The Secret to Solving Homelessness

More than 300,000 Canadians will experience homelessness this year. More than 300 people will die on the street this year in Edmonton alone. Why haven't we been able to solve this national disaster?
2:07 | Tim Richter, Jordan Reiniger, Dr. Monty Ghosh, and Peggy Garritty talk solutions around our Real Talk Round Table.
CHECK OUT THE CHANCELLOR'S FORUM: rtrj.info/02224CF
CDN. ALLIANCE to END HOMELESSNESS: caeh.ca/
BOYLE STREET COMMUNITY SERVICES: www.boylestreet.org/
1:06:55 | Ryan and Johnny recap a wild week on the show, including some of the most hilarious chirps from our loudest critics.
1:18:19 | On the heels of our exclusive sit-down with the Prime Minister, it's an all-Justin Trudeau edition of The Flamethrower presented by the Dairy Queens of Northwest Edmonton and Sherwood Park!
FIRE UP YOUR FLAMETHROWER: [e-mail]
VISIT THE DQs in PALISADES, NAMAO, NEWCASTLE, WESTMOUNT, and BASELINE ROAD!
FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM: @realtalkrj
REAL TALK MERCH: ryanjespersen.com/merch
BECOME A REAL TALK PATRON: / ryanjespersen
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! ryanjespersen.com/sponsors
The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Relay Communications Group Inc. or any affiliates.

[@unsungronin8093]

When I first moved to Alberta Nisku I worked with people that were homeless, because they couldn't find a place to rent. This problem has not been solved

[@mireillekang3780]

Fantastic episode. It is shameful for a country as rich as ours to have a homelessness epidemic. We need to tackle this problem and solve it. It will better our society.

[@RealTalkRJ]

Totally agree! -rpj

[@resolutionarybeing1885]

Indeed!

[@mikearchibald744]

I can't speak for EVERY place, but its no secret. Its zoning, its municipal and PROVINCIAL govenrments. I live by Moncton. Five years ago the CBC sponsored a meeting on the growing homelessness problem. The federal government rep didn't show up. The provincial govenrment rep didn't show up. The Municipal govenrment sent two new hires who knew nothing bout the issue. So the crowd did most of the talking. There's a guy who has done more for housing people on his OWN, than any level of government. There were men who owned buildings who said that government subsidies were pretty decent, so landlords buying into affordable housing was a pretty good business plan. More importantly, in the downtown, even in areas with no real homes, there are about six to eight abandoned industrial buildingst that could EASILY house all the homeless. Further uptown Kent building supplies and Costco both abandoned to build bigger stores, those two buildings are HUGE and yet have sat empty. What we KNOW is that healhcare costs for the homeless is huge. What we know is that its IMPOSSIBLE to break an addiction on the street. So it goes without saying. Government takes a building , renovates it houses addicts, and sets up some kind of training program for online work or local work. Person has a roof and some food, has a GOOD chance of getting their shit together, becomes a regular taxpayer.

[@resolutionarybeing1885]

Thank you for your information and compassion. This is a very serious cruel problem in this world. Everyone born to this planet should be allowed the right to a safe place to live and be! I am a former homeless woman. People would be surprised at the number of people living in their vehicles with so many of them working very hard to survive get their needs met, stay employed, clean enough, and neatly dressed, while staying under the radar with their circumstances unknown to anyone. I can't imaging living on the street in these times! I understand that one of the fastest growing groups to find themselves homeless are retired Baby Boomers. May we all bless and be blessed with goodness, love, understanding, health, well-being, Joy, discernment and wisdom! Thank you again. It is so easy to criticize others without ever having a single clue as to their back story which resulted in them having to survive as a homeless person in these times. As a people we have become so calloused, it seems.

[@grahamdoody9615]

“Acknowledge the Humanity”👌❤️

[@RealTalkRJ]

❤❤❤ -rpj

[@kathyj3459]

Great episode. We need to educate ourselves better on this and help enlighten our neighbors who blame individuals for being homeless. So many rant and rave about encampments but don’t want to do what it takes to provide housing.

[@resolutionarybeing1885]

Thanks to all the understanding folks who have written powerful well considered comments.

[@ericakirkman7055]

Very interesting and compelling discussion. One catastrophically absurd point made was that if you give somebody suffering with severe addiction a house, that will somehow make them not as addicted. Stunningly ridiculous. Especially from medical professionals. You give someone struggling with severe addiction and mental illness a free house, come back in a month and see what that house looks like. If it's even still standing.

[@RealTalkRJ]

I think that's oversimplifying the point. -rpj

[@ericakirkman7055]

​@RealTalkRJ Perhaps. But i would argue their assertion that it's the homelessness that's causing the addiction with 2 points. First, for every 1 person on the streets struggling with addiction, there are probably 100 people just as substance addicted who have homes and have never been homeless. Second, I would argue that the path to homelessness for the vast majority of people goes: unresolved trauma, then addiction, then homelessness. It's often the second last stop on the addiction journey followed by death. Everyone deserves to have a roof over their head, regardless of their life circumstances. But it's incredibly naive to think that's the golden bullet to solving addiction. Homelessness is a symptom of addiction, not the other way around.

[@patriciagallagher3793]

In my community in Ontario it's estimated that about 40% of the homeless population is on Ontario disability support program or are waiting to be accepted into the program. The monthly payment is about $1000 and rent for the average 1 bedroom is $1700.

[@stephenmorris8557]

It takes 3.5 years now to evict a bad tenant in Ontario ! This is a " root cause " of homelessness.

[@resolutionarybeing1885]

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ― J. Krishnamurti

[@savedrotex]

If people don't kick a bad habit,seems like a shelter is the reasonable place they should be, because if you give them a house, what's stopping them from ripping out copper pipes etc to continue to fund their habit or even turn the house into a place where illicit activities occur so they can continue funding their addiction. We can't police every such home, waste of tax dollars and human resources

[@ericakirkman7055]

So first, he says people should not view those living in the encampments as "usafe" just because they make us feel uncomfortable. Then, a few minutes later, he says the encampments are "extremely unsafe" for indigenous women. So which is it?

[@rosefitzgerald2956]

Newfie is derogatory.

[@RealTalkRJ]

Noted! -rpj

[@gurushishya5545]

My goodness, appreciate the discussion but spare me the Gabor Mate narrative…it’s all related to pain and trauma. Plenty of people go through horrible situations in life but don’t end up in a tent, stealing to feed a habit that’s spiraled out of control. It wouldn’t hurt to interview somebody that was once on the street and pulled their life together - I’m sure they’d tell you how much their addiction kept them from anything that resembled a normal life.