Wetaskiwin woman reflects on city's homeless population, need for solution

My name is Jessi Hanks. I live in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. I was born and raised in this town, 70 kilometressouth of Edmonton.

Our catchy jingle may be the first thing Albertans think of. "Cars cost less in Wetaskiwin" has made us somewhat famous since the mid-70s.

Latelythough, we've been in the news for the wrong reasons.

Our homeless population has nowhere to go.

In my 32 years in Wetaskiwin, I've noticed the number of people on our streets grow. In the morning, we find our bank entrances filled with sleeping bodies, huddled up to keep warm.

If we look away long enough, would it help us forget?- JessiHanks

Some of us look to our city council for answers. But most of our citizens still look away.

Andif we look away long enough, would it help us forget?

In Wetaskiwin, roughly 35 of us are homeless. My hometown has a population of 13,000 people and borders Maskwacis, home to four First Nations communities.

In August,city council put two livestock shelters in a field beside our local Walmart. The idea was to give people a place to go, away from storefrontsand private property.

Did we truly need two dugouts in the middle of a barren field to highlight our problem? Like a beacon in a sea of tall grass, it was so bold, and so hard to look away from.

It rallied our whole town some to help, some to heckle. People came in droves, offering warm food and drinks, blankets and coatsdemanding we offer a more humane alternative, criticizing our city council and the neighbouring band leadership for their choices and lack of progress.

And then, within weeks, the shelters burned to the ground.

But as quick as they turned to ash, it seems that the whole town forgot.

And no matter how many of you lookaway, I continue to stare into our problem.

I work right next to the gas station where people frequently gather nowthe shelters are destroyed.

I see the cars whiz by with not so much as a glance in the direction of the men and women who huddle up on concrete bermsto sleep.

No blankets areoffered in bulk. No warm coffee is graciously given. And why? Do we only feel inclined to help when it's put on display?

At the very least, the dugouts provided some protection from the elementsand a place to gather. Wetaskiwin has no shelter at all. Not for our at-risk youth, not for women fleeing domestic violence, nor for our homeless and vulnerable.

Wetaskiwin's mayor, Tyler Gandam, has said that we don't "by definition" have a "homeless problem."

To me, that's a cop-out. Maybe they have a couch to sleep on, maybe they don't. Maybe they aren't allowed back into their home because of their addiction. Who knows? Does it matter? Anyone can see that they're living on the streets.

Wetaskiwindesperately needs a solution.- JessiHanks

The NOW (Neighbours Outreach Wetaskiwin) Soup Kitchen tries to do what it can to help feed the hungry on our streets. We have the Agape Thrift Store & Community Outreach whichwill help with a meal, clothing, orjust lend an ear. But it's not enough.

Wetaskiwin desperately needs a solution. We need a wet shelter to keep people off our streets, out of -25 C winters, and 30 C summers, aplace that allows alcohol in a safe, controlled environment.

Traditional shelters ban people from entering if they are under the influence of alcohol. It forces them into a cold, hard rehabilitation that has been proven ineffectiveand sets them up for failure.

A wet shelter can mitigate some detrimental side effects we see with those addicted to alcohol. It can provide counselling, monitor alcohol consumption and help people beat their addictions.

A recent RCMP study suggested that police in the Wetaskiwin area spent about a quarter of their time on non-criminal public intoxication offences.

A wet shelter like this would keep our peace officers, paramedics and RCMP from being overextended,movinggroups of Wetaskiwin's most vulnerable from one location to the next, never providing a solution, bouncing people from one doorstep to the next.

A shelter of this kind could free up our overstretched hospital, paramedicsand fire department.

A study out of Seattle,where the introduction of wet shelters was controversial,found that the average person in a wet housing program cost public services more than $4,000 per month prior to their intake, but only $958 per month after a year in housing.

I run the Wetaskiwin Rant and Rave 2.0page on Facebook. I constantly see people placing blame; crying out that our homeless should make better choices.

We can all sit and point fingers all day.- Jessi Hanks

If only it wasthat easy. Sitting behind our computers, we aren't considering the suffering and trauma that people with addiction have faced. From stories of sexual abuse, suicide and residential schools that I've been told, I'm surprised that some of those who have shared with me have survived at all.

We can all sit and point fingers all day. But today, right now, this is a Wetaskiwin problem. And we need those we voted into power to step up and make real, bold change. I am hopeful our city council can work together with our neighbours to find a solution that will benefit all.

This is Canada. We're supposed to watch out for our neighbour. The world sees us as a place with open arms and kind faces ,a place anyone should be proud to call home.

When will my home town stand up and decide that we have all looked away long enough?