I observed several days ago who no longer wants to hear about good volunteers, good officers, or good options. His point is that repeatedly in his experience he has been betrayed. Every so-called "good" person has let him down. They have flooded him with "shoulds" before finding out what his "coulds" are. They have buried him with options, such as re-training, for which he has no money.
If he is homeless, how can he afford a $150 course in Assertiveness? How can he afford a technical upgrading course costing $350 to $9,000? These "dreams" of the idealistic and unconnected-to-reality worker only serve to emphasize to the homeless how hopeless his situation is and how despairing is society's apparent conspiracy to keep him helpless.
For myself, living in a locker saves money and gives me a rest from the abuses of the system. There are dangers, yes. I could get locked in. There is no heat or water or toilet. There is no second-hand smoke, second-hand viruses, loud snoring and TV noise, or filth. I prefer not to stay more than a few nights without having to find or take a shower somewhere.
I do keep my self esteem and save what little I am getting for more productive measures than simply residence and food. Is this what the government wants: increasing numbers of the poor choosing to live in lockers, in alleys, in the bush, in jail --- because the system provides no way out for the one's who followed the "rules" and were abandoned by the system?
Are good hostels helpful?
The Good Shepherd Refuge, the best of all the hostels I stayed in, has a bad reputation which could easily be remedied. As I was standing in the dinner line-up, a fellow near me remarked to his friend:
- "My boss asked me to go for a drink with him after work. I's have to be f------g crazy to turn down a good meal and a clean bed (at the Good Shepherd) to drink for a coupla hours and spend the night in the gutter. A man has to have some self-respect at some point."
No holidays for the homeless.
If you have ever been homeless and looking for a job, one frustration is that almost all support services are closed late afternoons, evenings, weekends and long weekends. The hard resources (books, computers, newspapers, Internet access) are all present and paid for but unavailable.
I and other people who have low incomes find this to be the most restrictive of times. Job searches and applications, e-mailing, and reading can be carried out 24 hours per day. Most often, the motivated job seeker is deterred from job search at these times. Homeless persons, shelter visitors (you must usually leave them during the day), low income and unemployed persons often find these times depressing, lonely, and a strong encouragement for further abuse of any addictive behaviors they have.
Why can't smokers have their own facilities?
Nicotine, alcohol and caffeine addiction are each health destroying habits. The government has allowed business greed and ethics of selfish hypercompetitiveness and inept and weak healthcare policies to brainwash citizens with billions of dollars of inaccurate and persuasive advertising for a century. For decades we have had coffee shops and licensed bars. Why not extend this market segregation and choice to smoking and non-smoking coffee shops, bars, hostels, and other services. That way everyone is happier and everyone has a choice which they appreciate.
There may be a more compassionate way of viewing smokers than that expressed often by non-smokers. In the April, 1999, edition of Canadian Geographic magazine, a 2-page article describes how insects which have become parasitized change their behavior. Many of the changes mentioned there are shared by many smokers and drinkers. It is only during the late 1990s that the fact that many North Americans are carriers of parasites is becoming acknowledged.
Nicotine is a major ingredient of rat poison.
It influences nerve structures. Nicotine may actually be taken by humans to diminish the negative influences of parasites and other neurotoxins. Scientific studies are currently (1999) underway to determine if nicotine can be used or is constructive in the treatment of schizophrenia. Apparently, this is because 90% of schizophrenics, in some tests, have been smokers ... who are less extreme in their symptoms of mental disturbance when they are smoking. It is well known that people who have been long-term smokers and then stopped smoking have a tendency to increase their fat mass. Perhaps smoking, for some persons, allows better coping with chronic diseases which are presently poorly understood.
It is now confirmed that heart disease, cancers, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, and addictive behaviors are often all accompanied by parasitic infestation. Such parasites can be eliminated on an individual-by-individual basis. Since bureaucracy, government, and the medical industry moves at less than a snail's pace ... recovery for such persons will not be widely available any time soon. So. Why not accept these persons as society has created them. That means providing facilities which neither abuse them nor those who choose not to share their health endangering habits.
Experience Summary, September, 1998.
During the past 3 weeks, I have
- Put my belongings into a locker to save space rental money;
- Established a longer-term mailing address for consistency;
- Set up low cost Voicemail for 3 months to assist job search;
- Discovered the reality of services for the homeless (3 weeks);
- Obtained a job offer within 3 days (which was later withdrawn);
- Completed this Open Letter in less than 3 days (at many locations);
- Put this Letter on the Internet, on a temporary volunteered site;
- E-mailed over 200 politicians & 20 media persons of this URL/letter;
- Will re-start my job search in several days with better options.
P.S.
Thanks to a friend who has bought me a Metropass for October, I have a good chance of getting a job soon.
Thanks also go to another friend and past associate who is providing me with hosting for this and other of my pages until the end of November (1998).
Experience Summary, Update, April, 1999.
Since originally posting my Open Letter:
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